CARE OF WHITE NYLON. Women who complain that white nylon yellows or discolors with use can blame it on one or more of four principal causes according to its manufacturers: the use of soap and hard water without a softener, improper washing procedure, insufficient rinsing, and the finish that may have been applied when the cloth was made. Properly laundered, white nylon should remain white. Here are some special notes on the proper laundering of white nylon and for bleaching nylon that has become discolored. They are from the Du Pont Company which makes most of the nylon fibers used by textile mills today.

LIKE OTHER WHITE MATERIAL, white nylon should never be laundered with colored materials. Clothing should be washed frequently, preferably after each wearing, and the washing should be thorough. Because nylon often looks delicate and fragile, women have probably erred in using soaps and detergents that are very mild, in a quick swish and rinse in a washbowl. Remember that nylon is tough enough to be used for carpets, fish nets, truck tires, hawsers, and ropes. Unless they are poorly constructed or the trimming is very delicate, nylon clothes and household furnishings will take machine washing with heavy duty soaps and detergents and this is the treatment recommended by the Du Pont Company. Specialty products, optical whiteners known as nylon whiteners or brighteners (Pro-Nyl, Nylonu) aid in keeping nylon white if they are used repeatedly and also can be used to improve the appearance of use-discolored nylon. In the latter case the improvement is not immediate but occurs gradually with a number of treatments. Heavy duty detergents often contain optical whiteners that act in the same way. Soft water is essential to any good washing procedure so, if the water you use is hard, add a non-precipitating type of softener. Badly soiled areas always should be pretreated with a thick paste made of water and detergent.

DIRECTIONS FOR BLEACHING WHITE NYLON while washing it in your machine: use warm water (100? F.), a strong detergent, a softener, and a household bleach such as Clorox or Purex. (If the material has a resin crease-resistant finish, use sodium perborate instead.) The amount of bleach you use will depend upon the water capacity of your washer. Read and follow the instructions on the container. Some manufacturers of household bleach recommend adding a little vinegar to the usual solution. Run the load to be bleached through a five to eight minute wash cycle, followed by the normal rinses and spins unless the load is to be drip dried. In that case stop the washer before the final spin.

From this article we know that the use of soap and hard water without a softener, improper washing procedure, insufficient rinsing can cause yellowish or discolor. White nylon should never be laundered with colored materials.