Laundry stains are hard to remove from many garments, but I find white socks to be one of the worst.

Unfortunately, the stains don’t seem to shift with just laundry detergent alone and even products designed to remove those brown marks have failed the task.

While some people recommend using bleach, I decided against this as it can end up damaging the fibres.

Instead, I noticed that a few Mrs Hinch cleaning fans had been raving about a particular natural cleaning item, but it wasn’t the usual cleaning agent like white vinegar or baking soda.

They claimed that soda crystals can whiten socks when combined with your regular laundry detergent.

Cleaning enthusiasts recommended first soaking the socks in soda crystals and water before adding to the washing machine, however, I decided to see if it would work when added straight to the machine.

I started by weighing out 30g of soda crystals as that’s the amount recommended to remove stains

I added the soda crystals to the washing machine with my laundry detergent before adding in the brown-stained socks alongside the rest of my whites to avoid underloading the appliance, which would waste energy, detergent and time. An undersized load will put the appliance off-balance during the spin cycle. 

I then set the washing machine to a full cycle at 40 degrees which takes around 45 minutes.

After the cycle had finished I took the sock and the rest of the laundry out of the washing machine and the sock came out brighter and there were no remaining stains.

I couldn’t believe how well this worked without the need to pre-soak or use bleach. What’s more, it’s so much cheaper and I already have soda crystals in my cleaning cupboard.

I used the Dri-Pak soda crystals that are sold as a 1kg bag in B&Q for £2 and at Robert Dyas for £4.39. 

Households can pick up any brand of soda crystals as they’ll all give the same results. The 1.5kg of Ecodoo soda crystals retails for £3.40 down from £4.06 currently on Amazon.

With the recent UK hot weather, it was a great opportunity to dry the socks on the washing line. Line drying outside in the sun helps whiten laundry as the UV rays naturally bleach clothing. 

However, for those not able to dry their clothes outside due to lack of space or if the weather just does not allow, hanging laundry by a window in a well-ventilated room will have a similar effect.