To want my whites to stay white!

[KeepingItTogether23]

Somebody help me please, where am I going wrong?

I wash my whites with just whites, sometimes they may have other colours on for instance a white tshirt with a print on or a sock with different colour at the heel and toe.
I use a gel and fabric softener and after a few washes they start going grey! I wash on a 40 all the time regardless what it is I'm washing.
I live in a hard water area (my grandma swears this us the issue)

Any ideas how to stop this? Am I using the wrong products? Do I need to add other products?
Is it so hard to keep crisp white t shirts crisp white 😭

Are you using washing powder? Which one?

Does anyone else do the laundry as well. could they be including colours with whites?

M&S own brand washing capsules for whites are really good.

@CherryMaDeara I use a gel not powder sometimes the surf one, sometimes aeriel. Nobody else does the washing except me

I use Dr beckmans colour catcher sheets in every wash regardless of the load colour. Lidl has boxes of 50.

An aside, but I have often wondered at the traditional washerwomen of India and Nepal, who took my whites, washed them with a bar soap in a river, slapping them on rocks by the edge, and brought back neatly ironed, pristine white clothes that I have never been able to emulate with all my technology!!!

What washing pile should clothes like this go on? Lights, whites or darks? Maybe this is where I'm going wrong

That t shirt is never going to stay very white unfortunately.

Do you hang things outside to dry? The sunlight really does bleach whites noticeably.

@Ascendant15 wow that sounds fascinating, you would think at the age of 27 I should know how to wash clothes properly

That t-shirt shouldn't be in a whites wash, I would put that in lights.

I think that's where you are going wrong. I use non-bio washing powder and all my white towels, bedding and clothes stay white. I would use bio but I have sensitive skin and I think bio is harsher on skin and clothes.

Use powder not gel for whites, add vinegar to the fabric conditioner drawer, dry in the sun as often as possible. Don’t mix loads, try and keep as much “pure white” as possible not white and big patterns. Keep your washing machine clean (do regular hot washes and/or limescale cleanses).

@DuploTrain no, I dont have a washing line unfortunately I do however put on a clothes airer never in the dryer

Sunlight is an excellent bleach.

@KeepingItTogether23, you need "bluing". It used to come as powder or blocks, now you can get liquid as well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=bluing&crid=1WOQAGGB9DB7W&sprefix=bluing

Only completely white clothes in the load, biological gel and a scoop of Vanish White Powder. Dry in sunlight where possible!

I only ever use washing powder as those gels and capsules just clog up the washing machine with gunk and don't seem to wash things properly.

For whites I always use Persil bio, and for darks Fairy non-bio. As others have said, sunshine is excellent for keeping whites crisply white.

I put things with anything that might bleed, even a tiny bit, together if they have previously been washed a few times.

My whites are whiter than white and I use either 40 or 60 wash with a liquid or powder, never use gel. I also ensure they get an extra rinse and dry outdoors when possible. I use unperfumed laundry stuff which has no colour, no softener as it is not great for the environment, or anything else. If I need anything extra for tea stains I use lemon juice or white vinegar before washing and leave it for a while. (Even my whites with coloured bits like tea towels are losing their colour).

Detergent tends to contain optical brightener which is bleach.

One thing to try is wash everything a couple of times with no detergent and see how much shite ccomes out, you will probably see suds in the machine from a build up as gel and pods are pretty gloopy and most detergents don't get washed out properly with the new eco machines that use a teaspoon of water per load.

Getting lots of washing ads now ...

I use the Aldi or Tesco version of the whites powder, and makes a big difference!

If you wash and rinse thoroughly and ensure there is no detergent build up by doing a detergent free wash from time to time you shouldn't need laundry blue.

My neighbours comment on the brightness of my whites and I just ensure they are washed as per my post above.

Dd was asking me about bleaching some white yesterday, I have no idea as I don’t buy bleach! Also, my whites aren’t ever white despite following most of this advice anyway… what kind of bleach do you soak clothes in? And then how do you wash afterwards?

I use vanish. You just add it to the washing powder.

@TheChosenTwo Oxy bleach or without the pong buy sodium percarbonate which is the main ingredient.

Will say again what I said above, whites only with no colour, 40 or 60 wash and try a wash with no detergent to remove build up which makes it dull. No softener. Or get some 20% vinegar and wash in that.

Also worth doing with towels as they hold on to the detergent.

I don’t put anything that isn’t pure white in my whites wash - that t-shirt would go in with the “lights”. Too risky!

I used to use a whitening powder from home bargains but not sure it made much difference.

I use whatever powder or liquid I have in.

That's your problem. Use a powder.

If they are going a bit grey (and more recently pink, from a stray red top) these are my steps.

1. Soak in cold water with a small amount of bleach for an hour.

1. Rinse and soak in boiling water with salt for as long as possible.

1. Hot wash.

1. Dry on line.

Never fails for me.