White clothes look great when they appear clean and bright as new, but very often, the brightness doesn't last. Unfortunately, white clothes tend to lose their glow and fade into an unpleasant pale grey with time. You may try to restore your clothes to their former glory with a number of whitening products, or, you could opt for a more natural and inexpensive method.
There are several methods you can use to whiten your clothes the natural way. These include the use of lemon, white vinegar, borax, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, or exposure from the sun itself. However, on top of all these, we believe in an even better natural method - potassium permanganate.
This chemical can easily be found at pharmacies, and is guaranteed to give the best whitening results to your clothes. All you need is some of this chemical, some water, a washbasin, and a plastic bag.
How to Use It
• Fill the washbasin with 10 liters of water.
• Add a few crystals of the potassium permanganate and wait until it has dissolved well and turns pink. Remember not to add too much potassium permanganate, or else the solution will turn dark purple.
• Add 200g laundry detergent to the water and give it a good stir. If your solution turns into a strange color, do not worry - it is part of the process.
• Place the clothing you want to whiten into the solution and cover the basin with a plastic bag. Let soak for at least 4-5 hours (a good idea would be to leave it overnight).
• After these hours have passed, go back to the basin and uncover it. Remove the clothes from the solution and wring them out well.
Tips:
1. If you hadn't washed the clothes before using the potassium permanganate method, you may place them in the washing machine and wash them as usual. If you had already washed your clothes before using the method, you may simply rinse them in clean water and hang them out to dry.
2. This method is not only inexpensive and natural, it also gives outstanding results. If you see that the clothes haven't whitened as much as you had hoped, you may repeat the process again, until the original whiteness is restored.
You may even want to try this other effective method to "bleach" your clothes, using baking soda.
