HOUSTON – I may be a little late to the linen stripping party -- like centuries or just a year -- but this week I tried linen stripping my white towels and sheets. I wanted to share the outcome. It was a good one.
What is linen stripping?
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You’re basically clearing all the junk out of your already-clean linens. Think oils, detergents, fabric softener, even lint and deep-down dirt. It’s a big ol’ soaking for your stuff -- often seen on social media as used on particularly white loads and workout clothes. We liked learning about the science behind this process. Takeaways from that article? Wear gloves (like I didn’t). Don’t do it too much so you don’t ruin your stuff.
How do you do it?
Run a tub of hot, hot water and dump in your ingredients. There are TONS of recipes out there, but I used about a cup of Borax and a quarter cup of Clorox 2 (just because I had to finish up the bottle). Next time I’ll do an official recipe -- likely using washing soda, detergent and Borax -- to see whether results could be better, though they were pretty amazing with just Borax and Clorox 2.
Anyway, grab all your stuff. I stuck in all of my white towels and sheets and stirred. Make sure all of the fabrics are immersed in the water, though they’ll eventually float -- that’s why stirring is so important. Some great advice: use a broom handle or a kid’s baseball bat so you aren’t burned by the super-hot water. I used a discarded wooden hanger. Real fancy over at my house, y’all. And felt a bit “Little House on the Prairie”-esque, but whatever works, right?
Stir every hour or so for about five or six hours. I got busy so my towels and sheets were in there for about eight hours, but I don’t think the extra time hurt anything.
Drain out the tub. Wring out the clothes. (I didn’t do this. I took the sopping wet mess out and loaded it into a laundry basket and threw it all into the washing machine. I’m likely doing all the things wrong, but life is hard.)
Instructions I’d used very loosely advised people to put the washing machine on a wash cycle WITHOUT detergent and add an extra rinse cycle. Looking at the towels and sheets in the washing machine I could already tell a color difference. The whites were definitely whiter. When I got married, I registered for a TON of white towels. That was, let’s say, more than a few years ago. They were looking pretty sad when I threw them into the tub. By the time I pulled them out of the dryer, I was amazed. The actual texture of the towels had changed. I thought before the stripping that I’d have to donate them to an animal shelter next, but decided to take a chance on the high-quality towels. (Though donating old towels to an animal shelter is still a good idea, y’all.) After the super soaking, they were so much softer, like they’d grown fibers back or something. They didn’t, but it’s nice to learn there’s a way to bring pricey linens back from the dead.
Going forward, I’m trying workout clothes next. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones that have THAT smell. I’ll update this story with the results. I’m a little nervous about the possibility of colors running, but we’ll have to give it a go on some of the older stuff first.
Have you tried this?
We know every body and their brother have already done this. If you have, what recipe works best for you? Let us know in the comments. Do you have tips to help avoid the colors running from garment to garment? Would love to hear your tips!
If you haven’t done linen stripping, there’s no shame. I hope this article has helped you and will bring your towels and linens back to life. Don’t you feel more accomplished at adulting today? Or perhaps that’s just me.