The Easy Lemon Juice Hack For Maintaining White Jeans

Oct 21, 2023

A pair of white jeans brings the same stress into your life that any other kind of white object does. From a white rug to a white handbag, keeping these things clean is always going to be trickier than it is with other colors. But with white jeans in particular, that stress is worth it. White jeans are the perfect summer wardrobe staple around which you can build endless airy warm-weather outfits. You just need to know how to clean them.

Spillages and marks are bound to happen, no matter how careful you are around your white jeans. Luckily, there's a simple hack that uses only two ingredients — both of which you very likely already have at home. The first is distilled water, and the second is lemon juice.

Learning the lemon juice hack can help you to wear your white jeans with confidence, because you'll know exactly what to do in an emergency. And that's a good thing, because confidence is a must when wearing white jeans!

Speaking to Well + Good, Maeve Richmond, who's the founder of the home organizational company Maeve's Method, revealed that your best bet is spot cleaning with the lemon juice hack if your jeans aren't dirty enough for a machine wash.

"There's no rule on how many wears you should go before you machine wash," Richmond revealed to the outlet. "Some experts say never machine wash jeans, as it breaks down the fibers. I'd say, if [your] white jeans get grungy enough that you won't wear them again then it's time to wash."

If your jeans only require a spot clean, you can fill a spray bottle with a cup of distilled water and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Spray the solution directly onto the stain or mark. Then leave the jeans to dry off in the sun. The stain should disappear in as little as two hours.

For exceptionally tough stains, you could also try leaving the lemon juice solution on the jeans overnight before machine washing (via Angi).

The lemon juice hack is an effective technique to use when you're dealing with obvious stains. But if you're just trying to keep your white jeans clean in general, and they're looking a little faded, Levi's recommends using eco-friendly detergent.

"I soak my white jeans in hot water and some eco-friendly detergent and line dry them in the sun," men's stylist Michael Giordano told the website. Levi's also emphasizes that you should never use water hotter than 85 degrees and allow the jeans to dry in the sun rather than the dryer, as this will worsen stains.

While Maeve Richmond advises machine washing your jeans when they get dirty enough, Levi's stresses that you should aim to wash them as infrequently as possible, as this will keep the white denim from fading prematurely. The brand also recommends tending to marks with spot cleaning as soon as you notice them. As is the case with self-tanner stains on your clothing, the longer you take to clean a stain, the harder it will be to get out.