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 😭

Use powder not gel or liquid.

Dry outside. Or if not outside, on a hanger at a window. The sunlight really is magic.

Is laundry day a headache for you?

Mine does, it's called optical brightener.

Whites only. I use powder and I add scoop of vanish/napisan/Dr Beckmanns glo-white sheet, whatever I have to hand to every white wash and my whites are sparkling! I also treat any stains prior to washing for any wash I do.

Optical brightener is bleach. It is in most detergents.

Be careful with using these, they can clog up the filter very easily. After forking out to have mine repaired I’ve switched to these - much more eco-friendly and I’m much more disciplined separating colours out.

For whites I use washing powder and bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar on stains/underarms.

I put my white sheets and towels in a 90C wash every week. They stay white.

Where do you buy sodium percarbonate? I’ve looked many times.

I use ace laundry bleach

Same with me, I’d started to think it was a Mumsnet myth. And I live somewhere very sunny!

my particular problem is stains round the neck. It’s not from makeup, just SPF moisturiser I imagine. I always end up throwing white tops away after just a few wears.

Me too. I only wash things that I want to keep white, in a whites wash. I also put a scoop of white laundry stain remover in each wash.

Optical brighteners aren't actually bleach. They are fluorescent materials that can absorb UV light and emit visible (blue–violet) light. Once deposited on fabrics, they enhance the whiteness or brightness appearance of white or lightly coloured fabrics.

When I was little I think my mother used something blue to put in with the whites

"Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Liquid Bluing - Great for Laundry - 8-ounce Bottle (Pack of 2) : Amazon.co.uk: Grocery" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mrs-Stewarts-Concentrated-Liquid-Bluing/dp/B009M7ESPA

Found them

"Reckitts Crown Blue Squares ~ 4 Piece Pack : Amazon.co.uk: Fashion" https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BN090GQ/ref=sspa_mw_detail_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

I once had this issue for quite sometime, the washing machine engineer found a blue sock trapped in the pump!

It’s absolute bollocks that’s why. If the sun ‘bleached’ everything that effectively you’d hang out a line of colours in the morning and they would be white by teatime!

Sun will bleach colour eventually but you’d need to hang your white t-shirt out in the Mojave desert under the raging sun for 2 years for it to get rid of a big tomato ketchup stain.

I always used ariel washing powder but switched because of the price of it going up so much, used surf liquid for a bit but the whites started looking not so white so I bought a box of Daz and now the whites are back white.

I also noticed the washing machine started to smell a bit damp when using the liquid which is why I always used powder anyway but that's also gone now.

Fabric softener tends to leave a build up residue as well I find after a while so I don't use that unless washing baby grandsons clothes.

And lastly the sun will get some stains out, my ds spilled pasta bake down his tshirt in the week, stain still there after washing but stuck it on the line and left it out overnight and brought in following evening and the stain had gone.

Oh and I can't bleach clothes I have no idea how to do it correctly, last time I ended up with a ruined top full of holes 😂 I think I used too much

They rinse whites with something called "blueing". It's a teeny bit of blue dye that makes white look white rather than grey. I've been using it in all my white washes and it's definitely helping. I got it on Amazon. Watch YouTube for instructions though as you can sue your washing blue if you're not careful!!!

Optical brightener isn't bleach. It's a 'fluorescent whitening agent' that reflects a blue-tinged light, making white look whiter. Most white fabrics are pre-treated with it, so the compound in your detergent replaces what it washed out.

Bleach is a chemical reactant. Brightener is a coating.

Any advise on white socks? I'm struggling to get my daughter's school socks to look white again, particularly on the sole of the foot. Is this a lost cause?

Yes this. I have a chemist friend who works in formulating laundry products and ever since talking to her about it I use powder (biological, there's literally no point in non bio if you actually want to remove stains or keep things white) for my whites and lights.

I use liquid for the darker stuff as I don't want the bleaching effect of the powder.

Our clothes all last so much longer since I started doing it this way years ago.

Also agree with others that drying in sunshine really does help

I always used ariel washing powder but switched because of the price of it going up so much, used surf liquid for a bit but the whites started looking not so white so I bought a box of Daz and now the whites are back white.

This is the other thing my chemist pal said - for whites you want a cheaper powder as they'll be bulked up with more bleach than the pricier ones. So surf, daz, own brand powders are better than the likes of Ariel and Persil for whites

Couple of tips from me

Always use powder not gel (it's much better as getting clothes clean)

Always put them on a long wash - not a quick one. I use an eco wash (takes 2hours 40 minutes!!!) but the clothes spend so much time just in water that it gets them much cleaner than shorter wash

Always put in a scoop of white vanish with every wash

Dry outside when you can, or if inside angle the drying rack to be in sunshine as much as you can (the sun bleaches washing, especially tomato based stains)

I found co-op non bio best for whites. High temperatures knock bio and bleach on the head so do a quick pre wash at 30c to let the powders work at their best when dealing with really dirty stuff then wash as normal.