How to get clothes and towels looking fresh white again

People took to the comment section to share their thoughts, with one person writing: “Oxiclean powder, use 2-3 scoops and let soak for 8 hours. Hang dry outside on a sunny day. Repeat once or twice if needed..

“Oxiclean works better than chlorine bleach — there’s no yellowing.”

Someone suggested: “Many white fabric items have optical brighteners (sometimes called fluorescent whiteners) in them from the manufacturers that wears away over time or with heavy stripping and chlorine bleaching processes. A lot of oxygen bleach products (like oxi-clean or Nellie’s Oxygen Brightener, etc.) have optical brighteners in them that can add that extra level of crisp white back in!

“Source: I work at a fancy clothes cleaning place and ran into this exact problem on white dress shirts appearing duller after chlorine bleaching. I now add a bit of commercial grade optical brightener with my washer loads for dull/stripped whites and it does wonders. Good luck!”

A third added: “Get some Bluing for laundry. Follow the instructions verbatim or you’ll have blue streaks. It’s the way we use to do it years ago. Sunlight is also a great bleaching agent after you wash the clothes hang them in the sun for the day if permissible. Good luck.”

Another commented: “We used to be on well water that had a fairly high iron content. We eventually realized that chlorine bleach was pulling the iron out of the water where it was then free to stain the whites.

“We stopped using bleach altogether and used Oxiclean on our whites instead. At least on the newer clothes, the dingy whites were no longer an issue.”

A fifth said: “Do a laundry stripping, but add White Brite!

“1 scoop tide powder detergent with Oxy 1/4 cup borax 1/4 cup washing soda 1/4 cup White Brite powder

“I mix hot water and the powders in a gallon pitcher, fill my washer with the clothes and hot water, pour it in, pause the cycle, and let it set for a few hours.”

Do you have any cleaning tips for clothes?