Does hanging clothes out on a frosty night make them whiter?

Is it an old wives tale? Something I made up / imagined?

I did hear that hanging white clothes out on a frosty night made them whiter (assuming they’d lost some of their whiteness). Is it true?

Ta

Why don’t you try it with old shirt?

😆

I doubt it but I’ve heard it is very good for killing any little beasties that may be hanging about in bedlinen!

Temporarily, perhaps!

I thought it was hanging stuff out in the sun that bleached it?

As Markie says. It will only be whiter until it thaws…

eh lol)….its makes them stiffer if anything….. i once remember drip drying some jumpers in this cold weather and in the morning they were stiff carboard jumpers ! well funny…lol

Isn’t there a mathematical equation for this?

i have a horrible feeling the answer to this includes urine

The UV in sun does something fairly complex to make whites whiter and help kill stains.

Hmmmmm,

Ta all. There does seem colloquial evidence on the web for this but I’d just heard that a frosty night makes whites whiter. Told a friend and she laughed at me – hence the question.

I was hoping someone would have a scientifically plausable explanation…..

Never mind – I’ll just get laughed at more.

Frost can help clothes to become cleaner and therefore appear whiter. This is because it freezes the remaining moisture in the clothes. Ice is 4% bigger than the water so the freezing action will “lift” the microscopic dirt particles out of the fabric.

I wouldn’t recommend it though. Because not only will the expansion of frozen water presumably rapture and damage the fabric, but any movement of frozen stiff clothes would lead to the fabric breaking and tearing – even in the wind I suppose.

Just use water which is much softer and gentler.

Water that is gentler!

I live in Stevenage 🙁 the water comes out of the tap with flick knives and kicking boots!

I guess I have Eco / Wicca tendencies so the thought of making whites whiter by frost was attractive.

However the main reason was my lady friend who called it a “cretinous and idiotic thought…”. I wish I’d had proof.

I’ve left a blue and white striped towel out on the line.
I’m prepare to leave it their for a few days in the name of science.

There is also a pair of royal racing tousers that have been in the garden for about 9 months. I’ll let you know if they’re clean tomorrow.

lol Yeti

When bringing in frozen clothes try not to bend or ‘crunch’ them, put them over the heater or drier as flat/straight as possible so you don’t damage them.
I’ve never noticed whites getting particularly whiter in winter but maybe I just wasn’t paying attention.

OP I thought you were high earning and inteligent?

Thank you Yeti. I shall await results. I may even try a small experiment myself:)

CynicalAl – I guess it depends on who is looking at me…….

Yes yeti, I’m looking at the towel now, from my hide. I think I might secrete myself in your kitchen cupboards later and watch you from there.

Day 1

Whites – The freeze dry method of drying towels seems to have an exemplary impact on getting whites sparkling white.

Blues – The freeze dry method of drying towels seems to have an exemplary impact on getting blues sparkling white.

Additional notes…

Mrsgrips – advice taken. To be honest I’m going to leave them out there until they’re dry now.

barnsleymitch – I’ve suspected someone is living in my shed for quite a while now. How many sugars in your tea, I’ll leave one by the back door. If you can tell me what colour the other towel is, this joke isn’t quite so funny.

Next item to be studied is a white foraml shirt. I’m hoping to be able to conclude that freeze drying not only gets my whites, whiter than white, but also negates the need for starching collars.

Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable there yeti. You do look peaceful when youre sleeping though… 😯

….so the intermittent warm draft I feel on the back of my neck at night…

At least I don’t have to be worried about Paranormal Activity anymore.

No, just me and my coarse northern manners and rough hands 😉

I must admit I was becomming puszzled as to why a demon / ghost would only be interested in my suede jacket.

This is good science Yeti – keep it up please.

I’ve agreed with the OH that we’re going to wash an old tea towel (white), cut it straight in half and hang one out on a frosty night and put the other one in the tumble drier.

Then we’ll repeat the experiment and switch the methods/bits of towel.

DrRSwank.

Limitations in my current study…

Lack of control towel. (I see you’ve noticed this and rectified in your study).

Failure to eliminate other variables – My towel (subject A) is now going to be in direct sunlight all day.

Over the summer I noted that similar studies into the impact of sunlight on cleanliness of clothes (aka apathy for bringing in the washing) had positive effects on the whiteness of my whites but was somewhat detrimental to the blackness of my blacks.

The conclusion that I’ve come to is that you need to cut said old tea towel (subject B) needs to be cut in to three pieces.

B1 – To be dried outside in the shade
B2 – To be dried outside in direct sunlight
B3 – To be dried in a tumble drier
B4 – To be dried on a radiator.

Ok I know that’s 4, but this is a revloutionary study and things change quickly.

Regards,

TSY

I guess I have Eco / Wicca tendencies so the thought of making whites whiter by frost was attractive.

Surely sunlight is just as eco-hippy, but is widely known to work very well?

You see – I didn’t know that sunlight would make my whites whiter. I’d only heard about the frosty one.

Mr Yeti – we are entering into true science now. We’ll be setting up double blind latin square designs next!

I will wash my towel now – ready for the frost tonight.

Also leave a bit out in the sun – see what happens.

I’ve had stains on white shirts (I have an eating disorder) that I’ve washed and failed to come out. So hung them out on the line anyway, and when I bring them in the stain’s vanished!

**** me. My tea towel is going to get cut into microscopic bits at this rate.

So I need a bit for:-
Sunlight outdoors drying
Frosty night drying
Tumble drying
Radiator drying
Stuffing in the freezer compartment drying.

If I’m to do this in a fully randomised manner I’ll need to cut it into 25 pieces!

What the hell 🙂

Lol!

Your neighbours will wonder wtf is going on… Oh and we will need to see pics 🙂

DrRSWank.

In the interst of science you need to evenly soil a large bed sheet then.

Oh and pretend you don’t know you’re doing an experiment to help with that double blind malarky.

I was going to poke both of my eyes out as well.

Right – I’ll go and soil a sheet 😉

Remember Dr… when the wife asks…. You don’t know what you’re doing. Same applies for the neighbours. We can’t have cutting edge science compromised at this critical stage.

Kindest regards,

(Soon to be Dr) TSY.

You know how materials/gases/solids etc shrink when its cold and expand in the heat like bridges on rollers?

What if the white shirt has minor holes that have expanded through wear and tear only for cold weather to tempory shrink fix the gaps and allowing more light to be absorbed instead of photons passing through the gaps and hence illusion of the shirt getting whiter without Daz.

Also frosty days can be brighter and our eyes responding to the extra light allow the shirt to seem brighter?

Or something very simple I would like to know! dam you OP!

Frankenstein – I’ll thank you for not sneezing into my petri-dish!

Put some concentrated agar solution in first and we can see the growth in a few days and chuck in some antibiotics and play god!

Day 2 & 3

Trials into the impact of frost on the whiteness of whites.

Whites – It’s been raining almost constantly for two days. The amount of rain shows an inverse relationship with the amount of frost. Rain seems to have no bearing on the whiteness of whites.

Blues – It’s been raining almost constantly for two days. The amount of rain shows an inverse relationship with the amount of frost. Rain seems to have no bearing on the blueness of blues.

Supplementary analysis.

A blue and white striped towel that has been left outside in the rain all night is not very good at drying the human form.

Excellent research.

I’ve been suffering from a lack of frost too. Nature is ruining science.

Could be the moonlight is stronger on a frosty night.

oliverd1981 – interesting.

Would you be interested in taking part in some trials on this topic?

Returning to the original question hanging clothes out on a frosty night won’t work, but hanging clothes out when it has snowed (particularly if its now sunny) does have a bleaching effect.

My mother in law was going on about this, and I was sceptical, but tried it with some of my toddlers clothes and it worked a treat. The whites were Daz white.

Turns out my MiL had been equally sceptical when her mother was doing it but had been similarly convinced.