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    Home » Cleaning, Fixing & Organizing

    Oxiclean. A Whiten Your Whites Experiment.

    Jun 13, 2023 Karen

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    How to whiten clothes, linens and fingernails with Oxiclean. Yep.  It does it all and this little experiment with a sweaty pillowcase will show you just how well it works.

    White pillow case hanging on a clothes line.

    What you are witnessing is an illusion.  Like heat waves on the pavement,  a rigged carnival game or any 25 year old girl's Instagram profile pic.

    The pillow case you're looking at looks like a thing of beauty, blowing in the breeze in a tranquil backyard.  Gathering up the heat of the day, drying to a fresh, crisp swath of fabric ready for a good night's sleep.

    It is not.

    It is a horror.

    Years ago THAT was the fella's pillow case.  The fella is my ex boyfriend/husband/partner whatever you want to call him. And he head sweated on that pillowcase for years.  A beautiful 100% handmade linen pillow case from Rough Linen stained with 2 years worth of head sweat, drool and nightmares.  After 2 years my pillow case on the other hand had remained clean and white.  Like the pillowcase of an angel.

    I know it's hard to believe judging by the picture above but believe me. That pillow case was a mess in that photo. The problem with my particular front load washer is the fact that you can't use bleach in it. Ever. Also, you should never use bleach on linen.

    Also bleach has a tendency to yellow clothes over time. In fact because of this whole front load washer not accepting bleach I started using this solution to keep my white facecloths clean (which as you'll see if you read the post works incredibly well).

    That left me with quite a dilemma. So I did a little research (as I am want to do) and discovered that Oxiclean will whiten whites, but isn't the same as bleach. It's a chlorine free bleaching agent.  It whitens by some kind of magical oxygenating process.

    The active ingredient in Oxiclean is actually sodium percarbonate, (a sort of powdered form of hydrogen peroxide). Water is what activates it, releasing oxygen and then the product decomposes into water and oxygen.

    Oxiclean also has a few other things like filler and soda ash, but the real worker in the situation is the sodium percarbonate, which you can buy on Amazon but at the time of writing this post it's sold out. If you feel like ordering it and experimenting try this link to see if it's become available again.

    Would you like to save this stuff?

    We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

    Because of all of these things (no chlorine, environmentally friendly, gentle but effective) it can be used safely on linen.

    So I bought some Oxiclean with absolutely NO hopes of it actually working.  Because let's face it, most products that claim to do something amazing usually do very little other than produce very convincing television commercials.

    This is NOT a paid post. Nobody asked me to do a post on the miracle of Oxiclean. I wish they had. Because I will now and forever sing the praises of Oxiclean to anyone who will listen.

    Behold the miracle of Oxiclean ... I soaked the left side of the pillow overnight, leaving the other half of the pillowcase out of the solution. That way I would know EXACTLY how much the product worked.

    Side by side comparison of a yellow stained linen pillow case half treated with oxiclean.

     

    Holy crap is right! I didn't do any magical lighting trick, or Photoshop shenanigans. It is not an illusion. THAT is the difference Oxiclean made on the head sweat pillowcase.

    Which means all those white tee shirts with yellow arm pits you own aren't a lost cause. There's another Oxiclean now, Oxiclean White Revive which I haven't tried because the regular Oxiclean works for me.

    In the past few years I've even started using it to clean my hands when they're a disaster and stained after weeks of gardening. I just mix a tiny bit up in some water, soak my fingers in it for a minute then scrub them with a nail brush.

    This is DEFINITELY an off label use for Oxiclean and since it's basically powdered hydrogen peroxide you probably don't want to soak your hands very long, but it works to remove soil stains around nails and nail beds which are almost impossible to get clean otherwise.

    Oxiclean for linens, clothes and hands ...  so you too can look like the angel you are. Or even better, you can look like the angel you aren't.

    →Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←

    Oxiclean.  A Whiten Your Whites Experiment.

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    1. Susan

      June 17, 2020 at 8:28 am

      Okay, Karen, now that you've tried the Oxiclean, try an experiment with 20 Mule Team Borax. It's sodium tetraborate, must be related but it's a lot cheaper. I'd like to see OxiClean on one side of a pillowcase and Borax on the other side.
      I throw half a cup into my laundry and would really like to know if I'm doing a good thing or wasting my money! One thing I do know is that it gets rid of doggy smells.

      Reply
    2. Mick

      June 17, 2020 at 3:37 am

      Hydrogen Peroxide = H2O2 if I recall

      Reply
    3. Dana

      June 17, 2020 at 3:24 am

      Haven't been able to get my mitts on this since before Covid and lockdown started. It makes our IKEA Ektorp chairs and sofa slipcovers so beautiful.

      Reply
    4. Kippy

      June 17, 2020 at 12:23 am

      It is great stuff. I’ve also had really good results using FelsNaptha(rub it into wet fabric, leave it for 30 minutes, rinse and launder as usual). However I will not admit that my fella was right-he’s the one who told me how well FelsNaptha works on fabric.

      Reply
    5. Ben

      June 17, 2020 at 12:11 am

      Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing is incredible. Made tshirts new again. I was very skeptical but It’s a life saver.

      Reply
      • Karen

        June 17, 2020 at 10:53 am

        Good to know! ~ karen

        Reply
    6. Judith

      May 21, 2019 at 11:30 am

      The active whitening stain removing agent in Oxyclean is Sodium Percarbonate. It's all that is necessary to do the job unless you like the perfume. soap and fillers used to bulk up Oxyclean. Save some $$ and buy Sodium Percarbonate. Use less of this to replace Oxyclean.

      Reply
      • Karen

        May 22, 2019 at 9:27 am

        Interesting! I'm not sure what kind of stores would carry that, but interesting! Thx. ~ karen!

        Reply
    7. Irene

      August 24, 2018 at 3:34 pm

      I use to use oxy clean from 2001-2006. It clean my old over, and over stained, clothe dryer, white socks, and training underwear. I was in love with it. I just south it again year2018. I don't want nothing to do with it, it does nothing like I remember it use to do. I'm very discouraged on how so many products are not what they use to be. Very sad prices go up, and the potency is less.

      Reply
    8. Lorrie Jamieson

      April 04, 2018 at 3:58 pm

      Hi Karen ... first of all, I love your posts!

      Second, you mentioned the problem of adding bleach to a front loader. (Although now I know about OxyClean I might never do it again!) Anyway, I've come up with a sorta solution -- (1) fill a large measuring cup with 1/2 cup of bleach and the rest of the cup with water (at least 1-1/2 and better more) and swish around to mix it up; (2) throw laundry into tub and move it over to one side; (3) pour the bleach/water combo to the other side, BESIDE the laundry; (3) close the door and start the machine immediately.

      It's always worked for me and hasn't left any bleach skids on the clothes. But that being said, I'm going to try the OxyClean to totally replace the bleach!

      Reply
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      November 16, 2016 at 11:20 am

      Okay so you soaked it? Can you please tell me the specifics? I was just planning to add it to the wash???

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    20. Rosemary

      August 14, 2016 at 10:30 pm

      Wahoo! Tried this recipe/method on men's dress shirts that got coloured by a crayon that somehow made it into the washer. It worked with the first one so I am trying them a couple at a time now. Everyone in my family is getting a gift of Oxiclean and your method.
      THANKS so much

      Reply
      • Karen

        August 14, 2016 at 11:46 pm

        You've very welcome! Love Oxiclean! ~ karen

        Reply
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