Help! My reusable cotton pads are no longer white!!!

Cotton pads and washable wipes are our best friends for a zero-waste bathroom routine. Soft, effective, eco-friendly, and economical — they tick every box! Their only downside is that they don't always come out very white after a machine wash. Low-temperature washing simply doesn't provide a deep enough clean for the fibres. Add to that the fact that make-up has an annoying habit of embedding itself into fabric (mascara in particular). Fortunately, there is an easy, natural, and truly super-effective method for getting your reusable make-up remover pads whiter than white.

How to deep-clean reusable make-up remover pads?

In the interest of economy, we recommend not using this method at every wash, and instead doing it for all your make-up remover pads at once.

What you will need

• 2 tablespoons of sodium percarbonate
• 1 tablespoon of washing soda crystals
• 1 litre of water
• 1 kettle (or a saucepan)
• 1 large bowl

How to get your reusable cotton pads whiter than white

Boil 1 litre of water.

Place your make-up remover pads that need a thorough clean into a large bowl. Sprinkle over the sodium percarbonate and washing soda crystals.

Then pour the boiling water into the bowl. The mixture will foam up a great deal — this is perfectly normal.

Leave the pads to soak for several hours (ideally a full day).

Once they have soaked thoroughly, wring them out before putting them through a machine wash with the rest of your laundry!

Finally, leave them to dry in the sun!

And there you have it — our cotton pads are spotlessly white once again!!!

Watch out for colours!

If you have coloured cotton pads or washable wipes, we strongly advise against cleaning them together with your white pads. When writing this post, we mixed the two together and all the white pads came out pink!!! We simply had to soak them again on their own, and they were back to their original colour!!!

A whitening method that works for (almost) everything

This method is also excellent for removing yellow sweat stains from the collars and underarms of white t-shirts and shirts. It can also come in handy as a last resort for stain-treating your reusable sanitary pads in the case of a stubborn stain.

Also check out our cleaning routine for reusable sanitary pads.