White Fur, Cleaning and Yellowing

[White Fox]

I just had a rather interesting experience here. I've always heard of yellowing of fur. How it happens and is not reversible. etc.

 

I just had an interesting experience. I had not had the coat in my avatar cleaned in quite awhile. I decided it was time. I was almost ready to consider it is finished as the yellowing had gotten so bad.

 

When it came back this year after being cleaned I was amazed at how much whiter that it looked. Was it back to original? Nope. But it was certainly MUCH whiter! Indeed not all that far from original really. It is VERY presentable again indeed. A really nice looking coat again. My favourite really.

 

I would love to know here. Does this decreasing of the yellowing often happen with lighter coloured furs? Would it help for instance with a blue fox similar to the way it did with white mink and fox? Is there a particular type of yellowing that will decrease while other types don't? etc.

 

Just that I was very surprised when I got the coat back awhile back, and would love to know the answer here.

 

W

[AKcoyote]

I am far from an expert on this issue, but I do know that removing the dust and minor soil by cleaning can in some cases make a light color fur appear a bit brighter. In general, yellowing (oxidation) is usually permanent. If some of the discoloration is due to environmental pollutants accumulating on the hair, that portion of the discoloration can sometimes be removed during a proper cleaning.

 

I also know that new white furs sometimes have "brightner added" to make them whiter. I have no first hand knowledge in this area, but I assume that would be something similar to a mild bleach. However I have not heard of furriers using anything like that when cleaning a fur garment.