For whiter whites, try these tips from a stain pro
A Matterhorn-like mountain of household linens glided through the house as if moving under its own volition. The dogs watched warily. My husband stepped back, yielding the space. From deep inside the mound, a voice (mine) said, “I’m making our whites whiter.”
I had just hung up the phone with Wayne Edelman, of Meurice Garment Care, a high-end New York-based cleaner with a high-end clientele that includes fashion houses, museums, private collectors and celebrities.
“We clean priceless collections,” Edelman says, recalling the day Princess Di’s gowns arrived in an armored car.
Not that I want to air my dirty laundry in public, but I will share that my whites are just not as white as they should be. I am pretty sure this is a character flaw.
“Many people don’t understand that white is a color,” he tells me. “They think it’s the absence of color, and that all fabrics are white at their core. But white textiles are dyed white and fade like any other color.”
“So, you’re saying I have unrealistic expectations,” I say.
“White is not always white underneath,” he says. I haven’t been this disillusioned since I saw the Minnie Mouse character at Disneyland take her head off.
Sometimes soil and residue are the problem, he adds. The best way to brighten and restore dingy or stained white household linens is to soak them in warm water, laundry detergent and a sodium-based bleach like OxyClean overnight.
“You need ample time, temperature, and concentration,” he says. “The duration of the wash cycle matters. A longer wash will remove more soil than a short one. Although heat can shrink some material, don’t be afraid of warm water. It will keep whites whiter and increase the chances of stain removal. And don’t skimp on the soap, but don’t go overboard either or garments can get sticky.”
Here’s what else I learned from the stainmaster to the stars:
Stains come out best the way they came in: If you see lipstick, ketchup, coffee or red wine on a table linen, blot or scrape off what you can. Apply stain remover to both sides of the fabric, then push the water through from the back side.
Know your enemy: Figure out if the stain is oil, tannin or protein based, so you can pretreat properly. Oil-based stains — salad dressing, hamburger grease, some cosmetics — should be. pretreated with stain remover, straight detergent or Dawn dish detergent, which has a strong grease cutting agent. Wash and rinse in warm-to-hot water, which will help release the grease. Dry cleaning also works well on grease stains. For tannin-based stains– fruit, wine, grass. use a general stain remover such as Shout or Spray-N-Wash. Ditto for protein-based stains, which include dairy and blood, but use cold water.
Check the edges: Not sure if a stain is oil-based? Look at how the stain sits on the fabric. An oil-based stain will follow the fibers and the edges will look jagged or digitized. A non-oil-based stain will leave a ring. If you can’t tell, take a picture with your phone and enlarge it so you can see the edges, Edelman said.
Some stains don’t show up right away: Certain clear substances, like white wine, will caramelize and leave a sugar stain, he said. This delayed reaction explains why that napkin you thought you put away clean turned up later with yellow or brownish stains. “The napkin isn’t ruined. Pre-treat and wash.”
Air dry when you can: Dryers are hard on clothes. I don’t want to string up a clothesline, so I put sheets, towels and blankets in the dryer. But removing smaller items from the dryer when they are not quite dry and letting them air dry helps reduce shrinkage.
Iron linens when damp: If the item you want to iron is dry, spritz it with water and iron at the recommended temperature. Don’t steam iron.
Avoid fabric softeners and dryer sheets: They leave a residue on fabric. And save the chlorine bleach for your fountains and pools. It degrades fibers.
Find a good dry cleaner: “Garment cleaning is a hands-on craft or should be,” Edelman said. “Sure, you can go to the bang-and-hang cleaners, but if you pay a little more, you might find a place with detail-oriented workers who notice when a seam is opening or a button is missing and fix it. These places want you to leave notes on garments with masking tape next to stains letting them know what the stain is from. If a cleaner makes you feel high-maintenance for doing that, find another cleaner.”
Marni Jameson is the author of six home and lifestyle books, including “Downsizing the Family Home – What to Save, What to Let Go.” Reach her at www.marnijameson.com.