Here’s a few tips on keeping whites white. Each laundry load takes its toll on your clothing so it’s important to know how to keep them looking as white and bright as they should, at the end of every wash.
Although doing the laundry is a seemingly simple task, there are some secrets to preventing your whites turning grey, keeping your colours bright and keeping them in near-new condition.
Follow these tips for keeping whites white
Wash your whites separately
The main reason whites turn grey or dull is because garments aren’t sorted prior to being washed. Generally, people own less all white clothes than colours so tend to mix them together. Unfortunately, some fabrics, particularly cotton, aren’t colourfast which means some of the dye will end up in the water and therefore will settle into other fabrics, showing up more obviously on white and lighter colours.
Wash heavily soiled items separately
Similar to colours, dirt from heavily soiled items, such as sports socks, can wind up in the water and making your white clothes dingy.
Wash whites at the warmest temperature the fabric can tolerate
Always refer to the garments washing label but generally clothes will come up cleaner in warmer water, so wash your white loads on the warmest wash they can handle.
Use a laundry booster
Add a laundry booster, such as borax, to every white wash. This will increase the cleaning power of your laundry detergent and give it the extra boost it needs to keep your whites bright.
Tips to keep your colours bright
Add salt or vinegar to your load
Using a small amount of salt or vinegar to your load will help keep colours from fading.
Avoid the dryer and the sun
Where possible, avoid using the dryer for your clothes. The dryer is the culprit for most of the colour fading! The heat from the dryer causes colours to fade so if you must use it, use it on the lowest temperature setting. Line drying is always preferred to keep colours bright, but be sure to avoid the sun and dry your clothes in a shady spot to prevent fading.
If your having trouble keeping your whites white after following these tips it may be time to call a washing machine repair service to carry out a maintenance check.
