Homemade Detergents and getting whites Clean

[shellyr44]

I made homemade detergent last winter, felths naptha, borax and washing soda. My whites looked awful. They kept getting dingier and dingier. Is there any thing else I can use on my whites that will help with this. I will not use chlorine bleach but will buy a non-chorine bleach if needed. this just seems to go against the homemade laundry detergent thing.

[fin29]

I use the Clorox version of OxyClean for the whites. It works fine with homemade detergent.

[hollym]

my grandmother told me that vinegar rinse and laying things out in the sun would whiten them. I helped her wash some really old things from a trunk one time, it worked on white cotton.

hollym

[nodak3]

If you have hard water, you may need to go back to detergent. Or, you can add a water softener, or use more of the homemade stuff. Depending on your particular water, you may need to use really really really hot water. Optical brighteners can make dirty stuff look cleaner. However, without the brighteners, if it looks dingy and dirty, it is still dirty. Just not hidden.

[Cyngbaeld]

People used to add 'bluing' to the final rinse to make white clothes white.

[boonieman]

My well water looks crystal clear, but has lots of iron in it. It doesn't take long at all for white to get dingy and yellow looking really quick. If it's iron in your water, this will keep your whites really white. Once they're dingy, it will bring back some of the brightness, depending on how long they've gone. I've tried all the oxy-based products and a bunch of other stuff and I haven't found anything that comes anywhere close to this. You can use it for iron stains in tubs and toilets too. No scrubbing, just let it soak. I find it at Walmart or Lowes the cheapest.

http://www.ironout.com/brands/IronOut.aspx

[SmartAZ]

Bluing only counteracts the yellowing you get when you dry the clothes in sunlight. If you use bluing, follow the instructions. Don't skip the part about mixing it with a quart of water before adding it to the wash. You will get permanent blue stains wherever it hits the clothes.

[Wolf mom]

Bluing works as a hair rince if you bleach your hair & it gets to that "brassy blond " stage, it'll get rid of the "brassy blond" look. Yes. dilute first.

[shellyr44]

Thanks everyone. I've used ironout before. They have a product called yellow out but my husband, who is a pipefitter/plumber says these two products are very bad for your pipes (plumbing) and very custic. I found a product called Vivid that seems to workand it has nothing to screw up my septic system. Now I just Have to find my recipe I had for homemade laundry detergent. Help!

[kesoaps]

I find a powdered laundry soap works great. Just shred your soap, mix equal parts borax, soap, and washing soda. I actually just do soap and baking soda, as I'm unable to find washing soda easily here, and borax is too expensive (IMO); the clothes still get clean.

[MarleneS]

If any of these suggestions are going into your septic system you need to check with our resident spetic guy, Cabin Fever, and find out if they might harm your system. He just loves talking about septic tanks.

Hugs
Marlene