Do your whites/creams keep their shop "brightness"?

[watersign76]

Hi

Obv this could be a good housekeeping thread..but I thought the S & B ladies would know..

Another cream cardie has lost it's brightness that it had in the shop.I washed it with my "whites" which did include a few light but not white items, so that could be the problem. Have noticed this with other coloured items, they loose their brightness.

Anyone else experience this? Or found an answer?

TIA

I bleach my whites by leaving them out in the sun.
The UV rays really do their job.
Ironing also helps.

Why would you wash a cream cardigan with whites? You need to wash very pale colours with the same very pale colours - white with white, cream with cream, pale pink with pale pink etc.

Only ever wash whites with whites - not even whites with little bits of colour in.
Separate your washing like a mad woman and you will find they keep their colours well. I do:

Towels (white)
Towels (cream or pale blue)
Pale items
Very pale items (!) to include whites with bits of colour
Dark items
Bright items especially red/pink/yellow (will separate if there are enough of one colour)
Woollens - pale
Woollens - dark
Tea towels and cloths - these are all white and go on a 60 or 95 wash
Whites

Hang out whites in the sunlight, and don't let darks or brights hang on the line for too long.

TBH you have to be quite committed to this washing malarky but it works for me and my mental health issues....

Ok thanks.

I don't think I own anything else cream, hence lobbing it in with whites.

Also we have seperate washing bins (DH does his own) which doesn't lend it's self to precision colour sorting, which I guess is the answer from what you have said.

Need to decide how much I want the shop "sparkle" I guess.

Thanks

If you go to homebargains (cos it's cheaper there) you can get colour run remover which will get any dingyness out of it.

I've used it loads on cream stuff.

I'm glad you asked this question. My whites are never white enough for me after a few washes so are rarely worn. I'm an avid separator into colour piles but that very faint grey seems to creep in. Will try hanging in bright sunshine.

I agree with the others, my lights always lose some of the dullness when they've had a bleaching in the sun. White school polo shirts always look more drab in winter than they do in summer.

I swear by GloWhite sachets in my white washes.

also using colour collector sheets really help as well as sorting colours well before washing.

Napisan with whites for me and then sun blasting. Gets rid of the grey -ishness and fine for eczema -y skin. Won't do cream any harm either

GloWhite

Aha!

I use Napisan as well, gets whites really white. And I agree that sunshine is the best for really bright whites

GloWhite is just optical brighteners, which will eventualy turn grey.

turn grey? What? How? Plady.

Due to deteriation under the effect of light, moisture and/or atmospheric oxygen. I did have to google that to find out why!

glowhite for emergency whiteness, but persil bio powder and sunshine are the answer to whiteness for me.

The sun makes a huge difference.

I use colour catchers if I do a mix wash - pale with cream, never dark with pale colours though. That is where madness lies.