If you’re asking about the common “one ingredient” laundry trick, it is usually baking soda.
🧺 How to use it
For a normal load of white laundry:
- Add your regular laundry detergent.
- Add about ½ cup (120 g) of baking soda directly to the washing machine drum or detergent compartment, depending on your machine.
- Wash using the warmest temperature appropriate for the fabric.
- For stubborn stains, pre-treat the stain rather than relying on baking soda alone.
Baking soda can help deodorize and soften the wash water, which may improve cleaning, but it doesn’t magically make every fabric “white as milk.”
For truly white laundry
If your goal is to remove yellowing or stubborn stains, oxygen bleach (color-safe bleach) is generally more effective than baking soda alone. Always check the garment’s care label first.
Avoid mixing household cleaning chemicals, particularly chlorine bleach with acids such as vinegar or ammonia, because dangerous gases can form.
Bottom line: Baking soda is a useful, inexpensive laundry booster, but the “one ingredient that makes everything brilliantly white” claim is mostly social-media hype.
