How to remove severe yellow stains from white pillowcases?

[launderess]

Does she or doesn't she? Only her hairdresser knows for

While anything is possible don't think using bluing on yellow stained or even dyed textiles will produce same result as applying a blue based hair dye over yellow/golden hair.

Picked up a set of Frette sheets a thrift store years ago. They were going cheap likely because of some nasty yellow stains. Washed, boiled, bleached, soaked and otherwise gave the things full treatment. This included a final bluing rinse using a very large dose.

In the end only got the yellowing slightly better but the bluing tinted things a dull definite shade of blue. And yes, the yellow marks were still visible but now had a blue overcast.

 

[sudsmaster]

Or, just dye the damn things yellow and be done with it.

 

[rolls_rapide]

"... but now had a blue overcast."

Thanks

 

[sudsmaster]

So... dye it a nice pea green.

I understand it's all the rage.

 

[2011hoovermatic]

Hi I saw where bluing helps too, does bluing actually do anything to remove any soils?
Thanks for your input.

 

[DADoES]

 
Bluing literally is a light blue dye that optically makes white appear whiter by countering yellow light wavelengths.

 

[firedome]

at the risk of being the contrarian...

and w/ background in biochemistry...

Lanudress: hydrophilic means having a chemical affinity for water, ie: wanting to chemically combine with it, while the opposite would be "hydrophobic" in the common vernacular.

pantera, as a thrifty New Englander, I long recall how the rest of your aphorism goes:
Use it up, wear it out, make it do... or do without!

 

[launderess]

Bluing was meant to counter slight yellow tinge bleached cotton fabrics and paper have as a natural occurrence. In northern hemisphere blue-white is perceived as "whiter", while in southern it is red-white.

That being said have housekeeping and laundering books in my library and have read online going back to late 1800's through 1950's and all say pretty much same thing...

Laundry that is properly washed does not require frequent or routine use of bluing. If you had to use bluing after ever wash then something was very, very wrong with how your laundering skills.

Bluing can counter a slight yellow tinge, but if we're talking about seriously yellowed areas it won't make a difference. People nearly dyed white things blue using vast amounts of bluing in aid of countering or hiding yellow areas. You could still see the yellow area only it was slightly coated blue, but more to point now white areas were dyed a dark blue as well.

When done properly you shouldn't notice bluing was used at all, and on no account were things supposed to have more than a slight bluish tinge that was hardly noticeable.

Housewives, laundresses, commercial laundries, etc... all had to deal with yellow marking caused by oxidation of body soils. This has been happening ever since humans began wearing textiles made from cotton, linen, silk, etc....

As have stated, way in past to get laundry clean and white was plenty of hot (or boiling water), some sort of alkali (soda ash, sodium metasilicate, borax, lye, etc....), and plenty of mechanical action. Bleaching as in oxygen, chlorine or ultraviolet (sunlight) helped as well.

Tattle-tale grey (dingy laundry) is something else entirely different from yellow staining.

Oh and other problem with bluing is while it does make white things seem "whiter", it also can make them appear dull. This is why OBAs (florescent optical brightening agents), largely replaced bluing and or sometimes both used together.

Famous "La France" bluing powder had both type of bluing (hence the color of product) and OBAs. Indeed many laundry powders of old were blue for that reason as well. The bit of bluing helped counter yellow tinge, but the OBAs made whites and colors pop by reflecting certain spectrum of ultraviolet light.





Anyone who believes am just rabbiting on again, go out and get some bluing, then take badly or even just moderately yellowed item and give it a bluing rinse. When things dry you'll notice the yellow areas are still there underneath the blue.

 

[iej]

I’ve always found a long, long wash with a very good enzyme detergent should remove those kinds of stains. They’re mostly a mixture of oils and proteins.

 

[dustin92]

And... At 3 years old this post has lasted longer than the relationship so we have that

 

[washingpowder]

White sheets are forever

They are all I need to please me.