Your questions answered: Whitening laundry

Robolepa wrote to me and said: 

My grandmother was an Italian immigrant. When she would hang the laundry out to dry she would only hang up the darks. The whites she would lay on the grass in the sun. She said the sun shining on the grass released oxygen, which in turn removed stains. Her whites were always whiter than white, and you can't argue with her reasoning. Have you ever heard of this before?

No, I haven't heard of that before! I would be afraid that my grass isn't clean enough, but maybe this summer when the lawn is thick (and it hasn't been freshly mowed!) I'll try it on my cloth diapers. :)



Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 2007-03-25 02:38.

That is an old trick and it does work, just as oxygen bleaching works, I guess. You can use green bushes too, apparently, if the grass seems less than perfect. As ours does with a dog and a toddler! Apparently, commons were often covered with laundry! Love, Lucy

Tammy's picture
Submitted by Tammy on Sun, 2007-03-25 03:03.

How fascinating! I guess I need not fear running out of clothesline space this summer, since I can just use the grass!

Of course, I will probably have my hands full with keeping the children out of the diapers on the grass. ;) We have a few bushes but they're mostly shaded.


Scottishthistle's picture
Submitted by Scottishthistle on Sun, 2007-03-25 09:38.

I've never tried it as the laundry would probably get trampled by a neighborhood dog LOL


Submitted by Harmony on Sun, 2007-03-25 14:15.

I would love to give this a try. I'm doing a load of whites soon... if it's a sunny day, I'm going to see how it works!

Submitted by Catherine on Sun, 2007-03-25 18:43.

I don't know if the green grass or bushes part is necessary, but hanging things in the sun is definitely a natural bleach. I always try to hang the diapers out on a drying rack (clotheslines prohibited in our neighborhood, and our dog would mess up the diapers if they were just on the grass) and it works WONDERS. I can absolutely tell the days when I have to leave the drying rack inside and the diapers aren't as white. The sun even gets out dark stains from the diapers.

Tammy's picture
Submitted by Tammy on Sun, 2007-03-25 23:27.

Sara, that's always a possibility. ;)

Harmony, if you do try it, I'd love to hear your results! It's not warm enough and the grass isn't very tall here yet. :)

Catherine, I agree! Sunlight is like a miracle solution for diapers! :) It seems to help with stains, smells, everything! :) Sometimes I set my drying rack on the front porch, if I've hung diapers in the house and then it gets sunny out. :) Or open the blinds by the diapers. Not sure if that one helps much, but I figure every little bit counts, right? :)


Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2007-04-09 11:48.

I got a lot of practice hand-washing our clothes on our recent trip to Sudan, and I was amazed at how good the sun is at bleaching white clothes. I never had any green plants around, but I would hang our socks and my husband's t-shirts on the straw walls that they use for privacy screens around their houses. The socks usually ended up looking like I'd put them through the laundry at home with bleach!

Tammy's picture
Submitted by Tammy on Mon, 2007-04-09 15:47.

Our summer sun probably isn't as bright as Africa's, but I especially notice the whitening effect with cloth diapers! I very rarely use bleach on any of our laundry. Although, I wouldn't say our socks are the whitest ever, I've been using the same cloth diapers for 3 years and they're very white. :D I love sunlight! :)


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