White vinegar can be a useful laundry aid, but some popular claims are exaggerated. Here’s what it can—and can’t—do.
What vinegar can help with:
- Remove some detergent residue from fabrics.
- Reduce odors.
- Help soften towels by dissolving residue left behind by detergent or hard water.
- Reduce static cling (to a limited extent).
How to use it correctly:
- Add ½ to 1 cup (120–240 mL) of distilled white vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser or the rinse cycle—not directly with the detergent in the wash cycle.
- Wash as usual. The vinegar smell typically disappears once the clothes dry.
For towels:
- If towels feel stiff, wash them once with detergent only, then run another cycle using ½–1 cup of white vinegar in the rinse. Avoid using fabric softener regularly, as it can coat towel fibers and reduce absorbency.
For whites:
- Vinegar can help remove some dullness caused by detergent or mineral buildup, but it is not a bleach and won’t restore heavily stained or yellowed whites to bright white. An oxygen-based bleach is generally more effective for whitening fabrics that can tolerate it.
Important precautions:
- Do not mix vinegar with chlorine bleach. This can produce toxic chlorine gas.
- Avoid using vinegar frequently on natural stone surfaces or where your washing machine manufacturer advises against it, as repeated exposure to acid may affect some materials over time.
- Check garment care labels before trying any new laundry treatment.
Used appropriately, vinegar can be a helpful addition to laundry, especially for softening towels and reducing residue, but it’s not a substitute for detergent or bleach when those are needed.
