Good ol’ vinegar is great at removing stains and odours from clothes, but will it bleach your pretty garments at the same time?
White vinegar is the safest type of vinegar to use when washing clothes because it will not bleach your outfits in a bad way. In fact, it may actually help to enhance the colours of your clothes.
What do I mean by this?
When someone says their clothes have been bleached, the assumption is that these clothes, if they are not white, have lost their colour, are stained, and are effectively ruined. But this type of ‘bleaching effect’ does not happen when you use white vinegar.
When you use white vinegar to ‘bleach’ your clothes you will end up brightening your items and removing stains from them.
The first thing you should always do is buy white vinegar. Then, you need to decide what you want the vinegar to do to your basketful of clothes.
White vinegar can:
- Reduce fading on clothes
- Remove nasty stains and smells
- Bring white clothes back to life
- Remove excess soap on clothes
When you know what you want the vinegar to do, you can use it accordingly in your washing process.
Check out our article on washing laundry with vinegar here to learn more methods, tips, and tricks! Plus, you’ll find out what else white vinegar can do to your laundry.
Washing Clothes with Vinegar FAQs
Would it be okay to use white wine vinegar instead?
You might assume because ‘white wine vinegar’ has the words ‘white vinegar’ in its name that it can be substituted for real white vinegar. The answer is: No, you cannot swap the two vinegars around and expect the same results.
White wine vinegar can be used to clean various items around your home, instead of white vinegar. But when it comes to laundry, stick to white vinegar. After all, white wine vinegar can sometimes be a tad more colourful and cloudy, which wouldn’t be good for your clothes.
Where can I buy white vinegar?
You can purchase white vinegar in almost every supermarket in the UK. This includes Morrisons, Asda, and Sainsbury’s. Further to this, you could also buy white vinegar online. Read more about where to buy white vinegar here.
Would malt vinegar bleach clothes?
Using malt vinegar to clean your clothes will not necessarily bleach them, but your clothes may be dyed by the brown coloured liquid. This could potentially ruin your favourite outfit.
If you want to clean your clothes with vinegar, make your items feel smoother, or remove soap build-up from your favourite t-shirts, then you must only ever use white vinegar.
Bethan has a passion for exploring, reading, cooking and gardening! When she’s not creating culinary delights for her family, she’s concocting potions to keep her house clean!
