Socks, white clothing, and bedding quickly accumulate stains and seem to dull after just a few washes. Restoring heavily greyed whites to their original brightness is a challenge; there is a way to revive them that doesn’t involve using bleach.

For those fans of natural cleaning methods, white vinegar and baking soda are often recommended for the laundry task; however, they will not be effective for the toughest stains. Instead, sustainability influencer Kate, who regularly shared natural cleaning tips on her @my_plastic_free_home Instagram account, recommends something stronger that’s also natural - sodium percarbonate. Kate showed the results of this product, and her whites were left dazzling.

Sharing a video on how to use sodium percarbonate, Kate captioned the post: “I always use this wonder product to whiten my whites and get them completely sparkling again.”

She noted three ways this natural product can be used. The first is to add 30g of it to your normal wash cycle. While this product works faster when higher temperatures are used, Kate pointed out that it also works with cold and warm water wash cycles.

The second, which she demonstrated in the video, is to add 60g of sodium percarbonate to about five litres of hot water and leave your laundry to soak for a few hours. Then put on a quick rinse cycle and hang out to dry.

However, when it comes to “really grubby whites”, particularly those annoyingly stained socks, add them to a pan of water and bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

Be careful to watch this method as the sodium percarbonate reacts and foams, and can overboil. Also to be careful that your clothes can withstand this temperature.

Sodium percarbonate is a white, grainy substance made from soda ash (sodium carbonate) and hydrogen peroxide.

When mixed with water, particularly hot water, it activates and breaks down into sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide.

Once activated with hot water, sodium percarbonate foams and bubbles up, creating a milky-looking solution.

This bubbling reaction is what makes it such a powerful cleaner, as it releases oxygen that tackles stains, grime, and odours with ease.

Unlike chlorine bleach, sodium percarbonate leaves no toxic residue; it just results in clean surfaces and fabrics.