How do you whiten whites with borax?

To whiten whites with borax, use it as a presoak to brighten dingy items and remove odors before washing.

Using Borax as a Presoak for Whitening

Here's how to use borax to whiten your white clothes effectively:

1. Prepare the Solution: Mix 1/2 cup of borax for every gallon of water. Make sure the borax is fully dissolved.
2. Soak the Clothes: Add your white clothes to the borax solution, ensuring they are fully submerged.
3. Soak Time: Allow the clothes to soak for at least one hour. For heavily soiled or dingy whites, soaking for a longer duration (e.g., overnight) is recommended for better results.
4. Wash as Usual: After soaking, remove the clothes from the borax solution and wash them in your washing machine as you normally would, using your regular laundry detergent.

Borax works by helping to boost the cleaning power of your laundry detergent and altering the pH of the wash water, making it more conducive to stain removal and whitening.