White washing question (very, very boring - apologies)

[BlossomHill]

Can anyone give me advice to get my white washing, really brightly white. I have just done a white wash and my dd's white school socks look awful (they are only a week old) and all of ds's school t-shirts look off white. Any help on this extremely boring dilemma would be gratefully received.
I think I need to get a life!!!!

I use a scoop of Oxi clean (blue tub in supermarkets about £5) on my nappies - if it can work on them it can definitely work on socks

I've also just bought a box of Glo-white which I've not used yet in an attempt to revamp my white towels - here's hoping!

Wash at 90 regardless of label with bio powder. Do another rinse afterwards if you're concerned about skin reactions with bio.

What an exciting life i lead....

do you use a bio or non-bio powder? It really makes a difference (providing dd does not have sensitive skin)

Also if t-shirts are high cotton content you can wash them at 50 or 60 degrees instead of 40, that will help.

I use non biological tesco own and ONLY wash white's together.

I live in Scotalnd, and the water is softer, but i have never had any probs. Also wash at 40C

As I type this, I realise that is no help at all sorry

Napisan. Even Gordon Ramsay uses it to keep his chef white's white! (Why I know this, I don't know. Think it's taking up a lot of brain cells?)

I use Napisan as well. Also agree with doing whites separately.

only ariel on a v hot wash seems to get whites really bright-oh god I sound like an ad but I love really clean washing

another vote for napisan, washing with bio powder does make a difference, but ds has eczema so i have to rely on napisan and the odd grey bra

Thank you. I am off to but some Napisan tomorrow. Can you get it from any supermarket?

I'm quite freaky about my whites - anything cotton goes in at 95 - even if the label says otherwise. Some non-cotton things too, but not my bras. And I never ever ever mix colours. The only exception is a pair of particularly pale pink socks! Even white knickers with dark pink trim go in with the coloureds. It seems to work - convinced it's the temperature and not mixing, rather than the detergent. I'm really very sad about washing.....to the extent that I'm delighted to have enough pink clothes know to justify a pink wash. And that I sometimes choose what to wear on the basis of what colour clothing wash I'll be puting in next....oh dear

You could use a very minute bit of bleach if the whole washing is white. and give it an extra rinse. or soak them in a bucket with a tiny bit of bleach it works for me.

I do everything on 40, but I do whites separately. I use bio powder (Ariel tablets to be precise) and I put in a scoop of Vanish Oxy Action if they are really grubby (shocking pink tub). My whites are white, despite only washing on 40 degrees!

hatter I have to agree when I realised I had enough pink for its own wash I got v excited dp thinks Im mad!Also love the clothes to smell nice and drape them all over the house to dry so I can smell it in all rooms

Hatter do you think we could have been separated at birth? I do all my washing on one day (have one of those bigger machines, big whirligig thing in the garden and a dryer since you ask) and get a real thrill when I stare into the empty linen basket. My tips for whites are soak first (vote for biotex here) and then wash hot and long with whatever cheapy bio liquid you have to hand. Line dry in the sun for further bleaching effect.

So I can use Bio on the kids stuff too ?? I always thought i should use non bio.

My whites are awful.

I only ever used non-bio when they were tiny and introduced bio when they were about a year - some tend to irritate dd's skin but most are ok.

I only use a 40 wash and have to use Non-Bio due to DS1 skin - but I have found that doing the kids school polo shirts/socks/knickers/white shirts etc on their own and shoving in a Glo-white sachet helps keep their "whiteness".

Might look out for the Napisan/Oxi clean when I'm next shopping - thanks for the tip