Another Yahoo Bomb Ariticle on Whiter Whites

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I've tried everything from vinegar, borax, baking soda, oxy clean, peroxide, lemons, a combination of multiple ingredients and boiled them on the stove...none worked!  This stuff called I believe "super bright" I got at walmart does a better job of whitening than anything else I've used...and a little bluing helps too.
 
I have not used chlorine bleach for my whites in a long time. I used to use Tide w/Bleach powder HE along with powder Clorox2, biorax and a Tide Boost Vivid pac and got very good results. Now I use Persil ProWhite pearls and borax with a small scoop of Clorox2 and my whites are screaming white. I have not needed the Tide Boost at all for any load. I saw that SuperBrite stuff and I have not tried that. And I agree with the bluing too. I can only find Mrs Stewarts around here. I used to use LaFrance but that has been gone from the market for some time now.
 
My Thoughts...

Prepare yourselves for your regular dosage of "Washer111's Incredibly Obnoxious Thoughts on the 'Proper' Laundering Habits."

We wouldn't need these strange concoctions that have no genuine proof behind their action (especially when commenters are reporting that the ingredients cancel each-other out in this case) if people bothered on a couple of points:
- People bought machines that cleaned, and didn't just picked "The one over there that looks really good thats on sale for just $299!"
- People bothered to educate themselves on the problems surrounding Automatic Temperature Control, and how you can circumvent it with clever cycle selection
- Most people didn't have this "Oh you have to wash *everything* in coldwater, cause its just so much better for everyone!!!"

Using a *GOOD* detergent (This takes trial and error, not just reading magazines), Warm-Hot water (depending how long you want to wait) and perhaps some extra oxygen bleach or pre-treating techniques, and you too can have the whitest whites.

If you need to soak stuff, use your regular detergent in cool-lukewarm water for as long as you see fit.

Again, the problem these days is people adopting improper laundering practices for the soils and articles being laundered. The machines themselves are probably less to blame than bird-brain folk who don't understand the first thing about laundry(!)

Thats all for now.
I'm here as often as a thread with my name on it pops up :P
 
a waitress

At a local diner wears all white..well at one time I imagine it was white now its a dirty tanish brown. I ask her one day how do you keep your whites looking like that..of course she thought I was complementing her **sparkling whites** she responding saying I wash all my clothes in baking soda, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar and never use laundry detergent. ..than she recommended I try it. It took everything I had not o give her a laundry lesson. I can not understand how she cannot see how nasty her clothes are. Colorblind maybe.

Take care Cheryl
 
In my experience, if chlorine bleach turns your whites yellow, you're using too much. 

 

Of course chlorine bleach will destroy some modern front-loading washers, but not my good old Maytag A606.  I use 1/2 cup chlorine bleach for a full load of white underwear, added when there's 4 minutes left of the wash agitation, and nothing has ever yellowed on me.  It's also good to know that any living things like athlete's foot fungi are killed in the process. 

 

Ken D.
 
So... to get whites white...

We are supposed to launder them in a bucket, by hand, using a pair of tongs?

A good powdered detergent + BIZ will do the trick regardless of the washing machine in use. (even in less than scalding water!)

Malcolm
 
Had a friend

bring me some dingy white sheets that she couldn't get white. She been using Tide something..and if course they've been baked in the dryer several times!
I put them in my wringer, hot w water, and 1/2 cup of Washing Soda, no detergent at all. I soaked for 15min, agitated for another 15 min. Got all kinds of suds! I suspected that there was a detergent build up in the fabric along with what ever residue that might've been coming from the dryer sheets she used. I rinsed in hot, second rinse in warm, and hung those out on my clothesline.
There white now!
 
I read somewhere else that over time using chlorine bleach on whites will dull and yellow them.  I haven't used chlorine bleach since 2003 and don't seem to have any trouble getting and keeping whites white.  I just use a detergent with oxygen bleach(German Persil, or Miele for Whites, and now Persil Pearls that contain oxygen bleach) and a wash temperature of at least 120F and that's it.   Early on I tried adding STPP, but discovered that with my water with or without it made no difference, so now it is just detergent in use and nothing else. 

 

 
 
Hmmmmm..

I really like Persil Universal Powder.  I only use Bleach on the Clean Cycle on the Miele.

For Whites, I use the Extra White Programm.  That has a Heated Wash. I use about a 1/3 cup of Universal Powder and 2-3 Tbs. STPP.  Rarely like twice a year or if something needs to be disinfected I'll use a dight of Bleach.

 

I once used the Sanitize Cycle. It got the stuff White alright... But the Elastic in my socks and U trough was junk.
 
In my new LG washer, on the Bright Whites cycle , I do use a hot wash temp and what the washer does it will fill with warm water then turn the heater on and gradually heat the water to where it needs to be at. I like that since it acts like a "profile wash" where it doesnt set stains with really hot water, instead it will remove the stains at the temp the stains will release at and then continue to a hot wash. I am finding that stains that I thought were not removable with the SQ washer, are being removed by the LG with Persil PowerPearls. In fact I am finding that there is no need to pretreat like I used to with Shout in the can to remove grease and oil stains, Persil ProClean Liquid removes those with ease in warm water. I rarely if ever use cold water. To me, cold water doesnt clean and one doesnt take a shower or wash hands in cold water, why wash clothes like that.
The other thing is that I used to use those Tide Boost pacs with every load to boost the preformance of Tide powder that I used to use and now with the Persil I dont need to anymore.
As I said before, I used to use LaFrance and I loved that stuff! But like everything else that I liked, its gone. No longer made sadly. I did find a bottle of "Bleachette" at a Mexican grocery here and I have yet to try it out. I dont use chlorine bleach since I read from Miele that chlorine bleach eats fabrics. I didnt believe it until I saw a major difference with whites I had stored away that I used bleach on and similar stuff that I had not used chlorine on and the bleached stuff felt thin to me and weak. I used to go thru underwear like crazy years ago. Now I dont. And no they were not torn off of me in a fit of passion, yet that is kinda hot unless the underwear was pricey, tear those and thats it! But thats me...lol
 
As an interpreter I have to wear colors that contrast my skin tone, so whites are a non-starter for me. I haven't worn a white shirt in years.

However, when faced with someone else's dingy whites, I've found (like Stan) that detergent overload was a major culprit. 3 washes in hot nearly always take care of it:
First wash: Hot water only. NOTHING added..... usually a lot of suds show up.
Second: A cup of Borax and that's it.
Third wash: Again hot water only. If I see a lot of suds I add a cup of vinegar then do a 4th wash with just hot water.

Yes, that's a lot of water, but it solves the problem.
 
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