How Do You Get The "Whitest" Whites?

[pulsatron]

Soaker

Hi Oxydolfan,
Yes you are correct in saying soaker is a powder and it sounds like Oxi-Clean is the same type of product, there are several different types here in Australia,i.e. Napisan(which is the best known brand),Sard wonder soaker,the various generic brands and several others.
I guess you could get the same result with 3 seperate hot washes,however the soaker agent has antibacterial as well as bleaching properties, so the bacteria question does not really bother me too much.

 

[exploder321]

Guess i have no use for it..I can't think of much more than a few white items...

I don't buy white towles, etc... because of staning etc, esp. bath towles (i have a fear of certin stains appering)

 

[mickeyd]

L. and gentlemen

So who's going to watch "The Sound of Music" with me. Aren't you people really gay? chuckle chuckle chuckle.

 

[sudsmaster]

Bluing is a dye

Dyes just cover up the dirt...

Best to get it out in the first place.

Best way is hot water, long washes, and STPP!

 

[pturo]

Best way is to not crap in yer trousers.

 

[frigilux]

Oh, THAT one is going on my headstone, Philip, LOL.

 

[exploder321]

Or not to use the towel as toliet paper

 

[launderess]

A Few Home Truths

1 - Bluing is a tint, not a dye. Properly diluted and used bluing cannot "dye" anything. Undiluted liquid bluing will stain however, but ultramarine blue is easily removed.

2- If laundry is done properly there shouldn't be any dirt/soils/stains left by the final rinse,which is when bluing is used. Bluing is used to counteract the tendency of white cotton and linen fabrics to have a yellowish cast. If anyone has ever bothered to examine a colour wheel, they would know colours opposite each other on said wheel cancel each other out. Blue is opposite yellow. Besides white textiles a slight blue tint is used on white paper, white fur/hair on certian animals, and even white/gray human hair.

3 - Besides cancelling yellow, to North American and European eyes, bluish white appears whiter; while in South America reddish tinted white is "whiter". It is no accident that many laundry products have or had blue colouring and the colour blue is associated with laundries/laundry. Ice blue or snow-white blue whites have been the standard for properly laundered whites for ages.

4 - Bleaching cannot and will not render items bright blue/white on their own, especially chlorine bleach which after repeated use can give textiles a yellowish tinge.

5 - Bluing was replaced by OBAs mainly because the former works only with cotton, wool, and linen textiles. For nylon and other man made textiles OBAs are better. However OBAs are made of some very toxic substances, and furthermore bind to skin permanently. If one doubts this, simply examine one's hands or arms in a dark ruum under black lighting. You will see just as one's textiles laundered in detergents with OBAs glow in the dark, so does any thing else said textiles have come into contact with. This is the reason many people choose OBA free detergents.

L.

 

[mickeyd]

SIMPLY AMAZING

 

[oxydolfan1]

Think about how many bleaches, detergents, softeners, etc. come in blue or blue-themed boxes or bottles (an obvious exception is Tide...)

 

[mickeyd]

Yes, except

that Tide w Bleach and Tide Cold W are loaded with blue "pebbles" and remember Oxydol's were blue-green, yes? Hello Oxy.

 

[sudsmaster]

Lady Sings the Blues

1) If bluing can stain fabrics, then it functions much the same as a dye. There are many, many different kinds of dyes, some natural, most synthetic. Many natural dyes can be washed away - just like some kinds of bluing. Same difference.

2) Examining a "colour" wheel is certainly no bother. I remember seeing one for the first time about the 3rd grade. There is no question that bluing tends to cancel out slight yellowing. The problem is that it can also be used to cover up residual grime from insufficient cleaning. Among some of my friends, those little old white haired ladies are known as "blue-hairs", because an excess of bluing in their hair treatments has DYED their hair light blue.

3) Personally I prefer a warmer, natural looking white to a bluish-white for cottons and linens. Walls, ceilings, cars, and appliances, as well.

4) Yes, chlorine bleach is a major cause of yellowing of cottons - if not the only reason for many homes. I don't use OBA's or bluing for my whites, and they have not yellowed. The trick is that I also don't use chlorine bleach. Instead I use a non-OBA HE detergent and STPP, plus hot water and the longest possible cycle. Whites come out very clean with no need for bluing.

5) I don't mean to knock bluing - it's a great old-time laundry component, and in fact I'd prefer it to OBA's, which I agree are rather nasty compounds. I happen to have a little jar of OBA dye powder. The chemist who gave it to me warned me to be careful with it because of the toxicity. I've never used it. Interestingly, the powder has a light green tint to it. But what with the elimination of phosphates from modern laundry detergents, the stampede back to cold water washing, insufficient rinsing in dumbed down top loaders, and uninformed people who over-load their washers, habitually dose their whites with chlorine, it's probably necessary to have OBA's to help cover up the residual grime and chlorine-caused yellowing. Too bad!

 

[westtexman]

Practically Perfect in Every Way . . .

While flipping through the channels tonight, I ended up catching the last hour of "Mary Poppins". The first person I thought of was our very own Launderess!

I must admit that I've wanted to see the face behind the genius, but I do believe that the mystery is part of the fun.

Bryan

 

[oxydolfan1]

The Oxydol box itself was green. VERY green (sort of went with the fragrance, though)....

< reminiscing >

When they brought out the Oxydol "Ultra" in the early 1990's, the box was pure white and the graphics just screamed "cold hard steely POWER!!!"

Uh, sorry....lost my mind there.

 

[peterh770]

I used Mrs. Stewarts faithfully for 2 months; I never saw a difference in my whites, even when the rinse water was quite blue.

There is something to be said about simply properly washing garments properly with the right combination of time, temperature, mechanical action, chemical additives and thorough rinsing.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my laundromat floors are suffering from spilled Downy Plus Whitening. That stuff seems to be leaving permanent purple-blue stains wherever it lands.

 

[exploder321]

I want some Oxydal.. Do they make it any more?? I manily wanna sniff it!

 

[launderess]

And Another Thing

If anyone thinks I'm putting my face picture up on the Internet for God and the entire world to see, think again! *LOL*

Though adore some here more than my luggage, one must keep things in perspective, including safe Internet usage. After all the comments and trouble that came to a member who posted pictures of his collection where he happened to show himself as well, has quite reinforced my opinion that somethings are best left "unseen".

L.

 

[exploder321]

The only picture of me is in the Viper... If you don't happen to see that on here or my yahoo pictures (which no one can comment on there) then you can't see me

 

[oxydolfan1]

See, when I read things like that, it confirms my deepest worries, and I start thinking my original decision not to plaster myself up was the right one....

I'm not saying I won't, I'm just saying there's a pretty compelling argument not to (especially when one is outspoken and has a way of pissing certain people off....)

It's sad, but I'm living in a world I never made....

 

[oxydolfan1]

Exploder, Oxydol can still be found, but it's made by a different company and isn't half the product it used to be...