How to Wash a White T-Shirt: Shunsuke Ishikawa's Case Against "One Detergent, One Load"

You want to spend summer in a pure-white T-shirt, and yet somehow it's gone yellow. That laundry method of yours might actually be the cause of the yellowing. Watch this video to the end and you'll understand how to wash white T-shirts and keep that brilliant whiteness. The Great White-Tee Laundry Operation — please watch to the end.

Hello everyone, I'm fashion designer Shunsuke Ishikawa, and also a holder of a licensed cleaning-technician certificate. — Yes, Ishikawa-san, the lab coat's back after a while. — The lab coat's back. A totally white lab coat — it's nice, right? — Yes. — What'll we do today? — Is a lab coat plus sunglasses okay? Is that okay? Think about it, seriously. Are a short bob, sunglasses, and a lab coat okay? — Yes.

Today — sorry, sorry — today's topic: the Great White-Tee Laundry Operation. When you pull out this year the white T-shirt you wore last year, has it ended up like this? Isn't it yellowed? — It has, it has. — Right? So that even when you pull that T-shirt out the next year it's pure white, and you can wear it through the season without yellowing — the laundry method for that is what I want to convey properly today.

Washing white T-shirts — I think most people do it without much thought. When it comes to washing T-shirts, especially washing white tees, there are five absolute no-nos. Let's go ahead and ask everyone now. — Yes, yes. — I'll ask a question, so could everyone answer by raising your hand? And viewers, treat this as your own concern and raise your hand in front of your screen too.

No-no number one: washing with colored items. If you've done it, raise your hand. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven — seven people? One person did well. Yes, this is a no-no. On the very first one nearly everyone's out — nearly everyone. Number two: drying on hangers. Yes, hands up. One, two, three, four — oh, this is half? Half. Wow, 50 percent of people do it right.

Number three: washing with the same detergent as colors or wool — the same detergent you always use. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight — everyone. This is a no-no. — No way. — Number four: tumble drying. Oh, just one — two, out of eight. What percent is that? Well, I can't work out the percentage. Yes, let's go to the last one, number five: thinking all white tees are the same and washing all your white tees together. — You mean all white tees together? — Right. Everyone, all eight, 100 percent of people wash them together. — This is bad?

Can I give all five reasons this is bad? From the top — let's leave the last one for later. Number one: washing with colored items. Stop this. When you wash, for example, if you put in a black T-shirt, the black dye bleeds out into the wash water. In fact, while you're washing, the water gets quite black, and that accumulates on your T-shirt more and more, becoming the cause of it dulling to a gray. Always wash dark colors separately.

Number two: drying on hangers. This is absolutely out too. On a T-shirt the collar is weak, and this becomes the cause of the collar stretching out more and more. Also, it leaves marks on the shoulders. Hang it over something folded in half, and dry it that way, please. And direct sunlight is absolutely out too — I didn't write it here — when you dry, always dry indoors, in the shade, because of UV exposure. Yes.

Three: washing with the same detergent as colors or wool. Most people probably wash with the same set detergent every time. Lately, what I recommend is often a neutral detergent. A neutral detergent washes gently, so it's safe for colors and patterns, but for white T-shirts it's too weak. If you're thinking of keeping a white T-shirt clean, of really getting the protein off, you have to wash white with a somewhat stronger detergent, or it stays behind and yellows like this. On colored items you wouldn't notice a yellow tinge, but wash white tees properly with a strong detergent.

Number four: tumble drying. This is absolutely out. A T-shirt doesn't just shrink — when the machine's packed full, it gets pulled and stretched too, and that's tricky, especially for T-shirts and so-called cut-and-sewn knits, so stop this. Air-dry them.

And the last one, number five, is thinking all white tees are the same and washing them together, right? — This is bad? — Yeah, bad, bad. — Huh, what do you mean? — There are a great many people who don't get this, I think, so today let's do a little experiment, so to speak. Yes.

And here I have a small request for everyone. Our channel has been working hard, and we're almost at 100,000, but we're quite stuck treading water right now. We want to get that Silver Play Button, and when we do, I'm thinking we'll definitely do something fun for all of you. So please recommend this channel to your neighbors, the folks next door, and all your relatives, and it might be good to reach out to your old classmates too. 'Ishikawa Shunsuke's ◯◯◯ — go subscribe' — could you pass that one line to the people around you? And so, with all of your help, we hope to somehow reach 100,000. If you're watching this channel without having subscribed yet, please hit it right now, and ideally the bell as well. I ask you sincerely. — Please.

Everyone, a white tee — you think it's white because it's undyed, right? And here's what comes out — ta-da! — that thing. What does Doraemon say when he pulls things out? — 'Pa-ra-ra-pa-paa'? — Right, he doesn't actually say it. — He doesn't. — One per household: a blacklight. You absolutely should have one. Why? When you go to the toilet — gentlemen, are you all standing at home? Come on. — I sit. — Everyone sits; that's the era, right? — The era is sitting. — If you've been splattering around, this exposes it in one shot. Shine this and it reacts to the urea, and you can see everywhere the pee has splattered.

White T-shirts all look the same — maybe the colors differ slightly. Can you tell? Can you see this now? What's happening here — glowing, glowing, not glowing, glowing, glowing, not glowing, sparkling bright, not glowing — can you tell? This means that even among white T-shirts, there are two types.

One is what's called optically brightened — this glowing T-shirt — think of it as dyed with a fluorescent dye called an optical brightening agent. A T-shirt is originally this non-glowing color, slightly cream-tinted, but when you feel 'this is still yellow, I want more whiteness,' you add an optical brightener — a dye that glows blue when it hits UV — to make the whiteness stand out. If you look at the so-called color wheel, the opposite of yellow is blue. It's the same as RGB on a monitor: add the opposite color and it turns whiter. So an optical brightening agent is added — that's one. And the other, this non-glowing one, is called plain-bleached or non-fluorescent, and this is one that stops at the so-called bleaching process, with no dyeing after that. So there are these two types, and in fact you have to change the laundry method between these two. It's a hassle, but let's do it. So the point is there are two kinds of white tee.

And for these two, the cause of the dulling is a little different. With the non-fluorescent T-shirt, grime from your body soaks in, and that yellows it. Of course the optically brightened one does that too, plus an optically brightened white T-shirt has this optical brightening agent that gradually washes out as you launder it, and then it shifts toward cotton's natural yellow. In other words, it comes to look yellowed compared to how it started, so you need to keep adding optical brightener through washing. That's the optical-brightener one. On the other hand, if you wash the optical-brightener one and the non-fluorescent one together, some of the optical brightener transfers to this one. For this one, if you want to enjoy its original natural color, its natural character, you don't want to add optical brightener, so you have to wash these two separately.

The ones common big makers put out, like Attack — I'm speaking a bit broadly here, there are various ones, right? — those long-standing detergents basically often contain optical brightener. Why? Household towels, sheets, Dad's dress shirts, things like that also glow blue, full of optical brightener. Because a lot of these originally had optical brightener in them to produce whiteness, the detergents themselves also contain optical brightener. Think of it as dye being mixed in. Washing with that kind of detergent helps keep the whiteness, but you mustn't wash a non-fluorescent T-shirt like this with that kind of detergent.

So the question becomes how to wash each one. First, the common basics: as I said, don't wash them with the same detergent as colors, patterns, or delicates. For a white T-shirt, something with higher cleaning power is better.

When that's the case, which detergent do I recommend? This: additive-free Shabondama Snol laundry soap. It says 'fluffy finish, no softener needed' on it. Most of the detergents you all use these days are so-called liquid detergents, I think — surfactant-based. This is soap. Liquid soap has higher cleaning power. Delicate-wear detergents have a pH of about 6 to 8 — since 7 is neutral, roughly neutral. Against that, this one has a pH of roughly 9.5 to 10.5, so it's alkaline. And alkalinity is actually very important for laundry in raising cleaning power, including that it dissolves protein. Also, the fibers tend to swell more easily — so-called swelling, expanding slightly — and when they swell slightly, the grime lodged in between comes off that much more easily. The 'fluffy finish, no softener needed' written here means that, because of that swelling, the fibers themselves puff up, so even without softener it finishes soft, and the whiteness stands out more. So when you wash white things, try using this kind of detergent — or rather liquid soap.

There's one problem, though: soap scum forms easily. With powder soap it forms even more — the strongest is actually powder soap; laundry powder soap has the highest cleaning power, but it's hard to handle, so liquid is fine. Soap scum tends to form because oils and alkali react and a saponification phenomenon occurs, and through that soap scum comes out. To prevent it, to neutralize it, just one teaspoon of citric acid is fine — put it in the softener compartment. This isn't for a softening effect but to neutralize at the end. Do that and soap scum won't cling, so it washes very cleanly and finishes fluffy. If you then use this on colors and patterns, the cleaning power is too high and a black T-shirt fades more and more, so be sure to keep both this and one neutral detergent on hand.

And the reason I especially recommend this sort of thing: I'm really no good with 'scent pollution,' the harm of fragrance. With commonly sold detergents the smell is a dealbreaker and I can't wear the clothes, so I basically use fragrance-free detergents, and plus, for the high cleaning power, I recommend using this kind of laundry soap.

So, on the other hand, how do you wash the optical-brightener one? Of course, for this one it's OK to use a common detergent that contains optical brightener. However, fragrance-free ones are hard to find. 'Fragrance-free yet contains optical brightener' is quite contradictory for a detergent maker, you see. Fragrance-free goes with 'we don't want to add additives if we can help it,' yet putting in an optical brightening agent, a thoroughly deliberate additive, is a bit contradictory. So in that case, how do you wash this kind of optically brightened T-shirt?

A good product has come out recently: OxiClean White Revive — that came out sounding like a commercial. OxiClean White Revive. As you all know, it's famous for the 'Oxy soak.' However, this is a bit different — the formulation has been altered a bit. It's oxygen bleach, the powder type, whose base ingredient is a bleaching component called sodium percarbonate. It says sodium percarbonate here, and this one is almost entirely sodium percarbonate — that's the main ingredient. For this one, the sodium percarbonate is reduced compared to regular OxiClean, and in exchange the so-called builders — things that boost cleaning ability in various ways — have been increased in the blend.

What are those? First, sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate helps the surfactant's action, so they've increased that sort of thing. And importantly, it contains two enzymes: protease and amylase. Protease removes protein, and amylase removes starch, so it has a higher ability to remove, for example, the protein-based grime that leads to yellowing. On top of that, it contains optical brightener. And so, by adding it to a soap like this, you can do a wash where the whiteness stands out more. I'll try the actual washing method later, but it's better to first dissolve this in the water or hot water in the drum and use it that way.

And may I organize this once more? Basically, wash white T-shirts separately. Change the washing method for each. Use the same high-cleaning-power liquid soap and such, but for the optically brightened ones, properly add that optical-brightener ingredient and keep the whiteness. For the non-fluorescent ones, don't add that sort of thing — wear them in their natural white. That's the difference in washing method.

Now, 'don't wash with other colors and patterns,' 'wash white on its own' — some of you may find that too much of a hassle. For those people, let me talk about what to do: first, make your towels and sheets all white. Wash colored, patterned clothes together with colored, patterned clothes, and wash white T-shirts with towels and sheets. Towels get washed often, right? If right now you happen to be washing all of that together, absolutely stop, please. Scary. You mustn't wash with things that shed so much lint — you'll get white fuzz all over — so wash those properly separated. And so, when you wash white T-shirts, white shirts, white towels, white sheets and the like, use this kind of liquid soap, and when you wash colors and patterns, wash with a neutral detergent. Divide your laundry into those two, please.

Shall we actually wash a T-shirt that's got plenty of yellowing? — Please. — Yes. Today, first we'll properly work on how to remove the yellowing from a yellowed T-shirt, and after that convey the laundry method too. Broadly, this time I want to do it with two methods. One is the general method; the other is a method that washes quite thoroughly. It can do a bit of damage, so choose according to the degree of yellowing, please.

So first, the collar yellowing — it's quite yellowed, so I want to remove it. First, wet the collar with water. There's water in here. Soak it thoroughly in water — there we go — and with it lightly wrung out, use the Utamaro soap that many fans know. Utamaro soap — why is it this color? It's blue because it contains optical brightener. Please don't use it on plain-bleached items, since it contains optical brightener. Soap really does have high cleaning power, so rub it thoroughly into the soiled spots of the wetted T-shirt like this. Keep rubbing where the yellowing is strong and apply the soap.

To break down grime you can tap it, but if you want to go more conveniently, there's this Sharp ultrasonic washer — it's handy. When you use it, dip it lightly in water so it's submerged about a centimeter, and there's a pleasant fizzing sound. What this

does — through ultrasonic action it breaks down the pigment, so to speak, peeling it off the fibers, so I'm applying the ultrasonic washer to the soiled T-shirt. You don't need to rub hard — just applying it lightly breaks the grime down. And this, we'll wash afterward. And this T-shirt has yellowing all over, so for that I'll later do a soak in oxygen bleach and such, so please watch for that, is the point. That's the first way I'll clean it.

So shall we go to the second method? This is also a quite yellowed T-shirt. The earlier method is fine too, but for those who want to remove it more easily and dramatically, there's a method. This is one I covered in a previous video too, nicknamed the stain-removal cocktail, the stain-removal cocktail. What you use is oxygen bleach, the powder type — sodium percarbonate — dish soap, and water. These three. Very simple. It's one-to-one-to-one, so one spoonful of sodium percarbonate, one spoonful, about the same amount of dish soap, about the same — just add roughly. And water. You just mix these three together. The sodium percarbonate won't all dissolve, so expect it to become a paste. You make a white paste.

This — Hirano makes a proper laundry toothbrush-like thing, but anything's fine — any toothbrush — put it on a toothbrush or the like and apply it well to the collar's yellowed grime. A gritty residual feel is fine, so apply this to the collar's yellowed part. So rather than fussing with Utamaro soap and all, just doing this is honestly faster — it uses a fair amount of bleach, so it works fast — so apply it thoroughly like this, please. This much is fine. This side isn't so yellowed — it's just the back of the collar that has yellowing.

If you want to make sodium percarbonate work, it's better to raise the temperature somewhat. It actually works most strongly at around 60°C, but this time I want to crank it up sharply and settle it in one go, and at times like that, use a steamer. With the steamer's heat — applying the steamer, lift it with this heat. Definitely — with the iron — heat it up all at once. The dish soap removes the oily grime, and the protein grime and pigment staining that cause the yellowing, you strengthen the action all at once by using sodium percarbonate and adding heat to it — that's what I did, so if you then put it in the washing machine in this state, the yellowing should be nice and gone, definitely. Be sure to keep this on hand. — Yeah, that's a must. — OxiClean works too. OxiClean works, or plain sodium percarbonate like this works, so keep some on hand, is the idea.

So shall we do the laundry? We'll do the actual washing. First, as for the machine, I've put water — hot water — inside first, like this, and paused it for now. Fold the laundry and put it in a net. First, here — the OxiClean White Revive I introduced earlier, about five scoops since I'd heard that works, I'll add. And here, on top, Shabon-dama Snol — there's about 55 liters of water in now, so I'll add 90 milliliters of Shabon-dama Snol here. Yes, about 40 more. Yes, added. One more thing you mustn't forget — in the softener compartment, I've lightly dissolved citric acid in hot water — I put that in in place of softener.

And in this state, let's first agitate the machine once, mixing the OxiClean and the soap together. Yes, then drop the laundry in. At this time, you may add white towels and such along with it. Yes, let's do that. Run it for the standard time, please. Since there are T-shirts in it, I want the spin time as short as possible, and given that, it should really be about three minutes — but this machine doesn't have a three-minute setting, so I've set it to a soft six-minute spin. Two rinses. Three is fine too. So let's wait for the wash to finish.

We're doing white T-shirt laundry, but here, in addition to our company's white T-shirts, I'd like to introduce ones with a bit of color as well. I'll introduce new T-shirts from MARKAWARE — it's the promo corner. First, this is the series we call the Organic Giza 60/3 Jersey Survival Cloth. This one we call the Relaxed Fit Tee, ¥19,800. Organic Giza — Giza 92, the world's strongest extra-long-staple cotton. Spun into 60-count yarn, then three strands twisted together — and the yarn-making itself is done in Egypt, you see. From the three-ply twisting onward, we bring it to Japan and do it here, and it's made into what's called plain jersey, the most basic knit. But the strongest cotton times three-ply — I think it might be the strongest T-shirt.

As for how much body '60/3' has — you know those thick, meaty tees around 20-count? The beauty of the surface is completely different, and the strength is completely different, is what it is. This series of T-shirt — an overseas brand's T-shirt at this quality would without a doubt cost over ¥5 million, right — that kind of thing. A T-shirt that truly makes the most of great material. Even after repeated washing it's a firm fabric with a perfect sheen, and this is gas-singed — the fuzz burned off at the yarn stage — plus a compact yarn, a low-fuzz spun yarn, and by adding gas-singeing to that, this sheen comes out perfectly. A sheen that resists fading, that kind of T-shirt.

This is non-fluorescent — not optically brightened, plain-bleached — so for this one, without adding optical brightener, please enjoy it in its natural state, that kind of T-shirt. It's what we call Relaxed Fit, a slightly relaxed body width — not the big silhouette we did before — made so you can wear it in a nicely-judged way. Please give it a try. And there's a long-sleeve version of it too — same body width, but it's a long-sleeve tee. This one is ¥22,000. The collar's binder feel is a moderate width too, and the opening is made cleanly. It's a properly-made T-shirt — not just the material but the sewing is done perfectly too.

And further, in the same material, one more — this one isn't white, but this series is the Organic Giza 60/3 Jersey series — Survival Cloth. We call this the Regular Fit Tee — a slightly tighter body width. I've been going back to slightly slimmer T-shirts like this lately, so it's my favorite shape. For this one, the collar isn't a binder but serged-on, designed to be clean — tipping forward a little so it wears cleanly, that's the collar we made, that kind of T-shirt. Survival Cloth, incidentally, is a fabric name our company has trademark-registered, that kind of fabric.

Using the same yarn, for those who'd prefer a slightly thinner T-shirt, there's — whereas the earlier one twisted three strands, this twists two strands together, the so-called 60/2 T-shirt: Organic Giza 60/2 Circular Jersey, ¥16,500. This too is made using Organic Giza 92, the strongest extra-long-staple cotton. What's a Circular Jersey — it's tubular. Tubular means, basically, no side seams. This is what's called circular knitting, a type of knitting machine that knits round and round in a tube, and for ordinary fabric they do what's called slitting it open — taking the round-knitted tube and cutting into it to make it into a single open sheet of fabric, but this one is made as a tube without doing that.

What's good about it — the rubbing at the sides goes away. Especially — I sleep in T-shirts, and with age, being pulled, the seam allowance rubs and it got so itchy I couldn't sleep. Physically now — especially on planes and such, where you have to sleep — that started bothering me and I couldn't sleep at all, so it's a type that minimizes the seam allowance as much as possible, that kind of T-shirt. It's a luxury. Why a luxury — you have to change the whole knitting machine for each size, and because of that there's a minimum lot per knit, so you end up having to make fabric in large quantities, and it's a T-shirt that handles all of that.

For this one, a fairly narrow — about a 1.5cm width — serged-on collar, made to feel delicate. And the sleeve cap is set a bit high too, so it's brought a bit closer again to the kind of T-shirt we made in the early 2000s, that feel. And the short-sleeve version — the Short Sleeve Tee, ¥14,300 — this one is of course likewise tubular, and the collar is the same narrow feel — a narrow collar, a bit nostalgic. For grown-ups who spent their twenties back then, it's a T-shirt that lets you enjoy a design like that era. Highly recommended. It's good. And this goes on sale from July 16 at 9 p.m., it seems, so this I had to plug — a middle-aged guy in a lab coat explained it in a lab coat. Thank you kindly.

And so, the wash finished and it's dried. Yes, we washed two types, with different collar-yellowing treatments. First, this T-shirt is the one that used Utamaro soap and the ultrasonic washer — it still feels like a bit remains, that yellow look. Think of this as the general washing method. Of course there are differences in how the grime was deposited, but these are from the same person, so take it that the same protein is on them. And this one's the stain-removal — it's come out clean, right? Yes.

As for the T-shirt overall, I put in OxiClean White Revive too, but there's still a slight yellow tinge, it feels, so either repeat that kind of washing a few times, or, at this point, it's good to first do a soak-wash with oxygen bleach. And the 'Oxy soak,' as it's often called — let me briefly introduce that too. How to use oxygen bleach — there's a keyword here: Triple Six — not 'three' — Triple Six — I said 'triple' twice — just remember it as Triple Six, I think that's good.

What this is: sodium percarbonate — the so-called oxygen bleach, powder type. Add about 6g of this per 1 liter, that's the first 6. And the second 6 — it basically works best at a liquid temperature of 60°C, so ideally it's better to keep it warm while you do it — doing it inside a cooler box and such is good — at 60, and the third is a soak time of 60 minutes. If you remember it as 666, Triple Six, it's easy to remember — that's when it works best. This much whiteness is about fine, I think, but if you soak it with oxygen bleach at that Triple Six, the whiteness increases even more, that's the idea.

Yeah — thinking of the whole, you shouldn't bleach too frequently, since it damages the fibers. Compared to chlorine bleach like Haiter, it's overwhelmingly gentler, but even so it happens — so reduce the number of times as much as you can, and otherwise, add that OxiClean from before to your detergent — going about it that way is good, I think, is the idea. — I see. — Yes. And otherwise, do your laundry properly before it yellows too much, that's the point.

So, Ishikawa-san, today's summary. — Yes, there was a today's summary. Yes. There are two types of white T-shirt, so separate your washing methods. Also, don't wash with colors and patterns. And ideally buy a separate detergent for colors and patterns too. Yes. — The build-the-summary-as-you-go style. — But those first five no-nos, right? — Yes, yes. — Quite a shock. Some of them you half-knew, though — like the call on 'white with white is actually different' — that was the biggest shock. — Right, right, right. — If 'separating them that far is a hassle' — if there are such people, then just unifying everything to one or the other is good, right. — Well, right, when buying.

— Right, when buying — carry a blacklight around at all times, and shopping would be scary. — Always tuck this in your breast pocket, and when the clerk steps away, shine it — in the fitting room, in the fitting room is fine too. — Well, that's fine, isn't it? — Right where they're displayed, shine it; even going to buy towels, shine it; when buying sheets too, zap it with this — yes, I think that'll tell you. Actually, seeing how much showed up when shot like that, I really did think, yeah, it's better to be careful. Yes.

Towels, towels, towels, the towel problem. — No, just make all your towels white — that's it. — Right, right, right, right. — What color are your towels now? — Towels? Well, quite a vivid green. — Vivid green? — Green? — Yellow-green, a vivid green. — Right, right. — My towels are all white, sheets are all white, white. — Do the white T-shirts you own, Ishikawa-san — do you have both? Both optically-brightened and — ? — I have both, both. What we make isn't optically brightened, but the ones I buy are often optically brightened, so — yeah — the non-optically-brightened ones tend to get a bit tricky. And towels too — there are quite a few that aren't optically brightened — so those I wash together as their own group, yes.

Today's star of the show is this one, right? This — do you know why it glows blue? Fluorescence — true, I don't know. — Fluorescence — what fluorescence is: it takes in light and emits light back. And at that time, not the color's color, it robs the light of the power it carries — so the wavelength, the wavelength gets a little shorter — and given that, UV has the shortest wavelength of all light, right? And it robs it of power, so the wavelength lengthens, and that's why, when it's hit with invisible UV light, it comes back out transformed into visible blue light, apparently. A trivia tidbit.

Yeah. Everyone, we've come right up to the brink of 100,000. Somehow, please recommend us to those around you — and of course, if you haven't subscribed yet, subscribe right now, press the subscribe button. Recommend us to those around you, and somehow, if you'd lend us your support so we can reach 100,000, we'd be very happy. — For those who lend their support, do we do, like, a giveaway of this? — Why that one? — Where — ◯◯◯ or put it here, here — — a fashion channel, a fashion channel — it's unrelated, isn't it. Maybe it's better to give back on the fashion side, for everyone. Once we hit 100,000, we'll really do something, so — please — send us to 100,000; with the feeling of 'let's give them the Silver Play Button,' we'd be glad if you'd spread the word. Together with that, a like, a comment, and the bell and Hype — thank you kindly.