A Few Home Truths
1 - Bluing is not meant to disguise the yellowing which occurs due to "sweat" and body oil stains, though it can some what cover as blue cancels out yellow.
2 - As one has stated previously, in the Northern parts of the world blue-white is seen as "whiter". White paper, textiles, hair, fur, etc are all either given a blue tint (which is what bluing is), or dosed with OBAs (which simply cause the material to reflect ultraviolet light in such a way things "glow" and are seen as whiter).
3 - All cotton and linen textiles have a natural yellowish cast which will become greater as the textile ages. Same as with some gray hair which begins to turn "white".
4 - Bleaching with either chlorine or oxygen bleach will not remove yellowing in textiles caused by natural aging/natural hue. White paper and textiles are routinely bleached and still must either have blue tint (bluing)or treated with a type of OBAs to make them the white consumers like.
Bleaching removes stains by removing colour, mainly by affecting organic matter. The yellowing of textiles either as a natural hue,aging or the reaction of sweat/body oils upon textiles is not purely an organic colour. While it is true strong detergents/laundering methods will remove a good bit of this yellowing, if one looks closely the yellow is still there. Consider also most detergents are loading with OBA's, using heavy doses of said detergents is probably going to go along way to disguising the yellowing.
5 - Bluing is a tint applied to textiles to counteract yellowing. Colours opposite each other on the colour wheel cancel each other out. Blue is opposite yellow. However bluing really only works well on cotton,linen and perhaps wool fibers. Nylon and other man made fibers are not really affected by bluing, hence the invention of OBAs. It is no accident that many vintage detergents and some even today along with fabric softeners are blue. These contain either some sort of bluing and or are playing on consumers using "bluing" to keep whites/colours bright.
6 - Using bluing in the wash (as with Bluette) was invented to save housewives a separate bluing step/catching the rinse. Problem is that items left too long in a bluing bath actually will take on a gray cast. Also too much/long bluing can lead to over bluing, and depending upon the type of bluing hard to remove.
Bluette can be used in either the wash or rinse cycle according to my bottle. Using bluing in a front loader is VERY tricky and if one is not careful can lead to blue stained/streaked laundry.
Personally choose to use ultramarine blue powder (Reckett's dolly blue or now Bleachette). These are easy to remove should they spot or stain, as opposed to liquid bluings (Mrs. Stewarts and Bluette), which can spot or stain. While it sometimes is possible to remove spots or stains caused by liquid bluings, it usually means a long process. With ultramarine blue one simply rewashes the item again using a bit of vinegar (acids break down ultramarine blues).
To use liquid bluings in a front loader one must first determine if liquids poured into the detergent dispenser will go into the drum or are dispensed between the drums. That is to say how the machine fills. It is best that water/laundry chemicals are dispensed between the tubs, to prevent spotting.
Add no more than 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon of bluing into a quart of cold water. A mason or sauce jar will do nicely. The idea is to give the rinse water a slight tint, NOT dye the laundry blue. Using too much bluing will indeed lead to "blue" laundry (over bluing).
Cover the jar with it's lid and shake VERY well until all bluing is dissloved. The water should have bluish tint, but not too deep. If you see any clumps or specks of bluing in the water,they must be removed as they may spot laundry.
As the machine is filling for the final rinse, open the dispenser drawer and slowly pour the bluing/water mixture into the machine. If your washer has a glass door, as the cycle begins, examine the water inside the drum, it should have a pale sky blue tint. While one can add starch, do not add fabric softener, vinegar, or any thing else to the same rinse bath as bluing.
Allow the machine to complete the rinse and final spin, and remove the laundry. Before putting items in the dryer or haning out to dry examine each item carefully for streaking and or spoting. If you find any of these, they must be removed BEFORE the items are dried and or ironed. Many liquid bluings are almost like ink (indeed some were sold as inks), bluing stains set by heat are almost immpossible to remove.
L.
