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Have your white clothes turned yellow over time? Don't throw them away just yet! In this video, you'll learn a quick and easy method that can help restore yellowed white clothes using simple household ingredients you may already have at home.
Here's what you'll discover:
Why white clothes turn yellow
A simple method to brighten dull white fabrics
Common laundry mistakes that cause yellowing
Tips to keep white clothes looking fresh for longer
How to care for white shirts, socks, towels, and bed linens
Whether you're dealing with old stains, dull fabrics, or yellowed whites, these easy laundry tips can help refresh your clothes without expensive products.
👍 Like, Subscribe, and Turn on Notifications for more cleaning hacks, laundry tips, and simple household solutions that save you time and money.
#LaundryTips #WhiteClothes #CleaningHacks #LaundryHack #HomeCleaning #HouseholdTips #DIYCleaning #StainRemoval #LaundryRoutine #CleaningTips
Have your white clothes turned yellow over time? Don't throw them away just yet! In this video, you'll learn a quick and easy method that can help restore yellowed white clothes using simple household ingredients you may already have at home.
Here's what you'll discover:
Why white clothes turn yellow
A simple method to brighten dull white fabrics
Common laundry mistakes that cause yellowing
Tips to keep white clothes looking fresh for longer
How to care for white shirts, socks, towels, and bed linens
Whether you're dealing with old stains, dull fabrics, or yellowed whites, these easy laundry tips can help refresh your clothes without expensive products.
👍 Like, Subscribe, and Turn on Notifications for more cleaning hacks, laundry tips, and simple household solutions that save you time and money.
#LaundryTips #WhiteClothes #CleaningHacks #LaundryHack #HomeCleaning #HouseholdTips #DIYCleaning #StainRemoval #LaundryRoutine #CleaningTips
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00You pull a white shirt or a good white sheet from the drawer where it has lain a while,
00:04or you take one off the line after many washings, and there it is, no longer white, but gone a
00:11dull, tired yellow.
00:13Or gray, that dispiriting dinginess that creeps over white things over time, no matter how you wash them.
00:20And you think the garment is done, past saving, fit only for the rag bag.
00:25But it very often is not. That yellowing can be drawn right back out, and the good white brought back,
00:33with a few plain things you already have, and I am going to show you the several old ways to
00:39do it.
00:40The gentlest first, so you can whiten your whites again without a cupboard of harsh chemicals.
00:46Let me show you. Here is the thing to understand first, for it tells you why your ordinary washing was
00:52not enough.
00:53White cloth yellows for a few different reasons, and it helps to know which is yours.
00:58Most often, it is a slow buildup of the body's oils and sweat that never fully washed out,
01:05and of the very soap and detergent itself, which leaves a residue that yellows over time,
01:11so the more you wash sometimes, the worse it gets.
01:14And sometimes, it is the water itself, hard water with iron or rust in it,
01:20that stains white things a rusty yellow over the years.
01:23Now, ordinary washing does not lift that built-up residue, nor that mineral stain.
01:29It wants something more, something to break down and draw out what has settled into the fibers.
01:35And the plain old things that do that, an acid, a gentle bleach,
01:40and above all the sun, are what I am going to give you.
01:44Now, let me take you through them, and mind one thing before we start.
01:48Quick word before we go further.
01:50My name is Esther Yoder, and the old household ways handed down to me,
01:54the kind I am sharing today, and a great many more besides,
01:58are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
02:01I have gathered the whole of them into a book,
02:04and you will find it at EliasYoder.com.
02:07If today's tips serve you, that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught me lives,
02:13all in the one place.
02:15Now, to the whites.
02:16But before ever you begin, the one plain rule, read the label on the garment.
02:22Every good piece of clothing has its little care label sewn in,
02:26telling you what it can stand.
02:28And some delicate things, some wools and silks and certain fine fabrics,
02:32cannot take a hot soak or a bleaching.
02:35And you must know that first, before you go dunking a thing that might be ruined by it.
02:40So read the label.
02:42And if it says gentle or cold or no bleach,
02:45you heat it and use only the mildest way, or none.
02:49That is only sense, and it saves a good garment from harm.
02:52My grandmother kept her whites white for a lifetime,
02:55the sheets and the shirts and the aprons and the good tablecloth.
02:59And she had no fancy whiteners at all, only her lemon and her soda,
03:04and above everything, her clothesline in the sun.
03:07She used to say that the sun is the best and cheapest bleach the good Lord ever made,
03:12and free to all, and that a white thing hung in the sun comes back whiter than any bottle can
03:18make it.
03:18So her ways all end at the clothesline, and mine will too.
03:22But let me give you first the soaks and the treatments,
03:26gentlest first, and then the sun that finishes them.
03:29The first way, and the one I would try first,
03:32is a hot soak with lemon and baking soda,
03:35all plain things from your kitchen.
03:37You take a bowl or a basin and fill it with good hot water,
03:41as hot as the garment's label allows.
03:44Into it, you stir a tablespoon of your washing detergent,
03:47powder or liquid,
03:48and a tablespoon of baking soda,
03:51which is a gentle brightener and softens the water,
03:53and helps lift the residue.
03:55And then you take a lemon,
03:57cut it in half,
03:58and squeeze its juice into the water,
04:00for the acid of the lemon is a natural whitener
04:03that cuts through the yellowing and the mineral stain both.
04:07When the lemon meets the soda,
04:08it will fizz a little,
04:09which is only the acid and the alkali greeting each other,
04:13and no harm.
04:14Stir it well with a spoon,
04:15minding the hot water,
04:17and then put your yellowed white things down into it,
04:20pressing them under so they are well soaked through.
04:23And then you leave them to soak a good long while,
04:26two or three hours,
04:28for it is the long soaking that lets the lemon and the soda
04:31work down into the fibers and draw the yellowing out.
04:36When the time is up,
04:37wash the things as you normally would,
04:39and you will see the yellow much lifted
04:41and the white come back.
04:43Lemon and soda and a good long soak,
04:46and hardly a cost to it.
04:49The second way is for the stubborn yellowed patches
04:52and the set-in stains,
04:54the collar and the underarms of a shirt gone yellow.
04:57And it uses hydrogen peroxide,
05:00that mild bleach that comes in the brown bottle
05:03from any chemist,
05:04which is a gentle and color-safe whitener,
05:07far kinder than harsh chlorine bleach.
05:10You make a paste,
05:12a tablespoon of the peroxide,
05:15a tablespoon of liquid soap or detergent,
05:17and a tablespoon of baking soda,
05:20mixed together into a paste in a little dish.
05:23Then you take an old toothbrush
05:25and you dab that paste onto the yellowed and stained places,
05:28the collar, the cuffs, the underarms,
05:32wherever the yellow is worst,
05:33and you gently scrub it in with the brush,
05:36working the paste into the fibers,
05:38and let it sit a little while to work.
05:41Then wash the garment as usual,
05:44or rinse it well,
05:45and the peroxide will have lifted the stain
05:48and brightened the cloth right where you put it.
05:50This is a fine way to spot-treat the worst places
05:54rather than the whole garment,
05:56and the peroxide is gentle enough for most whites,
06:00though, as ever, mind the label first.
06:03The third way is a soak in oxygen bleach,
06:06which is a different and far gentler thing
06:09than the harsh chlorine bleach most folks think of,
06:12and it is worth knowing the difference.
06:15Oxygen bleach, which comes as a powder
06:17you may know as a color-safe
06:19or all-fabric bleach,
06:21works by releasing oxygen
06:23to lift the stains and brighten the cloth,
06:25and it is gentle enough for colors
06:27and safe on most whites,
06:29without the harshness and the fumes
06:32and the fabric weakening of chlorine bleach.
06:35So you fill a basin with warm water,
06:38stir in a tablespoon or so
06:40of the oxygen bleach until it dissolves,
06:42and put your white things down to soak in it,
06:45an hour or so, or longer for a bad yellowing.
06:49Then wash them as usual,
06:51and the oxygen bleach will have brightened them well.
06:54It is the gentlest of the bleaches
06:56and my choice when a soak wants a bleach,
06:59and you can even get it as a spray
07:01to spot-treat a fresh stain,
07:03clinging to the fibers and lifting the stain out,
07:06which is handy for a spill caught quick.
07:10Now here is the rule of safety I set down plainly,
07:13and it is the most important thing I will say today,
07:17so heat it above all.
07:18Never, ever mix any bleach with an acid,
07:22not with lemon juice and not with vinegar,
07:25and never use the one right after the other
07:28on the same thing without a thorough rinsing between.
07:32For chlorine bleach and acid together
07:34make a poison gas that has truly harmed
07:37and even killed folk.
07:39So if you use the lemon soak, that is your acid,
07:42keep the bleach well away from it,
07:45and if you use a bleach,
07:46keep the lemon and the vinegar well away.
07:49Use one way at a time, rinse well between them,
07:53keep good air moving in the room,
07:55and never let the two meet.
07:57I would not have a soul hurt over a white shirt.
08:01Keep them apart and every one of these ways is safe.
08:05And now the finisher, the crown of all of it,
08:08the thing my grandmother swore by,
08:10and the very thing those who sell the bottles
08:13forget to tell you.
08:14Dry your whites in the sun.
08:17After any of these soaks, or even on its own,
08:20hang your wet white things out on the line
08:23in the bright sun.
08:24And the sun will bleach them naturally,
08:26drawing out the last of the yellow
08:28and leaving them brilliant white.
08:30And it costs you nothing at all, not a penny,
08:33only a sunny day and a bit of line.
08:36The sun is a true and powerful bleach,
08:39gentle on the cloth and free to all.
08:42And it has whitened linen for as long
08:44as there have been people to hang it out.
08:46So the whole of the method, done best, is this.
08:50Soak your yellowed whites in the lemon and soda
08:53or treat them with the peroxide or the oxygen bleach.
08:56Wash them and then hang them in the full sun to dry.
09:00And between the soak and the sun,
09:03the yellow is gone and the white is back,
09:06bright as when it was new.
09:08Turn a garment so the sun reaches all of it.
09:11And for a really yellowed thing,
09:13lay it flat in the sun
09:15and let it lie there in the light a good while.
09:18And a few plain habits to keep your whites white
09:22and slow the yellowing in the first place.
09:25For the best whitening is the yellowing you head off.
09:28Do not use too much detergent
09:31for it is the leftover soap that yellows things.
09:34So use only what you need and rinse well.
09:38Wash your whites apart from your colors always
09:41so no color bleeds onto them.
09:43Do not let the sweat and the body oils sit in a shirt.
09:48Wash it before the stain sets and yellows.
09:51And dry your whites in the sun whenever you can,
09:54which keeps them bright and sweet-smelling both.
09:58Keep those few habits and your whites yellow far slower
10:02and want the deep whitening far less often.
10:05Now think a moment about why the yellowing of our whites
10:09came to seem a thing that needs a shelf of special bottles,
10:13a bluing and a whitener and a stain spray
10:16and a color-safe bleach, each bought again and again.
10:21It is worse than a plot, for no one had to arrange it.
10:25There is a great fortune in selling a woman a different bottle
10:29for every laundry trouble,
10:30and none at all in teaching her
10:32that a lemon and some baking soda and a sunny clothesline
10:37will whiten her whites for pennies,
10:39as they did her grandmother's.
10:41So the old knowing that an acid and a gentle bleach
10:45and above all the sun bring white back to white,
10:49which every woman once had by heart,
10:51just stopped being handed down
10:53because no one profits by the telling.
10:56My grandmother's whites were the brightest in the district
10:59and she never bought a whitener in her life.
11:02And somewhere between her wash line and ours,
11:05we were taught that white comes back only from a bottle.
11:09The mending of it is a lemon, some soda and a sunny day.
11:13You read your label first.
11:16You soak your yellowed whites in hot water
11:18with lemon and baking soda a good few hours,
11:22or treat the bad spots with a peroxide paste,
11:25or soak them in the gentle oxygen bleach,
11:28keeping your acid and your bleach always well apart.
11:32You wash them.
11:33And above all, you hang them in the full sun to dry,
11:37and let that free and gentle bleach
11:39draw out the last of the yellow
11:41and bring the white back bright.
11:43And your whites are white again
11:46for the cost of almost nothing,
11:48no shelf of bottles needed.
11:50That is how it comes home.
11:52One soaked shirt, one sunlit line at a time.
11:56The keeping of your own linens back in your own hands.
12:00So here is what I would ask of you.
12:02This week, take that yellowed white thing
12:05you had near given up on,
12:07the shirt or the sheet or the good tablecloth,
12:10and try the lemon and soda soak,
12:12and then the sun the way I showed you.
12:15And then come back and tell me in the comments
12:17how white it came back.
12:19For I do love to hear a good thing saved
12:21that was near thrown out.
12:23And tell me too, while you are there,
12:26your county and the age of your house.
12:28For the hard water and the iron in it
12:30that yellows things worst
12:32runs so different from place to place.
12:34And the old houses have the good clotheslines
12:37and the sunny yards,
12:38and I learn from every one of you
12:41how the washing goes where you live.
12:43And if your own mother or grandmother
12:45had a way of whitening whites I have not named here,
12:48the bluing or the borax or another old trick,
12:52tell me that most of all.
12:54For that is how this goes.
12:55We share what we were given.
12:57I read every comment,
12:59and I learn from you
13:00the way the old women learned from one another
13:03across the fence line,
13:04one wash line and one season at a time.
13:08Next time I will show you the other old ways
13:10of keeping the whole of your wash
13:12bright and sweet and lasting,
13:14the softening and the stain lifting
13:16and the sun drying
13:18that keep a family's clothes and linens
13:20good for years
13:21so that you buy little and mend and keep much.
13:25There is a right and an old way
13:28to keep a household's laundry
13:29that runs on a few plain things
13:32and a sunny day
13:33rather than a shelf of bottles.
13:35But this week,
13:37you start with the one yellowed white.
13:39You read its label,
13:41you soak it in the hot water
13:42with lemon and soda a good few hours,
13:45or treat its worst spots with the peroxide,
13:49keeping your bleach and your acid
13:51always well apart.
13:52You wash it,
13:53and then you hang it
13:54in the full bright sun to dry,
13:56and let the sun finish the whitening for free.
14:00And you will understand,
14:01as my grandmother did at her own wash line,
14:04that the sun is the best and cheapest bleach
14:08the good Lord ever made,
14:09that yellowed white is not ruined white,
14:12but only tired white,
14:14waiting to be drawn back bright,
14:16and that a lemon and some soda
14:19and a sunny day
14:20will do what a whole shelf of bottles promises,
14:23and do it for pennies.
14:25The household kept the plain old way
14:28is the one that remembers
14:30how the old women
14:31kept every white thing
14:33brilliant and bright
14:34with a lemon,
14:35a little soda,
14:36and the sun on the line.
14:38And that is a thing
14:40we are only just starting to remember.
14:42Thank you,
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