How to Bleach a White Shirt

Is your white shirt starting to look a bit “faded” or “gray”? You want to find the “like new” white shirt again? With just a little bleach, you can do it! For many fabrics, bleach is a quick, simple and economical way to return its pure white color. However, if the fabric of the shirt cannot withstand the bleaching power of bleach, you do not need to worry. You can still whiten your shirt thanks to the bleaching power of sunlight.

Table of Contents

Soak in bleach

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Put the shirt in a bucket of cold water. Use bleach to bleach your clothes. First you need to put the shirt in a bucket, bowl or other sturdy and suitable container. Fill the shirt with cold water by at least a few centimeters.

You can soak other types of white clothes with a white shirt. It’s more effective when you bleach multiple outfits instead of bleaching just one shirt. Underwear, socks, pillowcases, and white towels are all washable. If you put these items in, you need to add water so that when pressed down, the clothes are submerged at least a few centimeters in the water.
You should use a container large enough to have space to stir and turn the clothes while soaking. Clean buckets for construction are a great choice. You can look for buckets with lids to prevent accidental spills, as well as reduce the amount of gas that rises (if any). Other common containers include large cooking pots, bathtubs, or washing machines.

Add bleach. Bleach bottles often have recommended dosage instructions available. Different types of bleach have different concentrations. If you only need to soak a white shirt, you only need to use a few spoons. However, if you soak a bunch of white stuff, you can use up to 1 cup. ^{[1] X Research Source} In general, the recommended dosage is about 1/4 cup of bleach per 3.8 liters of water. ^{[2] X Research Source} If the clothes are soiled, instead of just bleaching, you need to use other detergents to increase the cleaning effect. Some laundry detergents you can add are: ^{[3] X Research Source}

Dishwashing liquid
Solder powder
Baking soda for washing
Note : Never mix bleach with ammonia because it can produce toxic chloramine gas. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

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Soak the shirt for about 5-10 minutes. You will have to stir the liquid in the bucket to make sure the shirt (and/or any clothing in the bucket) is evenly soaked in the liquid. Next, set the timer for 5-10 minutes and wait for the bleach to take effect. Stir every few minutes to make sure the shirt is completely soaked.

Do not soak the white shirt for too long. Even fabrics that are safe to bleach like cotton and linen are damaged, and the fibers weaken if exposed to bleach for a long time. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Wash clothes in cold water. After soaking, remove the shirt from the bucket of bleach and wash it under cold, clean running water. This step helps to remove bleach and other chemicals from the fabric. If left to dry, these substances can leave an ugly residue, a strong chlorine smell, irritate the skin and can stain clothes.

Squeeze the water dry. After washing and removing bleach and other laundry products from your shirt, you need to wring or twist to remove excess water, then simply dry as usual. For most people, the simplest option is to use the dryer or hang it on a line to dry as usual.

However, you can air dry your clothes naturally. Drying white shirts in the sun actually has a mild “bleaching” effect, making whites whiter (read below for more details). Although not as obvious as with bleach, sunlight does help with bleaching.

Use bleach and washing machine

Removes stains instantly. The above method is not the only way to whiten white shirts. You can use bleach in your washing machine’s normal wash cycle to whiten clothes with minimal effort. First, if there is a stain on the shirt, you need to use a tissue, a spoon or any other tool available to remove the stain from the shirt. The sooner the stain is removed, the longer the shirt will stay white.

For stubborn stains that are difficult to remove, you should rub a mixture of baking soda and water on the stain. The baking soda will slowly absorb some of the stain, which you can then scrub with a brush.

Pre-treat stains with laundry detergent. Next, pour some laundry detergent directly onto the remaining stain on the shirt. Use a soft-bristled brush (which you don’t use to brush your teeth) to scrub away the stain. Let the laundry detergent soak into the shirt before washing. This way, the detergent can adhere to and soften the stain, making white clothes whiter in the long run.

If you don’t have laundry detergent, you can mix a teaspoon of detergent with water and use it as directed above.

Put the shirt in the washing machine and then add bleach. Next, put your pretreated white shirt (and any white clothing you’re washing) in the washing machine. At this point, you can add bleach. The exact procedure will vary depending on the type of washing machine. Guidelines for the most common types of washing machines are: ^{[6] X Research Source}

Washing machine with bleach compartment: Pour bleach into the bleach compartment, up to the indicated line. The washing machine will automatically drop bleach into the drum when the time is right.
Washing machine without bleach compartment: Start the wash cycle, then add detergent and 1/2 cup bleach to the water. Finally, put the clothes in the washing machine.
Very large washing machine: Use the bleach drawer as directed above (if available). If the washing machine does not have a bleach compartment, add 1 cup of bleach to the water after the wash cycle begins.

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Turn the washing machine on to the highest temperature setting allowed. Everything is ready for you to start turning on the washing machine. For maximum cleaning and whitening, you should turn on the highest temperature allowed for the fabric you’re washing. Read the label on the shirt carefully if you’re not sure what temperature is safe to wash. In general, hard fabrics such as cotton, denim, etc. can withstand hot washes. Meanwhile, man-made or thinner fabrics can only withstand warm temperatures. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Dry and repeat if necessary. After the washing machine stops, take the white shirt (and white clothes to wash with it) from the machine. Dry as usual. Most people often choose to use a dryer, but you can save energy by drying it naturally in the sun.

For stained or soiled white shirts, you need to repeat the washing process several times to restore the original pure white color. For best results, try combining your normal washing technique with one of the other methods outlined in this article.

Bleaching white clothes with sunlight

Wash as usual. For this method, you need to use the natural bleaching power of sunlight to make the shirt as white as possible. Before there were bleach available on the market, this was the primary way to keep white clothes bright. First, wash your white shirt as usual. You can use one of the above methods or simply use the washing method that you are used to.

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Hanging clothes outside in the warm sun. Next, if it’s sunny and it doesn’t seem to rain, take your wet clothes outside. Hang clothes on a horizontal line or a wooden drying rack. If these two are not available, you can stack the shirt on a clean surface, such as a porch floor, or hang it on a railing. Try to hang your clothes in a place that gets a lot of sun, as much as possible.

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Wait for the shirt to dry. Now you just have to wait. Over time, the sunlight will take effect, causing the moisture in the shirt to evaporate naturally. During this process, sunlight also gently whitens the shirt, making it significantly whiter without the use of bleach. This method is great for cloth diapers and other commonly soiled white fabrics.

The bleaching power of sunlight is due to ultraviolet rays in sunlight. This ray can break the chemical bonds that cause stains at the molecular level, causing them to “fade” or fade. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Do not dry clothes in the sun for many days. Despite being a simple and convenient alternative to bleach, sunlight bleaching has its drawbacks. Over time, sunlight can weaken the fabric, making it more susceptible to damage or wear. For this reason, you should avoid leaving your clothes out in the sun for longer than necessary. After the white shirt dries, to avoid unnecessary wear and tear, you should bring it indoors instead of leaving it outdoors.

Use bleach safely

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Only use bleach on white clothes. In general, you should only use bleach on white clothes. While a great product for bleaching clothes, bleach can be a disaster if used on certain colored clothes. Bleach can remove dye from colored clothes, causing them to fade or fade. Even worse, if sprayed directly on colored clothing, undiluted bleach can form uneven patches or spots where it splashes. Therefore, you should avoid using bleach for most colored clothes.

To be clear, there are actually two types of bleach commonly used: chlorine bleach is suitable only for white clothes for the above reason; and oxygen bleach are often marketed as cleaning products with the word “Oxi” in the name (eg, Oxiclean, …). In some situations, you can use oxygen bleach to treat stains on colored clothes. ^{[9] X Source of Research} However, since chlorine bleach is often what people think of most when they hear the word “bleach”, this article focuses on this type of bleach only in the safety instructions outlined above.

Color fastness test at the inner seam. Unlike chlorine bleach, which is generally not recommended for colored clothes, oxygen bleach can be a safe choice when used in small amounts on “colorfast” clothes, which are clothes with colors that won’t fade. Sometimes this information will be indicated on the care label label. If you don’t have an instruction label, you can check your garment’s color fastness with the quick test below:

Mix 1 tablespoon of oxygen bleach with 1 cup of water. Dip a cotton ball or cotton swab in the mixture and dab a drop or so on the seams inside the garment (or other hard-to-see spots). Wait about 10 minutes and then check if the color fades. If so, you should not use bleach on this type of clothing.

Advice

Use regular bleach on white-only clothes and color-safe bleach on colored clothes.
Wash the shirt in cold water several times before wearing.
Wear gloves.

Warning

Think twice before using bleach. The bleaching effect is PERMANENT so don’t leave it on anything you don’t want to bleach permanently.
Do not over-bleach as clothes may turn yellow when bleached repeatedly.
Be careful when using bleach as it is a toxic chemical. Avoid getting bleach in contact with your eyes and do not swallow.

Steps