It might seem easy to stick your sheets in the washing machine to get them clean, but often in summer, they need a little extra care to keep them white and stain-free. Bedsheets quickly become dirty at the hottest times of year since we are sweating more, which will cause oil to build up in the fabric.
This will not only make the bed smell but also cause sheets to develop yellow stains, attract dust mites, and become extremely unhygienic, so that sleeping is uncomfortable. However, James Higgins, an expert from Ethical Bedding, has shared keeping stains out of your bed is actually very simple, as all you need is to add a little lemon juice to a wash.
James said: “For overall grubby looking sheets, a nifty trick is to add around 50ml of lemon juice to the wash cycle. You’ll find sheets look brighter and fresher when they come out of the wash.”
Lemon juice contains a substance called citric acid, which has antibacterial properties, so can break down the oil in tough sweat stains.
This will help remove any odours from bedsheets and make them much cleaner, but lemon juice can also naturally lighten fabric so there is no need to use harsh chemicals.
It may be common to use bleach to get rid of stains, it is a very strong product and overuse will weaken fibre over time and can ruin bedding if you are using it regularly.
Bleach is also useless to use against sweat as the chemicals react to the the salts and protein in sweat, which can actually make the stains darker instead of removing them.
Lemon juice may simple, but it is a natural and very effective way to get stains out white laundry, and most people have in their kitchen cupboard so using it with not cost you a penny.
To begin, place your bed sheets in the washing machine, and make sure it is not packed too tightly.
Laundry needs to be able to move around in a washing machine to clean them properly, and it is easy to for smaller items to become tangled in bedsheets.
A big mistake most people also make is washing their bedsheets with towels, as the rough material can wear down the sheets and also cause lint balls to stick to the fabric.
Then, add your laundry detergent and fabric softener like you normally would, but also add 50ml of lemon juice into the detergent drawer.
Place your washing machine on the hottest temperature possible, as sheets are exposed to body oils and sweat nightly so you need hot water to kill all the germs and dust mites.
However, always check the label on your sheets before trying out a new laundry technique, as certain materials like silk or linen can be sensitive to high temperatures.
Once the sheets are dry, hang them outside in the sun if possible as sunlight actually boosts the cleaning power of lemon juice.
When citric acid is exposed to the ultraviolet in sunlight it creates a stronger whitening agent, which will help naturally bleach sheets and disinfect them.
It is a old-fashioned method that will get stains out of white or light-coloured bedsheets so you can keep you bed clean this summer without buying any harsh chemical products.