TEN and then again..
after blue comes pink...
Laundry Blue Bluing, Reckitt's blue bags, Dolly Blue
Before we had modern laundry detergents with optical brighteners, there was a mysterious little blue bag which was stirred around in the final rinse water on washday.
Bluing, laundry blue, or washing blue is a household product used to improve the appearance of textiles, especially white fabrics. Used during laundering, it adds a trace of blue dye (often synthetic ultramarine, sometimes Prussian blue) to the fabric.
White fabrics acquire a slight color cast after use (usually grey or yellow), because they can never be cleaned perfectly. Since blue and yellow are complementary colors in the subtractive color model of color perception, adding a trace of blue color to the slightly off-white color of these fabrics makes them appear whiter. Laundry detergents may also use fluorescing agents to similar effect.
Image by MezzA - Hungry Head 2011
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