How to Get Yellowed Pillowcases and Sheets White Again

Short answer: soak yellowed pillowcases in warm water with baking soda for one to two hours, then wash at 40 to 60°C. For stains that have set, use a paste of baking soda and 3% hydrogen peroxide and leave it on for half an hour before washing. Skip fabric softener, dry in sunlight if you can, and wash weekly. No bleach needed.

Why white bedding turns yellow

Nothing has gone wrong. Yellowing is what happens when a fabric spends a third of its life against skin, and it builds up slowly enough that you tend to notice it all at once, usually against a freshly laundered towel.

Four things cause it:

• Sweat and body oils. Through the night your skin transfers its own oils into the weave. This is the main cause, and it is why pillowcases yellow first.
• Skincare and hair products. Night creams, serums and leave-in treatments leave residue behind, and that residue oxidises.
• Washing too rarely. Oils that are left in the fibre have time to set. Once they oxidise they are far harder to lift.
• Hard water. Mineral content leaves its own faint yellow cast, independent of anything your skin does.

Detergent has a part in it too. Too much of it, or any fabric softener, coats the fibres and traps the oils rather than carrying them away.

Five ways to bring the white back, without bleach

These are ordered from gentlest to strongest. Start at the top. Most yellowing gives way to the first or second, and there is no reason to reach for something harsher than the fabric needs.

1. A baking soda soak

The gentlest method, and the right first attempt for light yellowing.

Dissolve 100g of baking soda in a basin of warm water. Soak the pillowcases for one to two hours, then machine wash as normal. If you would rather not soak, add half a cup of baking soda to your usual detergent and wash at 60°C.

2. White vinegar in the drum

Pour 250ml of white vinegar straight into the drum before the cycle starts. Vinegar works on the cause rather than the colour: it breaks down the body oil residue holding the yellow in place.

3. Baking soda and dish soap, overnight

The strongest soak, and worth the wait for bedding that has yellowed over a season.

You will need a quarter cup of clear dish soap and half a cup of baking soda.

1. Fill a bathtub or a large bucket with warm water.
2. Add the baking soda and dish soap, and stir until fully dissolved.
3. Submerge the pillowcases, stirring the water so every part of the fabric is covered.
4. Leave them overnight.
5. The next day, machine wash on a normal cycle with your usual detergent and two cups of white vinegar.
6. Dry in sunlight. UV brightens and disinfects cotton at no cost.

4. A hydrogen peroxide paste, for stains that have set

Hydrogen peroxide is a natural bleaching agent and the one method here that treats a specific area rather than the whole piece.

Mix half a cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide with half a cup of baking soda into a paste. Work it into the yellowed areas, leave it for 30 minutes, then wash as usual in warm water with a mild detergent. Test it on a hidden corner first, and expect stubborn staining to need two or three cycles.

5. Lemon and white vinegar

Both are natural whiteners, and this is the method to use if you have neither baking soda nor peroxide to hand.

Fill a sink or bucket with hot water, add the juice of two lemons and one cup of white vinegar, and soak for one to two hours. Wash in the machine with your regular detergent afterwards.

What to do about set-in yellow stains

Yellow stains are oxidised oil, not surface colour, so the thing that shifts them is breaking down the oil deposit rather than bleaching what you can see.

Yellowing less than a month old usually lifts with a 60°C wash, your normal detergent and half a cup of baking soda.

Older, set-in stains want the peroxide and baking soda paste, left on for an hour rather than thirty minutes, then washed. Repeat if you need to.

What to avoid

Chlorine bleach. It will whiten cotton, but it weakens the fibres each time and the yellowing returns faster afterwards. Keep it for the occasional wash of 100% white cotton, and never use it on coloured bedding, on Supima cotton, on TENCEL™ lyocell or on silk, where the damage cannot be undone. If you want the bleaching action, oxygen bleach does the same job far more gently.

Fabric softener. It coats the fibres, traps the oils that cause the yellowing, and dulls a good cotton's finish along the way.

Too much detergent. Excess detergent does not rinse out. It stays in the weave as residue, and residue yellows.

Baking soda on delicate fibres. It is safe on cotton and linen, but keep it away from silk and TENCEL™ lyocell.

Which method suits which fabric

• Cotton, including percale and sateen. Everything above is safe. Wash at 40 to 60°C.
• Supima and other long-staple cottons. Same methods, no chlorine bleach.
• TENCEL™ lyocell. No baking soda, no chlorine bleach. A gentle wash and a white vinegar rinse.
• Silk. No baking soda, no bleach of any kind. Silk yellows differently and wants nothing stronger than a silk-specific detergent.

How to stop it happening again

Most yellowing is preventable, and the habits are small ones.

• Wash sheets and pillowcases every five to seven days at 40 to 60°C.
• Use a good detergent, and less of it than you think.
• Leave out the fabric softener.
• Rinse your face and take off makeup before bed. Less product on your skin means less of it in the weave.
• Dry in sunlight when the weather allows.
• Choose long-staple cotton. A tighter, longer fibre absorbs less oil in the first place.

That last point is the one that compounds. Our Supima sateen and classic percale sheets are woven from extra-long staple fibres in a 400 thread count, which gives them a smoother, denser surface with less for oil to work its way into. They stay white longer, and they hold up to being washed weekly, which is the habit that matters most.

For everything else on keeping bedding fresh, see our guide to how often you should wash your bed sheets.