One of the weird but effective laundry practices I’ve developed over the years is using aspirin in my laundry. Using a medical tablet like aspirin in laundry might sound strange to some, but it has proven to be quite effective in the laundry room, hence its popularity on the Internet.
There are many cost-effective hacks available on the internet; one proven laundry hack involves using aspirin.
Why Put Aspirin in Laundry?
Sometimes we run out of laundry products and alternatives for our loads. This is where laundry hacks come in; you can find easy home-based replacements for some products.
You can alternate dish soap for laundry detergent, Epsom salt for fabric softeners, and other great alternatives. But finding a replacement for bleach isn’t as easy as others, given that bleach plays an essential role in laundry, keeping whites brighter than ever and magically removing tough stains. Your medical cabinet might be able to help you find an alternative, one that can be handled with ease.
Benefits Of Putting Aspirin In Laundry
Aspirin contains acetylsalicylic acid, which is effective in combating body pains such as headaches and granting swift relief. But you may not know that this acid can also help handle your laundry-related issues.
Brightens Clothes
Adding some aspirin tablets to your laundry can brighten your white clothes and remove stains, giving you a bright and stain-free fabric, just as your bleach does. Just like bleach, aspirin should only be used on white clothes as it causes color fading in colored clothes.
Bleaches Clothes
Using aspirin as an emergency alternative to bleach isn’t only effective in stain removal and cloth brightening but also cost-effective. Depending on the tablets’ dosage, about five tablets might be all you need to get your white clothes shining again and make your unexpected stain a thing of the past.
Stain Remover
Another amazing thing about using aspirin tablets is that the acetylsalicylic acid in the tablets would still be effective for stain removal even if the drug is expired. That means that if, unfortunately, your tablets, which contain acetylsalicylic acid, expire, instead of throwing them away, you can store them up and use them next time you are handling a load of white clothes instead of using bleach.
Gentle On Clothes
Another thing that makes using aspirin in laundry popular is its gentle effect on white fabric. You might be tempted to ditch using bleach for your laundry after trying it out. Bleaches, especially chlorine bleach, use strong chemicals as their active ingredient.
Aspirin contains acetylsalicylic acid, which is originally designed for the human body; they aren’t strong enough to cause harm to a human body, talk more of fabrics. Acetylsalicylic acid is too weak to cause any serious damage and strong enough to combat stain without damaging the fabric.
What Does Aspirin Do To Laundry?
All products introduced into laundry have their effects, both negative and positive. Some products that perform well at first might end up damaging your fabric in the long run. Knowing the effects these products might have on your laundry loads, both their negative and their position are good.
Introducing aspirin tablets into your laundry has amazing effects, and the first of them is its stain-removing ability. Its stain-removing quality is the main reason aspirin laundry hacks are popular. Whether your white clothes are stained with fresh or old stains, aspirin can make them all disappear just like your traditional bleach.
The only downside of using aspirin to remove stains in the laundry is that it takes longer to remove stains perfectly when compared to bleach. The longer you soak the stained fabric with your aspirin mixed with hot water, the more effective the outcome will be. Soaking overnight is advised for better effects.
Fading of colored clothes is one negative effect you might have to look out for when using an aspirin laundry hack. It is recommended to use aspirin only on white fabrics. Using it on colored clothes, especially clothes that aren’t colorfast, might cause the fabric dye to bleed out.
Another positive effect of using aspirin for your laundry is that it leaves your white fabric brighter and whiter than ever. If the white fabrics are losing their brightness, turning gray or yellowish. A simple soak and wash with an aspirin wound healing your laundry load, literally.
Is It Safe To Use Aspirin In Laundry?
Usage of aspirin in the laundry can be very safe. It is safer than some laundry items such as chlorine bleach, which isn’t to oneself but also to the environment. Aspirin bleach is both safe for hand wash and machine wash.
On fabric, aspirin is safe in both tough materials and delicate ones. Delicate materials should be given extra care to prevent accidents.
How To Use Aspirin In Laundry
Aspirin can be used in both machine wash and hand wash. Some steps must be followed for effective wash and stain removal. Here is how to use aspirin in the laundry below:
Step 1: Grind between four and seven tablets into powder, depending on your preference. Dilute the powder in about eight liters of hot water. Soak your white laundry in the mixture and leave for about ten hours or, if possible, overnight.
Step 2: Wash as usual by hand or by machine. You can add three additional tablets when washing with the washing machine.