How and with what to bleach white synthetic items at home?

If there is a need to bleach white synthetic clothes or underwear with lace inserts at home, you need to decide what products will be used for this. Their choice, first of all, depends on what defect you have to cope with:

• remove stains;
• refresh gray things;
• remove yellowness.

You can whiten synthetics, including removing stains, either using special factory products - bleaches and stain removers, or using “grandmother’s secrets”.

How can you not bleach synthetics?

Sometimes publications contain advice on bleaching white items, which are absolutely not suitable for synthetic fabrics.

Synthetics must not be subjected to the following manipulations:

• boil and wash at high temperature;
• soak or wash with products containing chlorine;
• dry in direct sunlight.
• squeeze after bleaching.

Chlorine-containing bleaches have an unpredictable effect on synthetics and in most cases lead to yellowing of the fabric. Drying in the sun has the same effect. But boiling can lead to deformation or complete damage to the item.

We return white color to gray things

There is a chance to bleach gray synthetics using regular salt. To do this, things are soaked in warm water with added salt - 600 g is mixed in 10 liters of water - after which they need to be rinsed well and washed with powder.

Another way: using soda and ammonia.10 tablespoons of soda and 2 tablespoons of ammonia (3%) are diluted in 10 liters of warm water, the clothes are soaked for several hours (from 3 or more). After soaking, you need to wash with powder to wash out the softened particles that give the fabric a grayish tint.

Advice

If the fabric has turned gray from prolonged use or frequent careless washing, it is unlikely to be bleached. In addition, pellets form on the surface of such clothes, which also give an unkempt appearance, so “reanimating” them will still not give the expected effect.

How to remove yellowness?

White items can turn yellow under the influence of many factors. Sometimes it is quite easy to restore the original whiteness at home, sometimes you have to make an effort, and there are cases when it will no longer be possible to restore the original color, for example, when synthetic fibers have entered into a chemical reaction with chlorine.

Causes of yellowing:

• organic particles;
• traces of perfume or cologne;
• washing in water with a high content of magnesium salts;
• use of untreated water (with rust);
• not thoroughly rinsing after washing (including if the machine’s filter is clogged);
• washing white items with colored laundry powder;
• mold.

Organic particles are traces of our body on clothing. This is not only sweat, but also dead epidermis. If you wear a white item at least once and do not wash it, and then put it in a closet for long-term storage, it will most likely turn yellow. The same thing happens if things are poorly washed after use. You can whiten such yellowness using ordinary laundry soap.

1. Soak clothes in cold or slightly lukewarm water for several hours.
2. Rub with laundry soap (72%) to obtain a rich, dense foam.
3. Pour hot water and soak for about another hour.
4. Wash and rinse thoroughly.
5. Rub with soap again and repeat washing.

Advice

Poorly washed or rinsed items are more difficult to wash, and the procedure may have to be repeated several times.

Small yellow spots that appear some time after washing may well be mold. After all, mold on things can be yellow and whitish, and not just black. To deal with such stains, you can use ammonia. For these purposes, both a technical aqueous solution of ammonia (25%) and the well-known ammonia alcohol, a 10% solution, are suitable. It is used as follows:

• in 10 liters of warm water dissolve 1 tablespoon of a 25 percent solution or 4 tablespoons of three percent ammonia;
• things are soaked for several hours and then washed in the usual way;
• When washing, in addition to soap or powder, you can also add ammonia, but in a smaller proportion.

The same bleaching method is used if the water contains a high content of magnesium salts.

Advice

Ammonia can be added during washing for prevention. Then yellowness does not appear on the clothes.

If yellowness appears from washing in water that has not been treated with rust, in addition to ammonia, you need to add hydrogen peroxide: 200 ml per 10 liters of water. There are two more recipes that can help cope with this problem:

1. soaking in sulfur-containing solutions;
2. use of peroxide bleaches.

A sulfur-containing solution can be prepared from ordinary mustard (powder). 100 g of mustard is thoroughly mixed in a small amount of water and then diluted in 10 liters.Things are soaked and then washed in the usual way. The water for soaking should be as hot as possible, so this method is not suitable for clothes that can be washed up to 50 ºC. More effective is the use of peroxide bleaches.

If possible, you can bleach clothes with sodium hydrosulfite - 2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water. This drug is used to soften water in boilers, so it is sometimes available in the households of residents of private houses. If it is not available, 30 percent hydrogen peroxide (perhydrol or hydroperite) or ordinary three percent peroxide is suitable: 30 ml of hydrogen peroxide or 2 tablets of hydroperite are added to 10 liters of water at a temperature of 30 ºC. To enhance the reaction you can add a little soda ash. Synthetics are soaked in the prepared solution for 20-30 minutes. Soaking is done in plastic containers.

Removing stains

For any synthetics, except acetate fabrics, the following mixture is used to remove stains: 5 parts alcohol, 5 parts tartaric acid, 2 parts citric acid. The result of mixing should be a paste. It is applied to the stain and rubbed in 5-10 minutes before washing.

A few more recommendations for removing stains from light-colored synthetics.

• Sweat stains can be washed off if 2 aspirin tablets are crushed and dissolved in 100 ml of cold water, and the resulting solution is applied to the contaminated areas 2-3 hours before washing.
• Grease stains are removed with salt or chalk. Chalk powder or salt is rubbed into the stain, and after a few hours it is removed with a brush. This method is only suitable for fresh stains.
• Ink stains are removed by soaking and washing the stained area in fresh milk or curdled milk.
• You can try to remove the resulting rust stain with lemon. A lemon wrapped in gauze is applied to the stain and pressed with an iron.

Chemicals for whitening synthetics and removing stains

Chlorine-containing bleaches should not be used on synthetics. However, today there are effective products on sale that can bleach fabric well and do not damage synthetic fibers.

Here are a few products that have proven their effectiveness and are suitable for synthetics.

• Amway Pre Wash Spray. Apply to fabric and wipe with a sponge.
• Antipyatin soap. Things are soaped 10-15 minutes before washing. To enhance the effect, you can add soap to the powder.
• Amway SA8 powder. Suitable only for fabrics that can be washed in water at temperatures above 30 ºС. Added during soaking.

How to avoid stains or yellowing?

How to properly wash and store white synthetic items so that they do not age? There are several secrets.

• Before washing, sort, separating white items.
• Synthetics, wool and cotton also cannot be washed at the same time, as they have different washing temperatures.
• Before washing, underwear should be soaked in cold water for at least an hour.
• Prepare water for washing: for white clothes, use settled or filtered water, and if the water is hard, soften it with soda.
• Do not store white items ironed.
• Do not use optical brighteners frequently: they can be used no more often than after 3 washes.
• Do not put wet clothes in the closet.
• Make sure that the drain filter in the machine does not become clogged.

If you follow these recommendations, you can prevent “unauthorized” changes in the color of light-colored synthetic items.If such a nuisance has occurred and, while taking out your favorite underwear or blouse from the closet, you find stains, a yellowish or grayish tint, the above tips will help you bleach your clothes at home and enjoy the freshness of your clothes.