Is it mission impossible to bleach a white wool sweater?

Bleaching a white wool sweater is not easy and requires some knowledge. Boiling and the use of bleaching agents with chlorine are contraindicated. What can be used and how – we will tell you further.

Features of bleaching sweaters

Many people know that the most effective way to get perfect whiteness is to boil the item with chlorine. However, this does not work for yarn products. Artificial acrylic, like natural wool, behaves unpredictably during this procedure and can acquire an unsightly rusty tint. It is also not possible to use coloring compounds at home, since they are often distributed unevenly and are washed off after several washes.

If you decide to bleach a white sweater on your own, remember 5 basic rules:

1. You can use folk and chemical remedies without chlorine.
2. The solution must be warm for the chemical reaction to occur. But not hot, so that the product does not shrink or become deformed.
3. It is important to choose the right bleaching utensils - those that do not contain chromium to avoid the appearance of a gray tint. Enameled, ceramic, plastic or glass containers are suitable.
4. If the sweater is wool, you need to be extremely careful, as in water the wool gets wet and becomes vulnerable to deformation. The product should not be rubbed, twisted or squeezed too much.
5. Before using one or another bleach, it is better to conduct a test by treating a small area of ​​the sweater.

You can only bleach a clean item that has been washed in advance. Otherwise, the dirt will mix with the bleach solution and create an unsightly tint.

Special means

Wool is a delicate fabric, and products containing active oxygen are used to bleach it. When purchasing, it is important to pay attention that the gel or powder works in warm water (30 or 40 degrees).

The most popular oxygen bleaches:

• "BOS plus OXI". Budget-friendly but effective. For bleaching, it is best to soak the sweater in 2 liters of warm water, after dissolving 60 g of powder (2 measuring spoons) in it. Soaking duration is 30-40 minutes.
• "Sodasan oxygen whitening." Perfectly brightens wool products. The product is added during machine washing to the powder in the amount of 2 tbsp. spoons or soak the sweater in a solution of 1 tbsp. l. bleach and 3 liters of water for 25-30 minutes. Operates at a temperature of 40 degrees.
• Vanish Oxi Action. Liquid stain remover and bleach in one bottle from a well-known brand. "Vanish" works softly and effectively. An acrylic sweater should be soaked in a solution of 4 liters of water and 1 cap of gel for 5 hours, a wool sweater for 1 hour. Before rinsing, it is recommended to walk over the product with a soft brush or rub it with your hands (stroking movements).

All of the listed products can be used for bleaching either manually or in a washing machine on a delicate cycle. But when soaked, the effect is stronger. In addition, there is less risk of damaging the sweater, because the process is completely controlled and can be stopped at any time.

Folk recipes

To bleach a white woolen jacket, it is not advisable to use alkalis - baking soda, soda ash, ordinary washing powders.Just like bleach, they corrode the protein that makes up the pile, which deteriorates the appearance of the product and reduces its strength.

At home, the following products help lighten hair safely and effectively:

• Laundry soap. For whitening purposes, it is better to use a light bar marked “72%”. A damp sweater should be thoroughly rubbed with soap, then add 2-3 liters of warm water and leave for 2 hours. Next, you need to gently rub the product with your hands or a brush and rinse thoroughly.
• Hydrogen peroxide. To effectively bleach a white woolen sweater, you need to prepare the following solution: 30 ml of 3% peroxide per 3-5 liters of warm water. Upon contact with the smallest particles of dirt, active oxygen will be released, deeply cleaning the fabric and removing unnecessary shade. Soaking time – 30-40 minutes. Periodically, the sweater needs to be turned over so that it bleaches evenly.
• Hydroperite. The product is available in tablets. It works similarly to hydrogen peroxide, corroding dirt and removing yellowness. For 5 liters of warm water you will need 3-4 tablets. After dissolving them in water, the sweater is left to soak for 20-40 minutes. Then it is washed with liquid detergent or shampoo, rinsed and left to dry flat on a terry towel.

To ensure that the sweater remains soft and silky after the bleaching procedure, it is recommended to add fabric softener or 100 ml of table vinegar (per 3 liters of water) to the water during the last rinse.

Manual whitening

For the procedure you will need: a 5-liter basin or pan, a soft brush, the selected bleaching agent and the sweater itself.

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Wash the jacket in soapy water if it is dirty.If not, just wet and let the water drain.
2. Prepare a bleaching solution and control the water temperature (should be between 30-40 degrees).
3. Place the damp sweater in the solution and leave for half an hour. The duration of soaking is indicated as average - it is better to rely on the information indicated on the bleach packaging.
4. Now all that remains is to rinse the sweater. But first, it is recommended to rub it with a brush or stroke it with your hands without squeezing it.
5. Dry the jacket on a horizontal surface and only then evaluate the result (dry fabric looks an order of magnitude lighter than wet fabric).

For effective bleaching, the temperature of the solution must be maintained during soaking. To do this, you can cover the container with a lid and wrap it in a blanket or place it on a large pan of boiling water (steam bath effect).

Bleaching a sweater in a machine

If you only need to slightly refresh the white color of the sweater, you can use the washing machine.

1. Load the sweater into the drum.
2. Set the program “Wool”, “Delicate wash” or wash at 30-40 degrees.
3. Place detergent for woolen items in the compartment (or regular powder if the sweater is artificial), add oxygen bleach according to the instructions.
4. Make sure spin and dry are turned off.
5. Dry the product flat.

You should resort to bleaching agents, folk or oxygen, no more than once every 3-4 washes.

Yellowing of the sweater may be due to the presence of rust in the water, contamination with skin particles, or cosmetics. Then any of the above methods will help whiten the item. But it also happens that a change in shade is caused by washing out of the dye. Natural wool is not snow-white, but rather milky, with a beige tint.In this case, only dry cleaning, where dyeing of woolen products is practiced, will help.