Keeping Your Whites White

Over time some white garments can seem to lose their lustre through no fault of your own. Don’t worry— this can often be prevented with some simple measures.

You can obviously keep your whites looking white for longer, and save yourself the trouble of having to follow the advice below, by using an experienced laundry company like Thirty Degrees! If you want to take the plunge and try looking after your whites yourself, these tips will help!

1. Always read the label

Your garment’s label will have important information about how to care for it, so reading the label is the first thing you should do when it comes to washing your whites. With important information such as material type, ideal washing temperatures and detergent recommendations, your label is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to caring for your garment and keeping it a beautiful, clean white!

Another important piece of information to find out before washing your clothes is what type of water you have. Water comes in two types: hard and soft. Washing whites in hard water can actually cause them to become darker over time. Luckily in Scotland, we generally have soft water so this shouldn’t be a problem.

2. Keep your coloured and white items separate

Although it’s possibly something you think you do correctly at the moment there’s actually more to separating different coloured items than you might think! Most of us will probably just put all of our lighter-coloured garments in the washing machine at the same time, but this can lead to your white items attracting dark bits of fluff, lint and fibres from other items in the same wash. The result is a white garment that isn’t white!

You can stop this from happening by being very strict about the type of colours that you wash together— separate them into different colours and then different shades to ensure that your whites stay white!

 Make sure you pay close attention to the type of material that your garment is made from too, washing items that are made of different materials separately.

3. Stop stains in their tracks!

The best way to deal with awkward stains on white garments is to attack them straight away! This will improve your chances of keeping your garment clean and not causing any permanent damage to it. The key is to keep the garment itself wet so that the stain doesn’t soak into the item too much. Treat this carefully with a stain-remover or some detergent and try not to turn to bleach unless you’re absolutely desperate. As always, make sure you read your garment’s label first to see what type of products can be used safely on it. After you’ve applied a stain-remover, try a cold wash and repeat until the stain has gone.

4. Use a high temperature

It’s usually recommended that you wash white garments at a high temperature— at least 60 degrees— in order to most effectively clean the item.

Some delicate items, or those made of particular fabrics, don’t particularly like being washed at high temperatures, so make sure you consult their labels to find out the best conditions to wash them.

As well as using a high temperature, you can also add a fabric whitener to boost the effect of your wash. Adding half a cup of bicarbonate of soda to your wash can also help to prevent the yellowing of white items over time.

5. Try a colour remover if disaster strikes

Sometimes, no matter how diligent our washing regime is, an errant black sock will slip into your white wash and cause havoc. It isn’t game over at this point though.

First of all, keep the accidentally-stained item wet— allowing it to dry out will cause the colour to set and it will be harder to remove. Next, soak the offending garment in the stain remover and then just wash it as normal. This will hopefully get the stain out and return your whites to normal!

Does this sound like too much work and hassle? Don’t worry: we can do it for you! Thirty Degrees have been keeping whites white across Stirling and Inverness for years. Give Thirty Degrees a call today and let us lighten your load of laundry!