How to Whiten White Clothes and Linens That Have Yellowed

What Causes Yellowing of White Clothes?

Environmental factors like the nicotine from cigarette smoke or greasy cooking residue  can cause fabrics to yellow.  Underarm yellowing on shirts happens due to a reaction between your antiperspirant and body salts. Clothes that are stored improperly can react with the acids in a cardboard box or wooden shelves and turn yellow.

The most gentle method to whiten whites that have turned yellow is to mix a solution of warm water and oxygen-based bleach powder. Follow the package recommendations as to how much powder to use per gallon of water.

1. Mix enough of the oxygen bleach and water solution to cover the garments.
2. Submerge the white garments and allow them to soak for at least eight hours or overnight.
3. Wash the garments using a good detergent and the hottest water recommended for the fabric.
4. Add 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar to the rinse water to help remove any detergent residue.
5. If you see improvement but the fabrics are still not as white as you’d like, repeat the process with a freshly mixed batch of oxygen bleach.

Laundry Bluing

An old-fashioned laundry product, laundry bluing improves the brightness of white fabrics by adding a blue pigment that counteracts the natural yellowing that occurs during regular laundering. The eye perceives the nearly undetectable amount of blue and sees the fabric as whiter. Bluing is added to the wash or rinse cycle.

1. Always dilute bluing (it is highly concentrated) in cold water before adding it to any type of washer.
2. To whiten whites in a standard or top-load HE washer in the wash cycle, stir 1/4 teaspoon liquid bluing into one quart of water and add the solution to the wash water.
3. To use in the rinse cycle, use 1/8 teaspoon dissolved in a quart of water. Never use an automatic dispenser for bluing in a top load washer for either the wash or rinse cycle addition because it will stain the dispenser.
4. For use in a front load washer, use the same amounts of bluing but dilute it in one to two quarts of water and add through the dispenser directly into the wash or rinse cycle after it has already filled with water.

Commercial Color Remover

If neither oxygen-based bleach nor bluing gets your clothing white enough, use a commercial color remover such as Rit Color Remover to strip away the yellow. It should not be used if there is colored trim or decorations on the clothing.

1. The garment should be freshly washed.
2. Fill a large stainless steel pot with enough water for the fabric to move freely. Cover the pot and heat the water on a stovetop to just below boiling (or around 200°F).
3. When water begins to simmer, add the packet of color remover and mix well with a stainless steel spoon.
4. Keep the water temperature at a low simmer.
5. Wet the white garment and add it to the bath.
6. Allow the garment to soak, stirring occasionally for 10-20 minutes.
7. Remove the garment from the pot and rinse in cool water.
8. Wash the garment as you usually would.