Washing whites in hot water
Why Do We Wash Whites in Warm Water and Brights in Cold?
Experts break down the fundamental laundry practice of washing white garments in warm water and colorful items in cold water.
Caroline Biggs, Freelance Writer portrait
By Caroline Biggs June 24, 2021
If you're curious about how natural cleaning products work or why baking soda is such a powerful ingredient, you've come to the right place. We'll explain the science behind some of the most popular cleaning methods and tools, so you can you clean smarter-not harder. Follow along with Clean Science to see which technique we break down next.
Make no mistake about it: The correct water temperature is crucial to your laundry. "Water temperature determines the strength of the cleaning process, and selecting the appropriate water temperature for a particular fabric is essential to minimizing damage over time," Gwen Whiting, the co-founder of The Laundress, explains. "The correct water temperature ensures a more effective cleaning and can reduce the chance of color bleeding, warping, or damage to the fabric. " While most fabrics composed of densely woven fibers (like cotton and linen) can typically be washed in warm water without the risk of shrinking or fading, lifestyle and laundry expert Cheryl Nelson, the founder of Prepare with Cher, says that it's smartest to use cool water when in doubt. "Not only can cold water minimize the chance of damage, but it requires less energy, so it's great for the environment and saving money," she explains.
Interested in learning more about why we wash white items in warm water and brightly colored fabrics in cold? Laundry experts share their insight ahead.
clothes spinning around in washer machine
Credit: Getty / Werayuth Tessrimuang / EyeEm
Warmer water leaves whites brighter, but proceed with caution.
While the common trope is to wash all white clothing in hot water, this isn't always the best course of action. Unfortunately, certain fibers can shrink and weaken in hot (above 130 degrees Fahrenheit) water, but won't get a deep, thorough cleaning in anything considered too cold (between 60 to 80 degrees).
The trick? "Wash white linens in lukewarm water, which generally falls between 90 to 110 degrees," Nelson explains. Lindsey Boyd, co-founder of The Laundress, affirms this, adding that warm water is typically recommended because it can effectively lift the accumulation of dirt, body oils, and stains while minimizing the risk of shrinkage. "Both hot and warm water may cause certain fabrics to fade or shrink," she notes. "However, hot water shrinks items to their maximum shrinkage capacity after one wash, whereas warm water will shrink them more gradually over multiple washes."
To ensure your white clothes get a deep, thorough clean in warm water, Nelson recommends washing them on the gentle cycle of your washing machine with similarly hued fabrics. "Don't wash them with colorful fabrics or else the colors may bleed," she warns. "And don't put too many items in the washing machine, as this can cause the fabric to twist or pull."
We wash bright fabrics in cool water to prevent color transfer.
Since colorful fabrics are made with dyes that can fade, bleed, or transfer in hot and warm water, Whiting says bright and dark-hued items (as well as ones composed of delicate fabrics such as cashmere, silk, or wool) should always be washed in cold water (go warmer, and dye transfer becomes more likely). "If you have stains on colorful fabric, you can pretreat the item as you would with white linens," she explains. To give these garments a deep cleaning, Nelson recommends washing them on the gentle cycle with as much cold water as possible so they can move around freely in the machine. "To keep the longevity of your vibrant colors, it also helps to turn your bright linens inside out before washing," she adds.
When in doubt, use cool water.
To avoid accidentally washing your beloved garments and bedding in the incorrect temperature, Whiting recommends setting your washing machine to use the cold water cycle for all loads. "This will minimize the risk of fabric damage," she explains.
And if a white garment sneaks into a load of brights or vice versa, don't fret, says Boyd. "If you notice some dye transfer, you can soak the white linens in a basin or sink of hot water with two capfuls of a bleach alternative and wash as normal with hot water," she says.
Do you wash whites in hot or cold water? |
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Alamy)
By Tara King
last updated
Keeping whites white is something we all want to achieve with our laundry, but do you wash whites in hot or cold water in order to retain their original color?
As a general rule, higher temperatures are the most effective at removing dirt and stains, so if it’s bright whites you’re after, hot water is a good bet. However, that doesn’t mean you go straight in for the hottest cycle setting – there are other things to consider, too.
While your laundry room ideas will create a space that’s stylish and functional, washing savvy is also a prerequisite to keep fabrics looking and feeling as good as new so here we’ve put together a guide to the temperature that’s right for washing whites.
Do you wash whites in hot or cold water?
‘What temperature you decide to wash your whites should be dictated by several things; mainly the material they’re made of – whether white or not, certain fabrics do not do well in heat – as well as the level and type of stain they’ve suffered,’ say the cleaning experts at Essential Living .
Washing standard white loads in hot water every time isn’t the most eco-friendly decision – or the most cost-effective, for that matter. With that in mind, it’s worth taking a little time to understand the best heat setting for your needs – for your sake, your clothes, and the environment, too. This is the lowdown.
Start by reading the garment care label
Regardless of how stained your whites are, it’s important to check out the laundry symbols on the garment’s care label and stick to the recommended water temperature and washing cycle.
‘Polyester blends are best washed using warm water, while cotton can tolerate hot water, for example’, says WeThrift ’s homes expert, Nick Drewe. Make a note of any specific instructions and alter the temperature setting on your washing machine accordingly.
When to wash whites in hot water
Having hotter cycles (130ºF (50ºC) and above) as your default washing machine setting is not necessary for your usual day-to-day laundering. Save on energy bills – and decrease your carbon footprint – by reserving them only for heavily stained items (assuming the fabric can take the heat). Consider making these washes shorter than usual to reduce your energy expenditure even further.
High temperatures kill bacteria, so hot washes are always the best option if someone in the household is poorly, though.
When to wash whites in cold water
Cold water cycles (between 60 and 80ºF (15 and 30ºF) cause the least amount of damage to fabrics, so it’s a good idea to wash garments (white or not) you’re unsure about in cooler temperatures to avoid disappointment when you pull your clothes out of the drum.
If you’re not satisfied with the results, you can always try a slightly warmer setting next time.
‘Delicate whites always require a cool wash (no more than 80ºF (30ºC)) on a delicate or hand-wash cycle,’ says Sally Hughes, founder of luxury laundry care brand, Kair .
When washing whites in cooler temperatures, change your machine setting to a gentle wash and use a specially formulated cold-water detergent to ensure a deep, thorough clean.
If you’re washing at cooler temperatures on a regular basis, it’s worth heeding this caution from Sophie Lane at Miele . ‘Washing at low temperatures for long periods of time can result in bacteria and odors building up in a washing machine,’ she says. ‘Over time, this buildup can cause whites to go gray and dull.’ To prevent this Sophie recommends cleaning a washing machine regularly.
How to wash whites in a washing machine
Hot water cycles are often the default setting on our washing machines, with most people never bothering to change them.
However, based on the above, it’s safe to say this is a mistake. For a standard white wash (ie lightly stained, nothing too set-in), take the time to check your garment care labels. Separate them based on the temperatures required and change your washing machine settings accordingly.
‘I suggest using the warmest water recommended for the fabric – this will help lift dirt and grime which might otherwise dull fabric over time, while minimizing the risk of shrinkage’, says Sally Hughes.
When a hot wash is required, such as for heavily stained items, Sally recommends changing the cycle setting. ‘Most modern machines will have setting options such as heavy duty or whitest whites which can be used depending on the severity of the staining,’ she says.
Pre-treat stains with the correct water temperature
Whether it’s coffee, red wine, chocolate or mud, white clothing does not take kindly to tough stains. Thankfully, practically any stain can be removed with a little extra TLC.
Depending on what the stain is, different pretreatment strategies might be required, often involving different water temperatures, so it’s important to know what you’re dealing with.
Pretreating tough stains with a specialized stain remover then washing according to the garment care label is fine, but there are exceptions. ‘Red wine, chocolate and coffee, for example, can set in further if washed in warm or hot temperatures, so it’s safer to presoak them in cold water first,’ say the cleaning experts at Essential Living.
Do whites have to be washed in hot water?
It’s long been assumed that washing whites in hot water is the only way to ensure bright whites – housekeepers used to boil garments and linens in big pots for hours to get the stains out. These days, that’s just not the case. While there’s a time and a place for hot water washes (more on that in a minute), improvements in washing machines and laundry detergents mean lukewarm water (between 90 and 110ºF (30 and 40ºC)) is perfectly adequate for regular, day-to-day white laundering.
Does washing whites in hot water make them whiter?
While it remains an efficient way of keeping whites bright, regularly washing clothes in hot water comes with its own set of problems – not only can it cause damage to your clothes, but it’s not great for your energy bills or the environment.
Luckily, nowadays, washing whites in hot water isn’t the only way to keep them looking their best. Using a specially formulated cold-water detergent, combined with the right settings on your washing machine, means washing your whites in cooler temperatures can keep them looking fresh and bright.
For 10 years, Tara King worked as a Content Editor in the magazine industry, before leaving to become freelance, covering interior design, wellbeing, craft and homemaking. As well as writing for Ideal Home, Style at Home, Country Homes & Interiors, Tara’s keen eye for styling combined with a passion for creating a happy – and functional – family home has led to a series of organization and cleaning features for H&G.
How to wash white clothes in a washing machine and by hand
A wedding dress, formal blouse or men's shirt, bed linen, a young ballerina's tutu - all these and many other things are united by the fact that they are made of white fabric. And one more thing: sometimes it is very difficult to remove dirt from them, if not impossible. Although, in the age of new technologies, nothing is impossible, and white things at home can be quite preserved in their original form.
Do not wash whites and colors together. nine0003
Table of Table
- 1 White and durable
- 2 The choice of optimum temperature
- 2.1 Procedure for boiling white things
- 2.2 Drawing white items
- 2.3 SINGLAY
- 2.5 Interesting about the poet White and durable
There are many ways to whiten clothes. Some of them are gentle, others can ruin the thing once and for all. For example, the regular use of chlorine bleach leads to thinning of the fabric.
nine0003 To prevent this from happening, washing white items both in the washing machine and by hand must be carried out according to the rules.
- Washing water should be softened, for example by adding 2 tablespoons of baking soda.
- Pre-soaking with powder or soap will make it much easier to remove dirt without rubbing, and this will also thin the fabric.
- Special products for white fabrics will help to get rid of the unpleasant grayness of the product, there are enough of them on sale. nine0012
- Some housewives do not know exactly at what temperature to wash white and light-colored items. Some choose very hot water, others - cold. In fact, it should be warm. This is the optimal temperature for powder dissolution.
- Three tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide in a bucket of water - and washing white socks will no longer be a heavy duty.
- Rinse white items first in warm water, then in cold.
- The bright sun will help to make linen snow-white, you need to hang it under its direct rays.
nine0012
Choosing the right temperature
Can whites be washed in hot or cold water? When using a washing machine, you need to read the instructions on the label to select the desired temperature setting.
Synthetics can be washed at a temperature not exceeding 40 degrees. Clothes and linen made of cotton or linen are washed at a temperature of 60 degrees. They are very dirty - they boil.
Children's clothes are always washed at 90 degrees or boiled due to heavy soiling. nine0003The order of boiling white clothes
White linen has been boiled for centuries, and they do it now. Moreover, boiling is used both before washing and after, if it has not coped with pollution. This method will help get rid of stains and answer the question of how to wash gray and no longer snow-white items of clothing in order to return them to their original color.
- Need a larger, better enamelled container, eg a 2 bucket pot.
It can no longer be used for any other purpose. nine0012 - If the product label does not say that boiling is allowed, it's not worth the risk.
- Greyish or very dirty items should be soaked before boiling.
- Boiling is not only a way to wash white things, it is also used for disinfection.
- Laundry is loaded into a pre-prepared solution with powder or laundry soap.
- Immersion immediately in boiling water will not help to remove greyed things, but will only aggravate the situation.
- For uniform bleaching, the item must be constantly stirred while boiling. nine0012
- To prevent foam from filling the flame, turn off the gas.
- During the entire boiling process, the window must be open, otherwise you can breathe in chemistry.
Another method of washing white clothes is boiling.
Digestion of white things
- In addition to soap, the solution for digestion includes soda ash in equal proportions.
For 1 kg of laundry you need 6 liters of solution.
- Put the laundry in the container with the solution and put it on the fire. nine0011 The process is accompanied by constant turning of the linen with wooden tongs.
- Cooking time for less than 1.5 and no more than 2 hours.
- Transfer the cooled laundry to the rinse water, check the quality of the digestion and wash the stains if they remain.
- Before bleaching, be sure to pay attention to the material of the product and the symbols on the label. It should indicate at what temperature the clothes can be washed. This is important because many of the methods below use boiling water. For example, synthetics cannot be cleaned in hot water, unlike linen and cotton fabrics. nine0012
- If the thing is expensive and you are afraid to experiment, it is better to take it to a dry cleaner.
- If the chosen method did not help the first time, then after washing you can repeat the bleaching in the same or another way.
- What it does. With almost everything: removes stains, yellowness, dullness and even helps restore color to faded things.
- Suitable fabrics. nine0143 Depends on composition.
- Does it. This is a very effective way to combat yellowness and all sorts of stains. The tool can remove even very old dirt. nine0012
- Suitable fabrics. For cotton and linen.
- What it does. This method is just as effective as the previous one. It perfectly helps even with old spots and yellowness.
- Suitable fabrics. For cotton and linen.
- What it does. Boric acid solution is not able to remove yellowness.
But it will save things from dullness and return them to their former whiteness. For example, it will refresh old washed bed linen. nine0012 - Suitable fabrics. For cotton and linen, as well as for synthetics, if it is not boiled.
- What it does. The method is similar to the previous one: it will not get rid of yellowness and strong stains, but it will refresh gray things.
- Suitable fabrics. For everyone.
-
Do not wash whites together with darks and colours. The latter can fade and stain the fabric.
-
Sort light-colored garments by type of fabric. This is necessary because different materials require different temperatures. For example, synthetics can turn yellow from hot water.
-
Check pockets and other hard-to-reach places - they may contain something that will contaminate the fabric when washed. Turn the bedding inside out and shake out any debris from the corners, if any. nine0003
-
If white clothes were washed in the machine before washing, the color of the first sometimes suffers. This happens, for example, with old devices. For reliability, you can clean the machine before washing by running it “idle”, that is, without laundry.
-
Descale the machine periodically.
Blue
White underwear loves blue. This is the name of a special powdered substance. Blue can also be sold in the form of a concentrated solution.
Even grandmothers knew how to wash white diapers or sheets so that they do not turn gray over time. They poured it into a woven bag and put it in warm water. Having received a bluish tint, they washed off the white, and it became boiled. You can still use blue at home. nine0003
Starching
Starched laundry does not get as dirty.
Wash whites correctly in the machine, and only then apply starch.
Half a glass of starch is dissolved in water, which should be taken a little less than a liter. The solution must be mixed properly so that the starch dissolves. Pour water with starch into boiling water (3 liters) and wait until it boils again. In this solution, you need to rinse white things. They need to be ironed while damp. nine0003
Details such as collars and cuffs are starched to become stiff. In this case, a more concentrated starch solution is needed: for 1 liter of water - 2 tablespoons of Starch concentrate. Bring it to a boil and lower the collar and cuffs of the sleeves into it. After holding for 5 minutes, remove and dry on a horizontal surface in a straightened form. Do not dry, iron them with an iron.
So, how to wash white is now clear. How wrong? Not a single housewife puts a colored pillowcase with a white sheet in the washing machine, sheds, bleach later. This is perhaps the main way to prevent white color from changing to some other one.
nine0003
How to bleach white things: 5 proven ways
October 3, 2020 Likbez Tips
These store-bought and homemade products will restore fabrics to their original look.
Points to be noted
1. How to bleach whites with store-bought bleach
There are a large number of different bleaches, chlorine- and oxygen-containing bleaches on the store shelves.
Chlorine products work but can thin fabric and color. They are used only for linen and cotton.
Therefore, it is better to give preference to oxygen bleaches. They are suitable for all fabrics, even delicate ones, and do not require high temperature. This is important if the item cannot be washed in hot water.
Use of bleaches may vary, so follow package instructions. Such products and brands as Persol, ACE, BOS, Eared Nyan, Vanish, Amway have proven themselves to be excellent. nine0003
Most often, clothes should be soaked for several hours in water with bleach and washed.
Or add the product immediately to the washing machine along with the powder.
If the soiling is strong and the fabric allows, you can boil the laundry with bleach for at least 15 minutes and wash it in the machine.
2. How to whiten whites with a mixture of powder, bleach, oil and soda
Place 1 cup (250 ml) of laundry detergent, 4 tablespoons of good bleach powder, and 1 tablespoon of baking soda into a saucepan. Pour in 4 tablespoons of sunflower oil.
Pour 10 liters of boiling water over, stir and put the dry items in. The number of necessary components can be changed by observing the proportions.
Place the pot on low heat for 15-20 minutes and stir the laundry occasionally. Remove from heat and leave overnight or 6-8 hours.
Then wash things in the machine. nine0003
3. How to bleach white clothes with laundry soap and soda
Place the laundry in a container with three liters of warm water. Thoroughly rub each item with laundry soap. Pour 3 tablespoons of soda, mix and leave for several hours. nine0003
Place the saucepan over low heat and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The liquid will be colored, absorbing impurities.
Rinse the laundry in warm water. Do this until it is clean.
4. How to bleach whites with boric acid
Dissolve 2 tablespoons of boric acid in 2 liters of warm water. Leave things in the mixture for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, and wash in the machine.
If the dirt is old, boiling will help. To do this, put the container with things and the prepared solution on a slow fire. It is not necessary to soak clothes. Boil for about 1 hour and throw in the washing machine. nine0003
5. How to bleach whites with a solution of hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and soda
Dissolve 3 tablespoons of soda, 2 tablespoons of peroxide and 2 tablespoons of ammonia in three liters of warm water.
Lay out the laundry and leave for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Then wash in the machine. nine0003
