More Than Meets The Eye – What’s Really Going On With Your White Cotton Bedsheets?

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Clorox and Cotton Incorporated #CloroxCottonCombo

Things aren’t always as perfect as they seem…like an Instagram photo, for example. As an influencer, we are creative professionals tasked to make all of our photographs, videos, and graphics look professional, high quality, and well, picture perfect. Let’s get real and reveal the smells and stains that DON’T make it into those fabulous social posts!

When you look at my beautiful master retreat and see the perfectly made bed and bedsheets, and how everything is intricately in it’s place – what you don’t see are the little stains and the way our white sheets smell. We’ve had this comforter, duvet, and bedding set for about six months now. As beautiful as it is, white is really tough to clean. Especially after long travel times and coast-to-coast flights where I literally pass out as soon as I hit the bed and wake up realizing I didn’t remove my makeup or shower (don’t act like it hasn’t happened to you – parenting is hard)! And factor in children who were at school playing with other children and all of their germs collectively jumping on your bed, and you’re probably thinking how ready you are to burn your sheets. Haha!

I’m telling you right now – Clorox and cotton will help to keep your gorgeous thread count looking white, fresh and clean, even when making those nasty spills in bed. Those pristine white bedsheets that you see on Instagram have more of a history than you think. Coffee, lipstick, wine, adult time *wink wink* – we have all been there with those impossible stains on our sheets.

And the smell? We typically wash our sheets every two weeks, and I can attest to the fresh laundry scent not lasting more than one week. And I LOVE the smell and look of fresh laundry, it makes me feel clean!

So yea – the smells and stains you don’t see in that beautiful, far away and perfectly angled Instagram shot aren’t visible to you, my lovely followers. As magazine-worthy as they look, the reality of our world is that we ALL fall victim to dingy and dirty body odors, coffee spills, makeup stains from mascara left on overnight by accident (whoops) and lipsticks. Even our cute little Maltese, Duke, has his hand (or shall I say paw prints) in our white bedsheet’s imperfections.

But don’t be discouraged! I’m going to reveal to you right now the secret tips and how-to’s on keeping your white bedsheets picture perfect. Together with Clorox and Cotton Incorporated, we’re going to focus on the solutions of these so-called unattainable white sheets and share some tips on how to prevent and eliminate odors from your favorite cotton white sheets.

Seriously, though – what’s really going on with your white cotton bedsheets?

We learned about the power of Clorox and recently started using Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₂ as part of our laundry routine now to keep our cotton sheets and towels smelling fresh and looking whiter longer. Using bleach not only helped eliminate stains, it also helped to eliminate odors and keep our favorite white cotton bedsheets looking Instagram-worthy!

There’s a science to it all, and it’s quite simple on why Clorox^® Bleach and cotton make such a great pair! Together, Clorox and cotton keep your bedsheets fresh and looking newer for longer. Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₂ has a legacy of fighting stains and adding it not only removes tough stains and keep whites brighter longer, but sanitizes laundry to kill 99.9% of bacteria, which causes odor. Oh and cotton, well – cotton has a legacy of being a favorite fabric because it’s soft, durable and easy to care for. From the towels in your bathroom, to the clothes you wear throughout the day, to the sheets you snuggle into each night, Cotton is the fabric of our lives for a reason. It’s also the best choice to fight odors because cotton has less odor retention than other fabrics. Here is a video to share more on this fun partnership!

Laundry Time Tips:
First we need to understand whether or not an item can be bleached…

• For laundry use on cotton or bleachable fabrics (avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, spandex and non-fast colors)

For whitening and/or stain removal, here’s how we’re going to make your white bedsheets whiter:

• First, sort laundry by color
• Second, add detergent
• Then, fill bleach to maximum line or level in dispenser OR add measured amount of bleach to dispenser or wash water
• Next up – measure amount accordingly:
  • 1/2 cup/4 oz. for standard machine or high-efficiency machine wash

-OR-

• 1 cup/8 oz. for extra-large washer or heavy stains or soiled load of laundry

• Finally, add clothes and start wash!

Easy, right???

Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₂ also cleans and removes odor causing bacteria from your High Efficiency laundry machine at the same time you are cleaning your clothes. That’s it – Instagram famous, I mean ready.

AND…

To extend the challenge to you all, we created a giveaway just for The It Mom readers. All you have to do is share a perfectly curated photo of your favorite white, cotton bedsheets using the #CloroxCottonCombo on Instagram and tag @TheItMom for a chance to win a Clorox Bleach prize pack, including a gift certificate to a cotton-friendly retailer.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Clorox. The opinions and text are all mine.