How to wash tulle to snowy whiteness - 10 modern ways

Even today, delicate curtains adorn private homes and apartments, creating a sense of cleanliness. However, the housewives regularly think about how to remove the white tulle from grayness without damaging the thin and fragile fabric. What funds to take? Can I use a washing machine or is it worth washing the product manually?

How to bleach tulle?

Previously, our mothers and grandmothers returned tulle whiteness using folk remedies: boiled the product in water with the addition of laundry soap, soaked in salt solutions, hydrogen peroxide with ammonia, starch and even potassium permanganate. Such methods are not without drawbacks.

1. Boiling destroys the structure of the fabric. Today, synthetic fibers are often added to tulle, which can instantly crumble or melt when washed in hot water.
2. Low efficiency. Mistresses in forums and in comments on articles on households often argue that folk remedies do not save tulle from dullness.

Perhaps today the only advantage of folk remedies is the low price. However, the development of the chemical industry does not stand still. You can easily find on sale modern tools (including budget ones) designed for bleaching tulle at home.

Types of Bleach

Bleaches for curtains and tulle are divided into three types, depending on the composition of the components and the principle of operation.

Chlorinated

The composition includes sodium hypochlorite - an aggressive compound that penetrates deep into the structure of the tissue, destroying dirt and fat. The main advantage of chlorine bleaches is their low price. However, chlorine is harmful to the respiratory system, in contact with skin causes burns, can lead to allergic reactions.

Another serious drawback of chlorine bleach is its short shelf life (up to 9 months). The product partially loses its properties due to exposure to direct sunlight and completely - when freezing. Therefore, do not place a bottle of liquid on the balcony or basement in the cold season.

Chlorine-based bleaches are completely unsuitable for bleaching tulle with the addition of the following threads:

• silk;
• synthetic (polyester, polypropylene);
• nylon.

You will not wash with its help kapron tulle, curtains from tulle, chiffon, organza. A reasonable question arises: what products can be bleached in general with a chlorine-containing product? Only tulle made from 100% cotton or linen. Although they are found in houses and apartments, they are rare. In other cases, use other bleaches.

As a rule, a chlorine-containing agent cannot be used for bleaching fabrics in a washing machine. It reacts with the metal finish of the drum and destroys the rubber output pipes.

Oxygen containing

Available in the form of liquid concentrates and powders. Suitable for use in a washing machine. The composition includes hydrogen peroxide or sodium percarbonate, other additives - surfactants, perfumes. During washing, the active substance decomposes, forming oxygen bubbles, oxidizing particles of gray plaque. The product does not leave an unpleasant odor on the curtains.

It is the oxygen-containing bleach that is perfect in order to rid curtains of gray plaque. On the packaging (bottle) of each product it is written which materials can be bleached with its help.

Optical

Contain particles with reflective properties. In fact, optical brighteners do not wash gray plaque, but mask it. But visually the tulle looks snow-white. Typically, curtain laundry detergents contain some percentage of optical brightener. The downside is the high price.

General washing tips

Regardless of the selected tool for bleaching the tulle, there are a number of rules that must be observed when washing, otherwise the product will quickly deteriorate and have to be discarded.

• Wash the tulle at a temperature not exceeding 30-40 degrees. Hot water, and even more boiling water, "seals" a gray coating in the fabric.
• Before soaking in a solution with bleach, shake the product well to get rid of dust, or use a vacuum cleaner with a special nozzle, setting the minimum power.
• Lower the curtains in the container (drum of the washing machine) in a straightened form. It is recommended to fold the tulle with a rectangle. If you throw the curtains crumpled, then after washing they will remain creases that will be impossible to iron.
• If you add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water, the tulle after washing will shimmer in the sun with white light. But this option is not suitable for washing tulle with synthetic fibers.
• Do not wash curtains with other things.
• When using the washing machine, do not set the spin cycle to more than 400 rpm.
• Do not twist the tulle, just shake it.
• Do not iron curtains: heat will ruin the fabric forever. We recommend hanging curtains on the windows slightly damp. Then the folds will straighten themselves under the weight of the product.
• Do not dry curtains near radiators.

Sometimes the tulle is so dirty that you can no longer believe in the possibility of cleaning it from gray plaque. First try soaking the curtain overnight in a solution of water and washing powder. And the next day, use bleach.

Product Overview

It's time to find out which bleaches, available on the market, will help remove white tulle from grayness. The chemicals listed below have many positive reviews and have long been used by housewives.

"White"

This tool is the first on the list because of its popularity, accessibility and low cost (from 20 rubles per 1 liter). The composition includes 95.2% of active chlorine. If you own cotton or linen curtains, you can occasionally use White. Most often, it is available in the form of a translucent liquid of a light yellow color, and sometimes a gel.

Pros and cons of Whiteness bleach:

How to whiten a tulle with the help of "White"? The procedure is as follows.

1. Dissolve 2-3 tablespoons of the product in 10 liters of room temperature water.
2. Immerse the tulle in the liquid and leave for 25-30 minutes. You can not hold longer, otherwise the fabric will deteriorate.
3. Rinse the product thoroughly in clean, cool water (you can add vinegar) until the smell of bleach disappears.
4. Wash the tulle in the usual way: manually or in a washing machine.

Consider that fabric quickly "gets used" to the chlorine-containing bleach. If you use Belize once, then the tulle will stop responding to softer means.

When working with Whiteness bleach, it is important to observe the following precautions:

• remove foreign matter;
• use protective gloves;
• make sure that the product does not get on the skin and especially in the eyes and mouth (in case of contact with skin or eyes, rinse with running water, and if you accidentally swallowed a drop, drink 2 tablets of activated charcoal);
• open all windows in the room.

Store bleach in a dark and dry place at room temperature. Make sure that the bottle does not fall into the hands of children.

Frau Schmidt Super White Tulle

This is a French-made product designed specifically for bleaching curtains and tulle. Available in tablet form (1 pc. = 1 wash). A package with 5 tablets costs 250 rubles.

The composition includes the following components:

• oxygen-containing bleach;
• optical brightener;
• nonionic surfactants;
• polycarboxylates;
• enzymes;
• flavoring.

Unlike anionic surfactants (which are most often used in cleaning products), nonionic surfactants irritate the mucous membranes and skin less and rarely cause allergies. They also have better washing properties and are more resistant to hard water.

Advantages of the Frau Schmidt bleach:

• suitable for white tulle made of any material (except silk);
• does not destroy tissue fibers;
• the remedy can be used often: once every 2-3 months;
• after washing, the product acquires crystal whiteness (thanks to the optical bleach in the composition);
• long shelf life - 5 years;
• it smells good;
• suitable for use in a washing machine;
• Each tablet has an individual foil packaging.

We recommend not to waste time on hand washing, but rather use a washing machine. Bleach the tulle as follows:

1. Remove the tablet from its packaging and place it inside the drum.
2. Load the tulle into the machine.
3. Set the following settings: temperature - 30 degrees, the number of revolutions during the spin cycle - 300-400 per minute, the mode - delicate, the time - 50-60 minutes. Disable the automatic drying function, if provided.
4. Pour detergent into a special container.
5. Turn on the appliance.

After washing and drying your tulle will become clean and snow-white. It will look like you just bought it in a store and hung it on a window.

Splash for tulle from General Fresh

This tool is a simplified version of the previous bleach. It is made in Poland. A bag with a powder weighing 30 grams costs 25-30 rubles, it is enough for one wash. The composition includes oxygen-containing bleach (15-30%), optical particles and perfume composition. Suitable for tulle made from natural and synthetic fibers. It is not recommended to bleach products from silk. Shelf life is much shorter than that of the previous bleach - only 12 months.

How to remove white tulle from gray plaque using Splash? When using the washing machine, the procedure is the same as described in the previous section.

Hand wash includes the following steps:

1. Dissolve the bag in a bowl with 5 liters of slightly warm water.
2. Immerse the tulle in the liquid and leave for 30-40 minutes. Stir the product periodically so that the bleach is evenly distributed over the surface.
3. Rinse the tulle several times in clean water, shake and send to dry.

It is not necessary to buy Splash for bleaching the curtains, because it is not always found on sale. This tool has analogues:

• Beckmann - German bleach, contains anionic surfactants, a package with 3 bags of 40 grams costs 220 rubles;
• Krofix - a budgetary Polish product, the price of a bag weighing 50 grams - 25 rubles;
• Ax - another oxygen-containing bleach from Poland in the form of a powder, the price of one bag weighing 35 grams is 15 rubles.

Elixir for tulle and curtains "Cashmere"

This is a Russian-made washing powder designed to care for tulle made from natural and synthetic fibers. A package weighing 300 grams costs only 40 rubles. It is more suitable for washing kitchen curtains, on which a lot of fat and aromas (smoke, vinegar, nicotine) settle. Although the hostesses in their reviews claim that "Cashmere" removes gray plaque from tulle.

The composition is more "chemical" than the previous means:

• anionic surfactants (5-15%);
• nonionic surfactants (less than 5%);
• optical brightener;
• soap;
• phosphates;
• citrates;
• polycarboxylates;
• foam regulator;
• silicone polymer;
• perfume.

Suitable for washing tulle manually and in a washing machine. Dosages are indicated on the package.

How to wash tulle with silk threads?

You probably noticed that most of the chemicals listed in the article are not recommended for silk (for example, delicate organza tulle). Indeed, delicate fibers are destroyed by any bleach.

To remove gray plaque with curtains, special gels for washing silk items will help:

• Uniplus (Germany, 500 rubles per 1.5 liter bottle);
• “Weasel 3D wool and silk” (Russia, 300 rubles per 1 liter bottle);
• Organic People (Russia, price for 1.5 liters - 825 rubles).

When washing white tulle in 5 liters of water (temperature 30 degrees), add 2 caps of the product, soaking time - 5 minutes. And for washing one product in the machine, you need 1 cap of gel.

What to do if the tulle with silk threads did not move away from the gray coating? Alas, you will have to give it to dry cleaning professionals, because when bleaching with strong store-based products at home, you just ruin the product.

conclusions

Now you know how and with what to remove the white tulle from grayness. But remember that any bleach (even without chlorine), though slowly but destroys fine fibers. Do not bring the curtains to a dark coating - regularly use detergents for delicate washing.