Whitening clothes without bleach?

[tsfairy]

All of DS's white shirts are dingy, grey and yukky. I know, I shouldn't put white on a one-year old but they look so cute under overalls.

I need to get them WHITE again. Is there any way I can do it without bleach?

[Spastica]

Add Oxygen based bleaches in your laundry. It's not actually bleach, but a hydrogen peroxide releaser.

[mamimapster]

I don't know how natural the stuff is, but I actually saw Bluing in the store the other day-it's what my Bubbe used on shirts.

[Wolfmeis]

oxygen bleach.

overdo it in a load of whites (like 4 times the rec. amount) and then allow it to soak overnight.

you will be stunned.

I use oxiclean in EVERYTHING. It kills the bad bugs and keeps away that "I waited to long to dry the laundry" stink.

[rootzdawta]

I third oxygen bleach. The stuff is amazing! Set in stains, blood, wine, tomato sauce . . . gone! It's great and from what I understand non toxic.

[tessamami]

Salt and sun

if you can hang them in the sun, it will do wonders. Salt too, in combination.

I add borax or baking soda sometimes to my washing machine during pretreat or wash cycles, it seems to help.

[tsfairy]

Originally Posted by tessamami

if you can hang them in the sun, it will do wonders. Salt too, in combination.

I add borax or baking soda sometimes to my washing machine during pretreat or wash cycles, it seems to help.

I picked up some Oxyclean (well the storebrand stuff) when I went grocery shopping last night. I'll give it a try today.

I tried baking soda yesterday and hung them in the sun for a couple of hours. The shirt that was *just* dingy got pretty white. The other two I realized had stains as well as the dinginess, so I'll see if the oxyclean helps.

[EnviroBecca]

Just wanted to mention that oxygen bleach has to be used in hot water. Cold water does not activate it.

[tsfairy]

Originally Posted by EnviroBecca

Just wanted to mention that oxygen bleach has to be used in hot water. Cold water does not activate it.

Oh er... oops. I didn't realize that. I ran a very small load of just a few whites including DS's tshirts last night with cold water and the generic oxyclean stuff and let it soak overnight. Not all of the stains came out but aside from that everything was REALLY white. I was pretty impressed. Now I can't wait to try it with HOT water.

[Merilin]

What about the good old "lemon juice and sun"-method, works wonders every time.

[Conteuse]

I second the "hang 'em in the sun" suggestion.

If you don't have a clothesline but do have a car, just lay it out in the back window for a few days, and then flip it.

I've never actually used the car method on purpose, but I've had it happen accidentally often enough that I thought I'd suggest it!