Laundry without tears: That dingy white can be crispy white again THE number one laundry stress of every Homemaker is how to keep whites crispy. Have you ever seen someone wearing crisp white T-shirt or gleaming pair of white pants and wish your clothes and your children’s white uniforms could look like that? Same thing applies to your bed sheets and towels. Many have decided to discard the idea of white clothes in their families to avoid the embarrassment of maintenance. Well, you don’t have to get used to multi-colour clothing or stress yourself again. You can still make those dingy clothes look like new and make white your best colour with these few tips: Separate your colours The biggest mistake people make is that they don’t really separate their dirty clothes. They lump them together inside one laundry basket or bucket, forgetting that even light colours can stain whites. So, make a pile for clothes that are white only in a separate bucket. When you are ready to wash, soak your white in clean water overnight without detergent so that all the dirt can come out. The next morning, remove the clothes and throw away the dirty water. Add fresh water and detergent. Don’t use too much detergent We all think the more detergent we use, the cleaner the clothes. No. Whether you are using washing machine or doing hand wash, that is not the case. Too much detergent and fabric softener coat fabrics. When there is a lot of residue on clothes, it acts like a magnet and sticks to dirt. Too much detergent can make clothes dirtier. No matter how much detergent you use, make sure that you always rinse well. Consider ‘bluing’ agent I remember when I was in school, we were always adding blueing agent called blue and another one called ‘aro’. You can’t beat the crispy look on students but only when it is moderate. If not, it changes the white to another colour entirely. Blueing agents add a trace of blue to yellowed or dingy whites. Since yellow and blue are complementary colours, the products help create the appearance of a whiter white. You can’t pour it on clothes directly but has to be mixed with water and allowed to mix the blueing with water until light before immersing your white. Remove the clothes, drain and dry in the sun to achieve that brightness. If you are using dryer, put on low heat to avoid changing it to yellow again. Use bleach only on cotton Chlorine bleach can be very damaging to some fabrics. Bleach is fine for cotton socks and underwear, and towels, but it is not great for poly-blends. Try lemon juice Lemon juice is a natural bleaching agent and works great on white clothes. Use the hottest water that is safe for the fabric and mix with half a cup of lemon juice and soak the clothes for an hour or overnight, and wash as usual the next day. Do not use lime. There is difference between lemon and lime. Do you know you can take care of that stain on your shirt collar that is always difficult to wash without stress? Keep a date with Homemakers in our next edition. The post Laundry without tears: That dingy white can be crispy white again appeared first on Vanguard News. For More details click the green link via Naijapounds

THE number one laundry stress of every Homemaker is how to keep whites crispy. Have you ever seen someone wearing crisp white T-shirt or gleaming pair of white pants and wish your clothes and your children’s white uniforms could look like that? Same thing applies to your bed sheets and towels.

Many have decided to discard the idea of white clothes in their families to avoid the embarrassment of maintenance. Well, you don’t have to get used to multi-colour clothing or stress yourself again. You can still make those dingy clothes look like new and make white your best colour with these few tips:

Separate your colours

The biggest mistake people make is that they don’t really separate their dirty clothes. They lump them together inside one laundry basket or bucket, forgetting that even light colours can stain whites. So, make a pile for clothes that are white only in a separate bucket.

When you are ready to wash, soak your white in clean water overnight without detergent so that all the dirt can come out. The next morning, remove the clothes and throw away the dirty water. Add fresh water and detergent.

Don’t use too much detergent

We all think the more detergent we use, the cleaner the clothes. No. Whether you are using washing machine or doing hand wash, that is not the case. Too much detergent and fabric softener coat fabrics. When there is a lot of residue on clothes, it acts like a magnet and sticks to dirt. Too much detergent can make clothes dirtier. No matter how much detergent you use, make sure that you always rinse well.

Consider ‘bluing’ agent

I remember when I was in  school, we were always adding blueing agent called blue and another one called ‘aro’. You can’t beat the crispy look on students but only when it is moderate. If not, it changes the white to another colour entirely. Blueing agents add a trace of blue to yellowed or dingy whites. Since yellow and blue are complementary colours, the products help create the appearance of a whiter white. You can’t pour it on clothes directly but has to be mixed with water and allowed to mix the blueing with water until light before immersing your white. Remove the clothes, drain and dry in the sun to achieve that brightness. If you are using dryer, put on low heat to avoid changing it to yellow again.

Use bleach only on cotton

Chlorine bleach can be very damaging to some fabrics. Bleach is fine for cotton socks and underwear, and towels, but it is not great for poly-blends.

Try lemon juice

Lemon juice is a natural bleaching agent and works great on white clothes. Use the hottest water that is safe for the fabric and mix with half a cup of lemon juice and soak the clothes for an hour or overnight, and wash as usual the next day. Do not use lime. There is difference between lemon and lime.

Do you know you can take care of that stain on your shirt collar that is always difficult to wash without stress? Keep a date with Homemakers in our next

edition.

The post Laundry without tears: That dingy white can be crispy white again appeared first on Vanguard News.

For More details click the green link
via Naijapounds