Reckitts Blue

I haven't read all the other comments but I find that something like Oxyclean makes everything sparkling white. Can buy cheaper alternatives in places like B&M, Lidl, Aldi etc. You can either add 1 scoop to the wash or soak in a bowl before washing. Soaking is excellent for removing stains such as fruit stains, wine etc. Makes my white 100% cotton table linen stain free and very white. My daughter uses Vanish Gold which seems to be very good but it is more expensive.

Never put coloured clothes in with your whites although I do sometimes put light blue in. I also hang the whites in the sun outside. Use a good soap powder. Pleased to say my washing is always gleaming white!

I'm not familiar with 'Glo white' but here in the US, I use 'Oxy-Clean' which could be the same thing. It's a NON BLEACH powder that you use with regular detergent. Used correctly, it works miracles, especially on yellowed linens.

I use a 5 gallon bucket instead of the washing machine, so that the solution is really concentrated. Approx. one cup of Oxy-clean powder, 1/4 cup of liquid detergent and fill with 'screaming' hot water.

Submerge the item and poke it with a wooden spoon to make sure it's completely wet. Let it soak for several hours to overnight. Dump the water, move to washing machine and wash it again as usual. You can also rinse and wash by hand if it's too delicate. Either way, your linens should come out like new.

I think you said you were in Wales so I am guessing you have soft water, I found in the past that whites discolored in hard water??

With an eye on all things eco and maybe a solution have you tried Big green smile; they sell all sorts of eco friendly stuff that works and they do citric acid for cleaning the dish washer and I think it can also be used in the washing machine as a sort of bleach......I think. Worth a look anyway.

I use Milton for dgds school shorts and socks but they're little and soak well in a bucket! For more stubborn stuff just household clear bleach diluted but again that's just a small bucket. I don't possess white sheets so I can't suggest anything to put in the washing machine. I do occasionally use vanish in with the whites but I'm not completely convinced that it works!!

There are so many 'whitening' agents out there, many of them expensive. For years I've used Daz powder and a 60 degree wash cycle on all white cotton and poly cotton. Most of my bed linen and towels are years old and still a good white. That said, I never ever mix any colours with my white wash, not even pastels.

Try soaking them in a strong solution of household soda, with the water as hot as the material will take. Then put them on the hottest wash they will take. Steam engine drivers keep their shirts white this way!

Always boil white cotton, add biotex to wash. We have holiday let and sheets are spotless. I soak sheets in bucket with warm water and biotex overnight, but 4 hours will do. I Prewash in cold water and salt if have blood stains on.. Then boil with more biotex.

BORAX is the answer. I believe that's what Vanish contains.
It's a natural mineral and has been used for generations. Buy it in kg bags on the internet,a tablespoon full is all that's needed. Hugely cheaper than Vanish too.

A wee drop of bleach does the trick

You need to buy a product that removes lime deposit from your washing machine. Use it first in a washing cycle without laundry in the machine to clean it.

Then steep your white clothes in warm water with the lime deposit remover overnight and wash normally, adding the lime deposit remover.

As I am not living in UK I can't supply brands, as what is available here may not be in the UK, but a hardware store ought to be able to advise you.

However, not all products for removing lime, remove it from material as well as from the washing machine, so make sure your supplier realizes that you are dealing with white clothes that have gone grey due to a deposit of lime in the material.

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The instructions on the packaging sound like it's meant to be used for hand washing, but that might just be because it's from before we all had washing machines.

Daughter wears white work shirts and the crew for BA swear by napisan... !!!

JanaNana
What a ritual you put yourself through.
To each his own but the market is vast and there are much easier ways, and kinder to your pocket, in achieving a whiter that white result.
There is nothing better, for the freshness you get and if you have the means, than being able to out door line dry your washing.

I recently heard that half a cup of white vinegar works wonders - tried it and it does! I have white bed linen and it came out sparkling. Also I never wash any other items with white, and drying on the line in the sun helps too. Not worth trying at this time of year of course - comes in as wet as it went out!

I think a hot wash with Vanish added to the standard wash agent will do the trick. I prefer not to use wash powders with optical white as I feel that over time the optical white makes the whites go grey.

So my wash tablets do not have optical white and I add vanish when I want a boost.

Bought a RR of a washing machine two years ago and decided to use anti lime scale tablets.
Since then my white bedding and any other white items have been nothing short of dazzling. Two birds with one stone it appears!.

A friend of mine swears by Napisan - I don't have enough whites to warrant trying it!

I would dye the sheets if they're cotton. That's just me. I love dyeing things!

I remember in my childhood those Reckitts Blue Bags. I seem to think they were used in a dollytub with very hot water, possible boiling as back then it was all 100% cotton and don't think poly cotton had been invented. I always wash my whites in a machine wash of 60% not mixing them with any other colours. Use washing powder for whites as opposed to liquid as I believe there is a very small percentage of bleach in with the powders. I also use white vinegar in the powder dispenser and the fabric condition drawer. I put the powder directly into the drum with half a cup of washing soda crystals and my whites remain white. Apparently hanging your whites outside on a really frosty day is supposed to keep them beautifully white. If you can,t get them white again perhaps you could machine dye them all using a pale pastel colour.

When I lived in the Middle East, they used Clorex in the wash to keep their robes white. I believe it’s an American brand, haven’t seen it over here but would certainly buy some if it was

My mom used to put the blue in a white sock and swish it about. I use Ariel or Almat from Aldi for whites as both of these seem better at removing stains and keeping things white. Occasionally, I throw in a Glo White sachet.

Found this on the web. Lovely bit of history.
www.oldandinteresting.com/laundry-blue.aspx

I use vanish gold to soak small items.
Hubby insistent on wiping base of frying pans with my white dish cloths so I have reverted to boiling them in a stainless steel pot on the stove. They come up lovely and the house smells of my childhood.
As regards blue bag my late mum boiled her sheets in a boiler and added the bag but I was only a kid so maybe my memory is poor.

All of my bedlinen is 100% cotton and I have been using it for years. Some was my mother's and is about fifty years old. It is all still bright white.
I sometimes wash on 40deg and sometimes on 60deg. I dry outside whenever possible and never use a tumble dryer.