Martha's Bleach-Free Laundry Trick Is the Secret to Whiter Whites

Soy sauce, red wine, and vinaigrettes: All are enemies to your white button-down shirts. And while these culprits may leave stains in their wake, regular wear and tear, especially when it comes to white linens or towels, often leaves these everyday items dull or dingy.

Naturally, Martha has a solution for both situations—which she shared on television years ago. In the above clip, our founder explains how she restores her favorite colorless items (like the Brooks Brother's top she used as an example in the segment) back to their original brightness.

How to Get the Whitest White Laundry

What You'll Need

• Your favorite laundry detergent
• Oxygen-based bleach (a natural alternative to chlorine bleach), if desired
• Pretreating solution, if needed

Now, follow Martha's steps to whiten even your dingiest whites.

1. Check each garment's laundering instructions. While it's important to mind the label, know that you absolutely can wash certain white "dry-clean-only" items at home, so long as the fabrics are 98 to 100 percent cotton, Martha says.
2. Separate the whites. They should never be washed with colorful clothing, she adds, which can result in dye transfer.
3. Sort them into piles—one for your washing machine and the other for hand washing. For the former, she recommends using water as hot as the fabric can stand when you're ready to do a load.
4. Apply the bleach and the detergent simultaneously for the best results. For stubborn stains, like those soy sauces, red wines, and vinaigrettes our founder mentioned at the top of her segment, use a pretreating solution on your fabrics before tossing them into the wash.

According to Martha, you can even skip bleaching agents—the hot water will do the work. However, if you absolutely need to use bleach, take her advice and use oxygen-based formulas, instead of chlorine iterations (these can weaken the fabric).

You can learn more about stain removal in her 2006 book, The decorvow Homekeeping Handbook, which has a helpful chart that breaks down how to remove everything from red wine to ball point pen; it even outlines how to remove mustard marks, a notoriously difficult stain to get rid of (the secret is to use an eye dropper to flush the stain with vinegar before washing it with dish soap!).

In fact, Martha suggests pairing the book—which is as relevant now as it was then—with any white clothing, towel, or bedding gift: It certainly will come in handy down the line.