A Laundry Expert Shares The Best Products To Keep Your Whites White

I love wearing white shirts and sweaters. My only problem? I hate cleaning them on laundry day. And I’m not alone: As many a Reddit post makes clear, white clothing, sheets and towels have a tendency to fade and yellow, leaving those crisp whites you happily bought turning into more of a sad, stained gray or off-white even when you run them through the washing machine .

So how can you make sure your whites live up to their name when you’re doing the laundry? To find out, I asked Patric Richardson , also known as the Laundry Evangelist and the host of “The Laundry Guy” on HGTV and Discovery+. Richardson previously appeared on HuffPost’s Am I Doing It Wrong? podcast .

“The most common reason [white clothing stains or fades in the wash] is too much detergent ,” Richardson says. “The detergent holds [a tinge] from the wash water and dulls white. The second reason is chlorine bleach. The bright white we know of is actually a dye, and bleach lifts [that] brightness and whiteness and dulls the bright white color.”

But if you don’t use bleach to whiten your whites, what do you use? Look no further — based on Richardson’s advice, we’ve rounded up some affordable laundry products (some of which are multipurpose cleaners, too!) that can keep your whites bright and beautiful.

HuffPost and its publishing partners may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Every item is independently selected by the HuffPost Shopping team. Prices and availability are subject to change. The experts consulted for this story do not necessarily endorse the products ahead unless otherwise noted.

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