I love new white socks. They are soft, comfortable and bright. However, with an active life and a lot of abuse, most people’s white socks tend to end up a deeper shade of gray, and maybe the occasional yellow.
Here are six tips that I found that you can try to brighten your socks… of course the results of these tips will vary depending on the cause of your grayness…
Wash gym socks and dirty or muddy outdoor socks as soon as you can. Rather than waiting for laundry day and allowing the stains to entrench themselves in your socks, take action early and nip the root of the problem in the bud.
Bleach, hydrogen peroxide, oxy-clean and other oxygenated products work well at cleaning and brightening white socks because of their strong ability at breaking down and dissolving stains and residues. A hot wash of a white batch mixed with an oxygenated cleaner usually does a good job on tough stains, but it’s also hard on the fabric… so this should be preserved only for the most arduous of missions.
Soaking the socks overnight in dish washing soap (or diluted dish washing cubes), then washing them the next day in a normal laundry wash.
Soaking the socks overnight in cold water mixed in with an oxygenated cleaner, and then washing the socks in warm water without the bleach which helps preserve the fabric.
Boling socks in hot water with several slices of lemon (as a natural light acid) helps clean the socks, breakdown stains using the acidic properties of lemon and leaves the socks with a nice fresh scent.
Boling the socks in hot water with a few tablespoons of vinegar. Same as the previous approach but possibly cheaper and less scented.
My personal favorite of these tips are letting the socks soak overnight in dish soap (for mild cleaning) or in bleach (for tough stains) because the soak gives the cleaning agents more time to work on the stains and residues. Not only does this give you cleaner socks, but it also allows you to do a cold or warm (rather than a super hot) wash of your socks the next morning. Washing the socks in colder water than you would have if you hadn’t soaked them is more gentle on the fabrics, which helps keep the socks softer, more comfortable, and helps preserve the elastic for a much longer period of time.
