Blue Indigo Laundry Whitener, Natural Laundry Bluing. Our 100% natural premium quality blue indigo provides a natural and planet friendly laundry whitener with additional benefits. Not only does our indigo laundry bluing make white textiles look whiter, it also deepens the colours of coloured clothing. Indigo makes the clothes significantly antimicrobial. Its use is ideal for bed sheets which stay fresher for longer, work clothing and for face masks. Dermatologists and Ayervdevic practitioners strongly recommend the use of Indigo Laundry Whitener for sensitive and trouble prone skin. We supply cosmetic quality indigo in block or powdered form and both can be used as laundry bluing.

What is Natural Blue Indigo?

Indigo is an ancient dye derived from the leaves and stems of the Indigo Tinctoria plant and its global use can be traced back thousands of years. Blue is one of nature’s rarest and most prized colours and the most difficult to produce. At Natural Spa Supplies we support traditional production techniques which give us a skin friendly indigo.

Laundry Bluing

Whiten your whites with cosmetic indigo. Indigo is the original laundry bluing. Bleached white textiles take on a yellow tinge over time, especially when washed with hard water. Use indigo as a natural optical enhancer to whiten whites. Bluing can be achieved with either cosmetic indigo powder or cosmetic indigo blocks depending on whether you are washing clothes in a washing machine or by hand.

For whitening in the washing machine

With powder – 1 gram of cosmetic indigo powder in a jar in 1 litre of water. Place the lid on the jar and shake until combined and then use to fill the conditioner tray in the washing machine.

Indigo doesn't dissolve in water, so next time you use the laundry bluing you have made in a jar, shake or stir it to disperse the indigo again in the bluing solution.

For whitening hand washed items

If washing by hand, add less of the bluing solution into the final rinse water (the load size is smaller). Agitate the clothing well or soak for a few minutes.

You can also use an indigo block when hand washing. We can also supply a small cotton drawstring bag to contain the indigo blocks and it saves you handling the blue block directly.

Place the block or blocks in the cotton bag and dip in and out of the warm rinse water until the desired shade, just a hint of blue in this case, is reached. Remove the bag from the water to prevent any further pigment release. Then add the clothing to the indigo rinse water as before. Keep agitating the clothes and draw them in and out of the blue rinse water until the optimal white hue is achieved. The dipping and agitation helps to trap the indigo particles in between the clothing fibres. Wring the clothes out and dry them. Allow the indigo laundry blue block to dry in its bag and store carefully once dry.

Blocks or Powder?

We supply the ‘Cosmetic Indigo’ in either block or powder form. If you choose blocks we often need to send you several blocks to make up the correct weight.

Just to recap, buy the cosmetic blue indigo blocks with the draw string bag for whitening clothes when hand washing.

Buy the cosmetic indigo powder to make natural laundry whitener for use in a washing machine.

Shelf Life of Natural Blue Indigo Powder

If stored under optimal conditions, kept in a glass jar in the dark, the shelf life is 10 years.

Packaging

Our indigo laundry whitener is supplied in glass jars.

Ethics

Our indigo is made for Natural Spa Supplies in Morocco using time-honoured methods. This is the genuine Indigo – which has been fermented in goat and camel urine! We have carried on this method not just to preserve human heritage but because in this way, we can obtain the purest indigo powder without the use of industrial chemicals such as caustic soda. Our intention is to stock products that can be used on all skin types including sensitive skin and trouble prone skin.

While the production level is too small to gain organic status and the indigo plant does not need fertilizers or chemical treatments, in fact indigo plants are leguminous and use soil bacteria to fix nitrogen from the air. In that way indigo planting leaves the soil enriched with nutrients to help other crops to grow well. Indigo plants are used in interplanting and intercropping schemes as well as a cover crop to enrich the soil.

Please consider using a natural detergent such as Organic Soapnuts with our Blue Indigo Natural Laundry Whitener instead of conventional washing powders / liquids and fabric conditioners. These conventional laundry products contain bleaches and artificial bluing compounds called stilbenes which bio accumulate in rivers and the sea cause permanent harm to wildlife. On the other hand soapnuts and natural indigo will biodegrade.