Anyone Else Use Bluing?

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What brands of bluing are out there, besides Mrs. Stewart's and the now deceased LaFrance? I remember American Bluing, made in Buffalo, NY from my childhood...
 
There are only two brands of bluing still produced/sold in the United States: Bluette and Mrs. Stewarts. Bluette seems to be an North East favourite, while Mrs. Stewarts is nationwide, but seems more known outside of the North East area.

Really cannot think of any others. Tintex sells a "whitener" but it is basically heavy duty OBAs in powder form.

Trivia question:

Which fabric softener featured commercials where the tag line was "A fabric softener that whitens too? She sure does love you". This fabric softener was advertised as containing "bluing for extra whiteness".

Launderess
 
Give That Man A Kewpie Doll!

Yes, "Final Touch" it was!

Remember watching soaps with mother dear during the afternoon and the commercials for "Final Touch". My favourites were a woman and her mother rabbiting on about how "white" and "soft" baby's nappies were. New mother would tell her mum she used "Final Touch", with bluing for extra whiteness. Grandmother would scoop up freshly changed baby and give him a cuddle with the tag line: "your mother found a fabric softener that whitens and softens too? She sure does love you"!

Sadly none of the infants ever in my care seemed to mind much what fabric softener their nappies were rinsed in. A few boys did have darn good aim though, this prompted me to ask a friend in Europe to send me several waterproof "nanny aprons".

Launderess
 
Well, I cannot remember NOT using laundry bluing. Always done in the final rinse on white loads that were Cloroxed (If you lived in Brooklyn, you might have used a brand of bleach called "Aqua Lina". Purex was a west coast brand so not widely seen here in the NE. I do think the right amount of bluing does make a difference in whites. The trick is to mix it with water before adding to the washer - that removes the poossibility of streaking.

Currently we have here in CT both Bluette and Mrs Stewart's liquids. I have tried Mrs S. and didn't really think much of it. It just looked like blue food coloring in the water. Bluette does a much better job. Originally I remember my mother using a solid bluing called "Bleachette" It was two round chunks wrapped in cheesecloth and sold in a cardboard toilet paper roll covered in a blue and red foil wrapper. She would fill a quart container with warm water and dip until the color was just a little darker than she wanted. Then she would add the contents to the wash. If the rinse agitation had not yet started, she would take her " bleach stick" and stir up the wash to mix. Interesting she and Aunt Jennie did the same thing - a throwback to when they had to help their mother wash for 11 kids by hand and clothes got boiled, bleached and rinsed repeatedly until not a trace of scum remained. Quite backbreaking.... In later years, the bleach stick became the pasta rolling pin - it was just the right diameter and was certainly clean enough......

As to other brands of bluing, I remember a few others. Purex had one called "Little Boy Blue" that was sold in small glass jars. Another brand was "Bonnie Blue" and carried a picture of (I guess) a Scottish lass on the label. They also made the pink softener - "Bonnie Fluff". Both of those have been gone for years. I am almost sure that the solid "Bleachette" and Bluette were made by the same company and that moving to the liquid version was somewhat evolutionary. I haven't been able to find LaFrance for years. I guess the idea of bluing the final rinse with all the oprical brighterers in today's detergents may seem old fashioned, but I do think it is less harsh on the colors and is actually comforting to do this very precise process that our mothers did. I must say that there really nothing that equals the brilliant whiteness of a line full of carefully laundered white clothes and bed linens that have been blued to perfection.
 
Vintage Mrs. Stewart's Bluing

Just blue rinsed some linens with a drop or two of vintage Mrs. Stewart's bluing.

First of all the colour when diluted in 1 quart of water wasn't "blue" at all, but rather a greenish blue. The rinse bath was a similar but much lighter colour as the bluing was by then very diluted indeed.

Results? Very "white" laundry and totally absent of the "rotten egg" scent which often comes from using bluing after a "sour" rinse. This tells me vintage Mrs. Stewart's does not contain salts if iron,like other bluings.

Very interesting.

Little Boy Blue:

Never saw nor heard of the stuff outside of eBay, where for some reasons bottles both empty and in various states of fullness go for considerble sums.

Launderess
 
Daz

Not strictly a bluing agent on it's own, but Daz in the UK has bluing as part of it's ingredients. A nice effect of this is that, with whites hanging on the line, they are more of an "icy" white rather than a "snowy" white.

Mike, do any of the supermarkets here in the UK still sell bluing? I've kept an eye out here but being a small town ranges are limited somewhat.

Take care,

Jon
 
Bluing

Hi Mike....what bluing products are now available in the UK??....also we have liquid starch, "Linit" already prepared. I have used it on curtains. I put liquid starch in small dishtub mixed with water, slosh items in it, spin damp dry, then straight onto the ironing board for nice crisp finish.
For bluing it is Mrs. Stewarts. Love her picture on the bottle.
 
Toggle's Whites

Hi Steve. Are your whites white? Don't forget the bluing in the whites. I use bluing in wash cycle otherwise, if I use in rinse cycle, I cannot use fabric softener as the "oily" fabric softener will cause blue to stain the whites.

Our Lady of the Laundry Room
 
oh yes there is no mercy on water consumption to get them dazzling bright!

I even have a large 25 quart/litre SS pot that is dedicated to boil-washes on the gas stove.

I am not exactly my mother where dirt is my personal arch-enemy, but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

Whites, deluxe treatment:

Pre wash in F/L with dishwasher detergent.
Boil wash with H/E Tide.
Extract.
T/L wash with liquid detergent.
Add bleach last 5 minutes.
T/L rinse, maybe two.
F/L rinses (short cycle, three water changes).
High speed extract
Dry

Cheapy non-waxy softener in first rinse
Vinegar in second.

My mother used to wash all the sox by hand with bar soap, then pre-wash in machine. I'm not that inclined.
 
La France Bluing was my favorite product. It's safe for whites and colors, all temperatures, and septic tanks. I used it as recently as 1999 when I lived by Vail, Colorado, But haven't used it or even seen it here in Washington state, I've lived here since the fall of '99. I'll keep my eyes open. I just want to warn you all of one thing though, If you can find it, and want to try it, don't ever pour it directly on the clothes. Fill the machine and let the agitation mix it, then introduce the clothes. If you have a front loader, always use the dispenser.
 
I have a bottle of Mrs. Stewart's, but I generally forget to use it. My usual method of "bluing" is to throw a pair of jeans in with the whites...

veg
 
Blueing and whites.

I used to be positivlly slavish when it came to the whites. I used to have the Kenmore ZTriple dispenser DD washer. All my whites got presoaked in liquid Tide, Main wash in Powdered Tide, hot water. fast agitation. This was followed by a blueing rinse, using a helthy squirt of Mrs Stewarts which is available every pllace I've lived so far. Always mix the bluening with some water in a large glass or small pail and add it just as agitation begins. I would then use wateva fabric softner in the last rinse. A woman I knew from Texas told me some bluning in your wrench water would make your whitest E-maculate!

Now, polynesian paralysis has set in and I'm a bit less demanding. I find that the front loader does get stains out of white fabrics better, but they are a bit overall less white. I no longer use blueing because I'm not sure how to do it successfully with a front loader. I tried it once and it was streak city.

David-sorry fo spell bad, but I just had a glass of Boones farm!
 

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