How to whiten yellowed clothes?

For a white garment to be flattering, it is an essential condition that the white tone looks as impeccable as it is bright. The same happens with home textiles, sheets, towels or tablecloths that only look good if their white is pristine. Unfortunately, yellowing white clothing is a fairly common problem and it is not at all strange to go to put out a nice white tablecloth and discover that it has stains or yellowish areas. You have specific products that can solve the problem, but there are also really effective home remedies to make your white clothes look like new again. If you want to know how to whiten yellowed clothes , take note of the options that we explain below.

You may also be interested in: How to whiten dyed white clothes.

Water with lemon

If you detect yellowish stains on a garment concentrated in one point, for example, on the neck or in the armpit area of ​​a white T-shirt, you can apply lemon juice directly to them. A good way to do this is to cut the lemon in half and rub one of the halves on the stain . Do it and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a basin with warm water and add lemon juice (calculate the juice of 1 lemon for every liter and a half of water). Put the garment in and let it soak for at least 1 hour. After this time, drain it, without rinsing, and hang it in the sun until it is completely dry. Once dry, wash it and you will see that the yellowish tone will have disappeared.

In this article you can know How to remove yellow stains from white clothes.

Bicarbonate

If the yellowish stains on your white clothes are persistent and there is no way for them to disappear, baking soda is one of the solutions that is usually foolproof and that you can use in combination with lemon to obtain better results.

For difficult stains, try mixing a small amount of baking soda with lemon juice until it forms a kind of paste that you can spread over the stains. As in the previous case, let the baking soda act by cleaning the area thoroughly, while eliminating any bad odors retained in the fibers, which will also return their original white color. After a few minutes, prepare a basin of water (about two liters) and add ½ cup of baking soda. Immerse the garment and let it soak for at least 1 – 2 hours. Rinse with plenty of cold water and expose to the sun.

We recommend you read this article on How to remove yellow stains from a tablecloth .

White vinegar

Vinegar is another effective ally in home cleaning, which is also useful for returning white clothes to their original color without damaging the fabrics. You can use it in two ways:

• Mixing the same amount of white vinegar as water in a basin and soaking the clothes you want to bleach for approximately an hour.
• Putting a little white vinegar (2 – 3 tablespoons) in the washing machine compartment along with the detergent you normally use and immediately proceeding to wash.

In both cases, after the corresponding rinsing, it tends to the sun.

You may also be interested in this post on How to Bleach Clothes in the Washing Machine.

Hydrogen peroxide and liquid detergent

Eliminating the yellowish tone of home textiles that have been stored for a long time is possible by using hydrogen peroxide. You know that these are clean clothes that have only yellowed due to the passage of time . In these cases, try submerging, for example, yellowed tablecloths or napkins in a basin with the same amount of water as hydrogen peroxide. Also add a splash of neutral liquid detergent and let it soak for an hour. Rinse carefully, let it dry and you will see that your white linen is impeccable again.

Here we teach you how to whiten towels with hydrogen peroxide.

Milk

Very cold milk is also a time-honored remedy that can give good results with some patience and as long as we are talking about a generalized yellowish tone and not localized and persistent yellow spots. It consists of mixing very cold water in a basin in the amount you need depending on the garment and adding twice as much milk fresh from the refrigerator. Immerse the clothes in the mixture and leave them for at least six hours (preferably overnight and overnight). After time, rinse, wash normally and hang in the sun.

Tips to avoid yellowing clothes

Yellowing of white clothes is not unusual, even if you keep them perfectly clean. Sometimes, the use of certain products or the place or way in which you store your clothes can be the cause of this situation, which is not always easy to avoid. Even so, there are some very simple measures that we can put into practice to ensure that white clothes remain impeccable and radiant for longer.

• Bleach is one of the most used products to whiten clothes and adding it, from time to time, to a load of white clothes is a good idea. The problem is that if you use it too frequently or in excessive quantities, it can trigger the opposite effect , that is, ending up, in the long run and in successive washes, yellowing the white clothes. Use bleach but in moderation.
• Whenever possible, let your white clothes dry in the sun because the sun’s rays and its ultraviolet light favor the ‘activation’ of any whitening product or remedy you may have used.
• When applying different cosmetic products , such as body moisturizer, deodorant, perfume or makeup, make sure that they do not come into direct contact with white clothing . Wait for your body to absorb the creams or for the deodorant to evaporate before putting it on because many of the yellow stains on clothing originate from these products.
• Try to wash your white clothes separately from your colored clothes to prevent possible fading from ending up on your white clothes, completely altering their tone. You may be interested in knowing how to wash white clothes in the washing machine .
• Always store clothes completely dry. Also, shake it very well before hanging it in a closet or folding it and putting it in a drawer. The presence of moisture or dust on white clothes can cause them to yellow over time.

Now that you know how to bleach yellowed white clothes, you may also be interested in reading these articles on How to Bleach Dyed White Clothes .

If you want to read more articles similar to How to Whiten Yellowish Clothes , we recommend that you enter our Home Cleaning category .