Brighten dull-looking socks with easy soak method that costs 9p | Express.co.uk

Mar 08, 2025

Instantly brighten your dull socks with this cleaning hack.

Socks are among the most difficult everyday clothing items to keep clean, especially if you're partial to white or light-coloured ones. We wear them every single day, and they come into contact with all sorts of dirt on the ground.

If you walk around your house with just socks on you'll know that even the cleanest floors still manage to make your socks dirty. And even if you always have shoes on, dyes can bleed onto them and dirt can be kicked up from the ground to find its way inside your shoes.

All this can leave your socks looking grey and dull after a few washes. But you don't have to make the swap to black socks, as there is actually an easy hack you can try that is said to guarantee to brighten socks "overnight".

The hack was shared on Reddit after a user said they were struggling to get their light coloured socks back to their former glory, even after "multiple hot cycles" in the washing machine.

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Commenters on the post were quick to offer their advice, and one of the most popular suggestions involved soaking the socks in hot water and a dishwasher tablet overnight.

If you have a dishwasher you likely already have the tablets at home, but those who don't can pick them up for as little as £3.56 for a pack of 40 at some supermarkets - making the trick cost less than 9p each time.

One person said: "Hot water in the kitchen sink overnight with a lemon dishwasher pod. Wash on a regular cycle in the washing machine. It comes out like new! I do this with sweat stains, too."

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Another also praised dishwasher tablets for their effectiveness in other areas of the home, as they said they use one to clean their toilet and have had excellent results.

Someone else commented to tell the poster that their socks might look dull because of the way they dry them. They claimed that putting them in the tumble dryer on a cycle that is too hot can cause dark spots and can also affect the texture of the fabric.

They said: "I believe they do this when the dryer is too hot. It always happens to socks that are made from blended materials."

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