My post about getting armpit stains out of t-shirts apparently struck a nerve or something. It has received almost 100,000 pageviews and is the 2nd most viewed post of all time! Apparently I’m not the only one obsessed with concerned about white clothes being WHITE. While getting the armpit stains out of my sons’ t-shirts and out of my camis was very satisfying indeed…my quest to salvage perfectly good articles of clothing from the trash merely because they have lost their lustre, continues. This past weekend however, I feel like I made a breakthrough of sorts and feel compelled to share.
Once again I drag out my poor stained, dingy camis as my “makeover” victim recipient. This particular cami had not had the armpit stain removal method applied to it yet…so it had that AND the gray, dingyness going for it!
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In my numerous field trips to the laundry section of the grocery store, searching for answers to this age old dilemma…I spied the Rit dye section. That is how desperate I was to reclaim my white clothings’ glory days! I was actually considering dyeing them white! lol. Well, it turns out, at least in my store…they don’t sell WHITE DYE…but they DO sell this stuff called Rit Laundry Treatment Fabric Whitener. Oooooo…..that sounded promising!! So what if it was almost $3.00 for one teeny tiny envelope of “treatment”…enough for one load of wash. SOLD! My desperation was clouding my frugal judgment at this point!
Long story shortened…I bought it home…used it…was fairly impressed with the results…but wanted more! (That’s the addict in me talking, in case you were wondering.) But the thought of buying a bunch of those tiny little envelopes for $3 a pop was dampening my enthusiasm for the project. Of course my curiosity is rarely dampened and I decided to look into this further.
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My friend Google and I spent some quality time together figuring out what was in this magical little envelope of whiteness. Ingredients listed are sodium chloride (Salt, if my high school science doesn’t fail me) and Optical Brighteners. What the heck are optical brighteners??? Turns out Optical Brightening Agents (or OBA’s) are designed to mask yellow or brown tones in fibers and make the fabric look cleaner and brighter than it would otherwise appear to the naked eye. In other words, the “dingyness” is made invisible to the eye in an “optical manner”. Crazy huh? But not crazy enough for me not to give it a try!
My reporter instincts were definitely in overdrive now as I was determined to track down these “optical brighteners” for my laundry room
Turns out it was “hiding” in the laundry section of my store all along and I never saw it! It’s called White Brite and it sells for about $4.00 for a 22 oz bottle (a much better value!)
I followed the instructions on the bottle for pre-soaking and mixed 1/2 cup White Brite in a plastic container with 1 gallon of warm water and let soak for about 20-30 minutes, then washed as usual.
Here are the “after effects”: 
Bottom line: My whites are definitely whiter! Which makes me definitely HAPPIER! But, I have to admit…I wonder about these “optical brighteners”. Are my clothes REALLY cleaner/whiter? Or is it all just an illusion??? (Or do I even CARE if it’s an illusion or not?) Who knew laundry could get so complicated! :-)
I have a feeling this laundry saga continues………..
[…] my wallet, which puts a damper on my nerves! So I started to look into other options. I came across a product called White Brite and decided to give it a try; it only cost four dollars so what the hey, why not. I followed the […]
Could not find the White Brite so picked up some stuff called Cloralex, trying to get the dingies out of old baby clothes. On one particular hand crocheted blanket used some Dawn and vinegar on a 15 year old formula stain, came right out!! Then threw it in with the rest of the wash. All in all this is some pretty good stuff and on the label I later noticed that it’s “power booster” is, wait for it, wait for it,
VINEGAR!!!! Will try the White Brite if I ever find it but am happy with result on Cloralex.
Does it work on white t-shirts with designs on them? My problem is I want to get rid of the pit stains but keep the designs on… Dress Up Celebrities
You might want to try this: https://onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/11/goodbye-to-yellow-armpit-stains.html
I have used dish washing detergent and it has worked pretty amazing. Have you tried that in comparison to the other things?
Just curious….did you try hydrogen peroxide? I was up late last night reading your post about it, and ran out to buy 3 big bottles of it. As I type it’s bubbling away on my shower tiles, hope it works!
I love reading your blog…
[…] am taking my blog inspiration from one of your comments. Karen left a comment today on my post “Whitening Whites…” saying that ever since she started making her own all-natural deodorant, she hasn’t had any […]
My gandmother taught me to soak yellowed and even mold stained clothes in a solution of 2 parts water to 1 part automatic dishwasher machine detergent. A strong paste can be made for more stubborn areas. Let it soak for a day at least and wash as usual. It very rarely requires a second treatment.
Bought some of this yesterday & gave it the old college try with mixed results.
My white wash cloths (for face only because how do you know your face is clean without one) & white kitchen rags/towels are now a brighter shade of dingy. Not what I was hoping for, but better than what I had!
The white socks & all of the guy’s dingy undershirts look fabulous!!
Thanks for another great tip, Jillee!
Or you could just take a bar of white soap, and either put it on your hands, then rub it on the shirt, or rub the bar onto the stains. It’s a lot cheaper, and works much better! :)