So off I went to buy some of that net curtain whitener stuff which is so highly regarded by my elders from the supermarket... Then I did the well known Yorkshire battle cry... "HOW MUCH!?!" With an average of £1.26 in my purse, I'd need to sell a kidney or something to be able to purchase my chosen chemicals!
Needless to say I decided to try something else so I sat down and got googling. It almost seemed to be a waste of time because everyone suggested the same old chemical therapy in the form of net curtain whitener or some lingerie lightener until i then stumbled across a question on yahoo for how to get your bra white again and someone had suggested staining your grey-whites with tea to make them nude instead of grey!
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
(It wasn't voted the best answer either)
So here goes Dawn's grey-bra experiment #1
Apparatus
Bowl
Tea bags
A stirring thing
A manky grey-bra
Salt (I read somewhere that salt helps with dying or something? Basically I haven't a clue whether this is needed or not)
Oh and some boiling water... The kind you get from a kettle :-/
Method
Put about 3-4 tablespoons of salt in a bowl with about 6-8 tea bags depending on the severity of shade you want to achieve. 6 for mild tan, 8 for deep tan.
Pour over boiling water (about 4" or enough to just submerge the offending grey-bra)
Bung your bra in the mix and poke until covered. You can leave tea bags in or take them out, I left them in because I couldn't be bothered to find something to put them on. (If you are that way inclined, I wouldn't recommend saving the bags for a sneaky re-cycled bag brew because of the salt!)
Leave to stand but poking and turning occasionally until you achieve your desired shade. I did 2 bras, one I made a deep tan (for my holidays). The other I did a lighter day to day shade (for everyday use).
Rinse thoroughly.
Leave to dry somewhere where the tea isn't going to drip and ruin something like carpets, paintwork, small dogs or other clothes.
Once pretty much dry (I have no patience) wash using normal detergent in your usual method.
Dry, wear, enjoy.
Conclusion
I can't believe this hair rained idea worked! That's nuts!
NAILED IT!
However due to how ancient my bras were they did look a bit patchy in places and the metal bits remained white. I think this is because they are cheapy fabric to start with maybe? I wouldn't recommend you do thus with anything decent, but to get a few months out of something you haven't worn for a few months due to sheer embarrassment, it's worth a bash!