11 November 2023 , 11:24
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Keeping your white bedsheets as crisp and bright as they were the day you bought them is no mean feat. Over time they can easily become dingy, with yellowish stains or a grey hue becoming visible, despite the fact you are regularly cleaning them - which can leave you feeling seriously disappointed.
White bedding losing its shine is a really common issue and it happens because they are subjected to the oils and sweat that emit from our bodies overnight, every night. If you are starting to notice that your whites just aren't as bright as they used to be, experts have just the tips for you to make them dazzle again. The best part is you probably have some of these products in your home already.
Bedding experts from mattress company Saatva explain on their website that there are a few easy ways you can handle white bedding that has lost its brightness. Firstly, they recommend using a combination of baking soda and vinegar - both incredibly cheap household items - to tackle the issue. Vinegar is, in particular, worth trying because it is "a powerful cleaning agent, able to dissolve grease and grime and kill bacteria."
They advise that you add "half a cup of baking soda to the drum of your washing machine. Then add some vinegar to your fabric softener dispenser," before running your washing machine as you usually would. It's important that you don't mix the two, however, as they will "neutralise each other", leaving the process "essentially useless."
Baking soda can be purchased from Amazon for as little as £3.66 for 500g, which will last for a long time - and Tesco sells vinegar for just 29p.
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Another option they recommend is lemon juice, which will leave a fresh, citrusy smell that many people are likely to prefer to vinegar. Lemon juice is also acidic, so it works in the same way to get rid of bacteria. "You can squeeze the juice of one lemon and pour it into the washing machine along with the detergent," they explain.
As an alternative, a "solution of half a cup of lemon with one gallon of hot water" can be used to "soak the sheets" for a couple of hours, or even overnight. It's important to check first that your sheets can tolerate the hot water, however. After you've done this, the sheets can be washed as usual.
You can also use bleach to brighten up your white bed sheets, but they advise you need to be "careful" with this option. This is "because the chlorine in bleach can chemically react with the proteins contained in body fluids and cause yellow stains to appear." So the experts advise first washing your bedding normally, to make sure any bodily fluids are already removed, before running a second cycle to which you add bleach.
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