How can I make my white tops white again?

[WomanAtTheWell]

Has anyone got any brilliant ideas for getting my vest tops white again? I'm overseas so no access to vanish-type products. I'm thinking of trying to boil them on the hob (washing machine only works on a 40 programme) do you think that would work?

Can I hop on the back of this and bump!
DS has started school this week and already I have stained white polo shirts to wash! What is the best way to keep them white - I am in the UK but is vanish to put directly onto the stain to work before washing better or just add the vanish powder stuff to the drawer with washing powder?

For stains,I use good old washing up liquid squirted onto th stain

Soak in diluted bleach?

Really Saltire...washing up liquid? For whites? And it really works? Suppose it's usually the simple things that DO work!

I thought about bleach, but I have some things with coloured trims so not for them. Will try the washing up liquid idea though - thanks!

I've found Napisan is really good if you soak the whites in it overnight (or longer) - DP has to wear butcher's whites for work, which as you can imagine come home absolutely minging, and this seems to have shifted the worst of the ground-in crap and improved the overall whiteness. I also add a scoop of soda crystals in with the detergent, but I'm not convinced they make a lot of difference to whiteness or stains, they just seem to make the detergent more effective and stop the machine getting too furred up.

Don't do what I did and put a big squirt of washing up liquid into the machine though- OMG the bubbles!

I tried bleach once on something white nad went a sort of pissy pale yellow

I use wash up liquid all the time, it's especially good on grease stains on t-shirts, tops etc.
And if it's the Dses clothes or DHs rugby stuff and they are muddy, I put a wee squirt of it in with the washing liquid too

Any suggestions for my bath towels? They've gone grey and I've tried soaking them in vanish and bleach, washing with vanish and bleach and boiling them. They're still grey :(

dye them a completely different but lovely colour? (i am rubbish at keeping whites white!)

Seemingly an old way of dealing with the greyness was to use a tiny bit of blue dye. I've never tried it though and it seems a bit dodgy.

Again, you have made me feel very old! Blue was usually wrapped in a little piece of gauze and little was scraped into the wash. Basically a touch of blue would make whites seem whiter.

To keep washing white will very much depend on the fabric... bleach applied to non-natural fabrics will turn them yellow, so test it first. I can remember my mother boiling up whites each week... and frankly that was always the best way to keep cottons white.

sunshine is good... but I assume you live in uk?

Oily stains use washing up liquid. Very dilute bleach solution, Milton or napisan for coloured stains and dinginess (eg caused by colour running)

The blue stuff (dolly blue) is still used in lots of places around the world. You can get a similar effect by using some blue fabric conditioners, as a small amount of the dye can stay on your clothes.

Use powders or tablets rather than laundry liquids, as the liquids contain no bleach. Also don't use "colour" products on whites as they contain no optical brighteners which is the stuff you need to keep them zingy.

bicarbonate of soda?

washing up liquid contains a good form of acid and lifts all kinds of stains.

A small squirt of bleach on a boil wash will help.

Bizarre question but is your washing machine clean?? Inside I mean. If there is a build up of products inside that can make things grey.
Its a long process but, a boil wash with bleach on its own (a good glug into the drum), followed by a boil wash with a bottle of white vinegar (in the drum) will help remove scum and gunk that can land on the clothes.
I dont think liquid detergents work, good old fashioned powder is the best. And you only need 1/3 of what the Manufacturer states to use. They suggest more in each wash to make you buy more.

I hope that helps

BMB

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Captain - not in the UK but the sunshine (and there's been a lot over the summer) hasn't helped - I kept leaving things out but still marked.
BMB - machine probably is dirty. Our water comes from a well and when the level is low the water is decidedly sludgy which I realise probably isn't helping! Will try suggestions and hopefully not look quite so slovenly dressed

A big squeeze of dishwasher liquid (the kind that cleans, not salt or rinse aid) is designed to remove food and I use it in a bowl in v hotwater (just off boiling from the kettle).

Leave to soak for one hour and then wash in machine. Seems to work fairly well.

If you are overseas and so have limited access to products, I think it would be good to just boil them up in a large pan with some washing powder. Boil for quite a while - 30 mins or so at least and just keeping poking it with the blunt end of a wooden spoon.

I do this with DD's facecloths (though I use napisan here) and they absolutely gleam. You can use napisan in the machine too.

Are you in a 3rd world country? Reason I ask is we used to live in one and didn't have access to many products. I used to buy the Omo for handwashing and as someone else mentioned, it had a bit of blue in it which helped to whiten things. (Napisan has a bit of blue in it too).

Thanks Deux - I'm in E Europe but I think there are probably some Omo type products here. I'd never realised why the blue was in it! Napisan isn't available as far as I know, or certainly not in the village where I live but I'll probably give the boiling pot technique a try tomorrow.