#The Cult of Laundry

Mastering the Art of the White Dogi

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To all my karate friends, past, present, and future. :)

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###1. Introduction

If you are reading this, then there's a good chance that you want
to know how to make your dogi bright white, and to keep it that
way. If so, then read on; the path to what you seek begins here.

Because you train hard, you know it doesn't take long for your
keikogi to become either tired and grey, or decidedly yellow-looking.
Indeed, many are happy to live with that situation, but you aren't.
To be fair, there is no shame in being content with training garb
that is not as luminous as it once was. Knowing when something is
good enough is an admirable trait. Low hanging fruit is easily had,
but obtaining that last ten percent of brilliant whiteness is
exponentially more costly in terms of time and effort. How far you
go in that quest is a choice I leave to you.  

###2. Proper Diagnosis

Regardless of the time you are willing to spend doing laundry, the
goal is always, "Do much with little." In other words, work to get
your dogi as bright and white as you like, but with the least amount
of effort and materials possible. When this approach is taken, it
will become clear that there is no "one size fits all" solution.
Each situation will require specific steps for cleaning, but
something that is common to all is diagnosis.

A good doctor thoroughly examines his patient before prescribing
any medicine or treatment. An astute military commander gathers
all available information on his enemy, in order to martial his
forces and gain victory. Likewise, you must determine the nature
of the dirt, before you do any washing. Is it soil? Sweat stains?
Grass stains? Blood? The latter three are notoriously more persistent
than the first, and require more steps to remove them. If you treat
them like you would regular soiling, you waste time and resources
â the stains will remain. Likewise, if you treat regular soiling
like tougher stains, you will be spending too much in the way of
time and materials, and that unnecessarily. Therefore, determine
the nature of the soiling, and wash accordingly.  

###3. Caveats

Before we go on to the means of whitening your dogi, it should be
noted that there are two things which are not to be done:

i. Washing with hot water

In general, the single greatest help for getting clothes clean is
the use of hot water in the wash. Sadly it is not an option to us.
It is certainly not good for cotton, and not for cotton-poly blends
either â unless, of course, you don't mind wearing attire that is
a size too small! The only exception is if you already wash your
dogi in hot (or warm) water there is no need to switch to cold
water (as it has likely shrunk as much as it ever will). In this
case there is nothing to be gained by using cold water, in terms
of shrinkage, but much to be lost in cleaning effectiveness.

ii. The application of bleach

Likewise, the use of chlorine bleach is verboten . This is because
white fabrics are often not white at all; instead, they have agents
applied to make them appear brilliant white. Using bleach will
often remove these whitening agents, leaving the more natural,
yellow fabric behind. Obviously, this is counter-productive to the
task at hand. Moreover, it is said that prolonged and repeated use
of bleach is hard on fabric, thereby shortening the lifespan of a
garment. In short, do not use it; there are better options, as will
be shown.  

###4. Soft Water is Essential

An important step, that should not be overlooked, is to ensure that
the water which you are using to wash is soft. Hard water contains
minerals such as calcium and magnesium. These minerals will react
with the surfactants in the laundry detergent, lessening the ability
of these surface active agents to do their job of cleaning
(surfactants help emulsify the soiling in the item being washed,
thereby allowing the dirt to be washed away with the water). In
fact, the soap can react with these minerals forming a sort of soap
scum, which will remain on your clothes. If this happens, your
garment may actually appear grimy and dull, rather than cleaner
and brighter.

While water softeners for laundry use are common, not everyone has
access to them. Here's a quick test to see if your water is soft:
Take a container of water (i.e., that goes into your washer), and
put about a dozen drops of soap in. Seal the container and shake
it well. If there are lots of suds on top of the clear liquid, then
your water is probably soft enough; you won't need to make any
change. But if the water is murky, and lacking suds, then your
water is likely too hard.

If you don't have a water softener, don't worry. For a relatively
low cost, you can soften your water in each load of wash by using
a softener powder. There are two products I use: Borax (sodium
borate), and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (sodium carbonate).

Borax does not appear to disolve in cold water as easily as the
Arm & Hammer washing soda. Therefore I make a mixture of one part
Borax to two parts washing soda. I use about 1/2 cup per load of
wash. Readily available, you will usually find Borax and washing
soda in the laundry aisle.  

###5. Regular Washing

Most of the washing you do will probably fall into what I consider
a regular wash. No drastic measures will be necessary, and nothing
more is needed than cold, soft water, and some good laundry soap.

Note: Not all laundry detergents are created equal. For best results,
I recommend Tide Original Scent liquid detergent. As an alternative,
I have heard Persil ProClean Original Scent is also very good. I
tend to stay away from specialty detergents in order to reduce the
risk of unwanted, potentially dangerous, chemical reactions with
other laundry products (which are discussed below).  

###6. Dingy Grey Garments

If your dogi is dull-looking, you can restore the brightness by
soaking it in OxiClean White Revive for about six hours. After the
soak is done, wash it as normal.

Note: Do not perform this soak in your washing machine. I have read
reports that leaving the water in the washing machine tub for long
periods of time can allow the water to leak through the seals, and
get into the mechanical parts of the machine, thereby ruining it.

To avoid this potential trouble, I soak my garments in an
eleven-gallon waste container. With such a large container I can
easily soak two dogi tops at the same time. I add 1/2 cup of softener
powder, and the manufacturer-recommended amount of OxiClean powder.
Then I set a timer for six hours, and let it soak. The OxiClean
puts off a pretty strong smell. To combat this, I place a plastic
garbage bag over the top of the bucket. Since the bucket usually
sits in my shower when I do this, I take the shower head and give
the outside of the bucket a shot of water all the way around. Then,
when I apply the garbage bag, the water makes a seal between the
bag and the bucket. This prevents the smell from escaping.

When the soak is done, I sometimes will take the entire contents
of the bucket and dump it in the wash. I then add a bit of soap,
and let the washer do its thing. In my experience, the new high
efficiency (aka low ability to properly rinse clothes) washers will
sometimes not get all of the Oxi out. I recommend running your
garments through another rinse cycle without soap.

Note: While experimenting with various whitening products, I managed
to bleach out my dogi patches. I do not believe it was the OxiClean
soak, but rather another product, Out White Bright . I have yet to
do more tests to confirm which product caused it, but just be aware
of the possibility of your patch colour fading.  

###7. Yellowed Garments

The process for restoring a dogi which is yellowed from sweat stains
is similar to that described above (6. Dingy Grey Garments) but
with an extra step. The reason the sweat stains don't wash out
easily is because oil from your skin mixes with the sweat. By
itself, water is not well suited to removing oils. As discussed
earlier, you can't use hot water to help heat the oils (making them
more soluble), so instead you can use an Ammonia solution, also
known as Ammonium Hydroxide, or Ammonia.

Ammonia solution can be anywhere from 1% to 10%, the latter being
used more for janitorial or industrial type cleaning. You may find
the products on the lower end (1-3%) to be somewhat anemic. I found
this stuff at Home Hardware, a 6% solution, to be quite satisfactory.

Note: Mixing ammonia with certain chemicals will produce poisonous
gases. In particular, bleach and ammonia are NOT to be mixed
together! Always read the label of every product for directions on
how to use it, as well as any warnings about mixing it with other
products or chemicals. I highly recommend using the ammonia solution
as a standalone, or just with your laundry soap, as long as your
laundry soap doesnât have bleach in it. Additionally, the ammonia
solution gives off a very strong odor. I suggest using it in a
well-ventilated area, but at the very least care should be taken
to measure the ammonia out without spilling so as to keep the fumes
down.

My process for restoring a yellowed dogi would be to add 1/2 cup
of the 6% ammonia solution to the wash water (again, if you don't
have a water softener, use softener powder). Typically I will put
my softener powder in the bottom of the machine, place the dogi in
next, and let the water start to fill. Then, when the water has
filled, I add the ammonia (carefully poured into a half-cup measuring
cup) straight into the wash. For a front-load washer, the process
is almost the same: put in the softener powder, put in the garments,
and then pour the ammonia onto the top of the fabric, close the
door, and start the machine.

After the machine has run its cycle, treat the gi as you would for
greying (i.e., section 6. Dingy Grey Garments ), then wash again.

###8. Grass Stains / Blood

For removing grass or blood stains, I recommend a mixture of one
third water, one third dish soap, and one third ammonia solution.
This can be put into a plastic spray bottle and then sprayed directly
on to the stained areas. During this procedure the ammonia smell
is intense. You will want to do this outside in the open. I always
wear a pair of rubber gloves to keep the ammonia off my hands as
well. When dealing with heavy soiling, I use a dish-scrubbing brush
to scrub the solution into the stained area after I have applied
the spray solution.

Once the solution is applied, and the scrubbing is done, put the
clothes straight into the wash. You will want to follow the procedure
for yellowed garments (see section 7), followed by an Oxi soak (see
section 6) and one more wash, as described above. I also recommend
you have everything ready to go (as much as you can â borax and
ammonia measured out, etc.) before you apply the spray-on solution.
That way, you can just stick the stinky mess right into the washing
machine without delay.

Note: A combination of sweat and deodorant (or antiperspirant) can
be difficult to remove. However, this spot treatment method can be
used as a stand-alone stain reducer for the armpit area. If you
only want to diminish the stain, but not go through the process of
the six-hour soak, a local application of the three-part solution
is somewhat effective.  

###9. Laundry Bluing

By applying laundry bluing, you can counteract any yellow tint in
your garment, thereby making it appear more white. This is the last
step in any of the above laundry processes. I blue garments in my
top loading washing machine, but if you have a front load washer
it can be done in a large container.

Note: Extra care must be taken when using laundry bluing. The bluing
dye comes in a highly concentrated form. A few drops are all it
takes. Any dye, undiluted, that gets on any surface or garment,
will most certainly stain it, so take care.

I use Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Liquid Bluing .

The directions for use are: 1. Shake well before using 2. Always
dilute bluing with water in a separate container before adding to
a wash load.

The second rule is key â dilute! (Refer to the directions for how
much dye to use per amount of water).

i. Bluing with a top load washer

I have an old two gallon jug which I fill with water followed by
laundry bluing.  Afterwards I stir the water in the jug to mix the
dye well. When the washing machine has finished filling for the
rinse cycle, I move the garments to the side, and then carefully
pour the bluing solution into the water. It is important to not
pour any dye solution directly on the garments themselves. Then
I close the lid, and let the washer finish as normal.

ii. Bluing with a front load washer

If you have a front load washer, it is not feasible to add bluing
into the washing machine. Instead, you can apply the dye by
repurposing the large container used for an oxi soak (as described
above). I put about nine gallons of water into my laundry barrel,
add the necessary bluing, and then stir it around. Don't get your
bare skin in the water, especially when you first add the drops of
dye â unless you want to look like a Smurf! Essentially, before
you add any clothing to the mix, you want the bluing to be evenly
dispersed in the water; it should be a light blue colour. Once it
is ready, add the clothes. I just dunk the dogi up and down in the
barrel. (In a top load washer, you would just let it agitate, then
run through a rinse/spin cycle). You can either wring the dogi out
by hand, or pop it in the washer and run it through a spin cycle.

###10. Maintenance

If your dogi got yellowed from sweat, you might consider using a
half-cup of ammonia solution in the wash each time. This will allow
the soap and water to remove the oils from your sweat so that it
does not build up and become noticeable again. For maintenance,
you should not need to do the Oxi soak; just soft water, soap, and
the ammonia solution should be sufficient. In my experience, it
takes much less effort to maintain than to restore.  

###11. Conclusion

Restoring a dingy, yellowed dogi, as described here, is somewhat
of an extreme process; it's not for the faint of heart. However,
a dazzling, refulgent, white dogi is reward enough, and if you find
yourself satisfied with nothing less, you just might be a member
of The Cult of Laundry.