A method for the treatment of a textile article, which comprises washing the textile article, then rinsing the washed textile article with an aqueous rinse cycle fabric softener composition comprising:
- a) 5 to 25% by weight, based on the total weight of the composition, of a cationic fabric softening agent;
- b) 0.3 to 10% by weight, based on the total weight of the composition, of a fluorescent whitening agent which is compatible with the cationic fabric softening agent and which is selected from the group consisting of:
- 1) the bistyryl compounds having the formula:
- ##STR26## in which R.sub.14 is hydrogen, chloro, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxy, cyano or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxycarbonyl;
- q is 1 or 2;
- Y.sub.1 is C.sub.2 -C.sub.4 alkylene or hydroxypropylene;
- R.sub.18 is is C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or, together with R.sub.19 and the nitrogen to which they are each attached, R.sub.18 forms a pyrrolidine, piperdine, hexamethyleneimine or morpholine ring;
- R.sub.19 is C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or, together with R.sub.18 and the nitrogen to which they are each attached, R.sub.19 forms a pyrrolidine, piperidine, hexamethyleneimine or morpholine dng;
- R.sub.20 is hydrogen, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.4 alkenyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.4 alkoxycarbonylmethyl, benzyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.4 hydroxyalkyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.4 cyanoalkyl or together with R.sub.18 and R.sub.19 and the nitrogen to which they are each attached, R.sub.20 forms a pyrrolidine, piperidine, hexamethyleneimine or morpholine ring;
- A.sup.0 is an anion;
- and p is 0 or 1;
- 2) the styrene compounds having the formula:
- ##STR27## in which R.sub.14 is hydrogen, chloro, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxy, cyano or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxycarbonyl;
- q is 1 or 2;
- Y.sub.1 is C.sub.2 -C.sub.4 alkylene or hydroxypropylene;
- R.sub.21 and R.sub.22, independently, are C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or C.sub.2 -C.sub.3 alkenyl or R.sub.21 and R.sub.22, together with the nitrogen atom to which they are each attached, form a pyrrolidine, piperidine, hexamethyleneimine or morpholine ring;
- Z.sub.1 is oxygen, sulfur, a direct bond, --COO--, --CON(R.sub.24)--or --SO.sub.2 N(R.sub.24)-- in which R.sub.24 is hydrogen, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or cyanoethyl;
- and Q is --COO or --SO.sub.3 ;
- 3) the bis(triazinyl)diaminostilbene compound of formula:
- ##STR28## in which R.sub.33 is NH-phenyl, optionally substituted by one or two SO.sub.3 M groups, R.sub.34 is NH--C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, N(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl).sub.2, N(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl)(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 hydroxyalkyl), N(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 hydroxyalkyl).sub.2 or morpholino and M is H, Na, K, Ca, Mg, ammonium, mono-, di-, tri- or tetra-C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkylammonium, mono-, di- or tri- hydroxyalkylammonium or ammonium that is di- or tri-substituted with a mixture of C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl and C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 hydroxyalkyl groups;
- 4) the dibenzofuranylbiphenyl compounds having the formula:
- ##STR29## in which R.sub.35 H, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, CN, Cl or SO.sub.3 M, R.sub.36 and R.sub.37, independently, are H, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, SO.sub.3 M, CN, Cl or O--C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl and M is H, Na, K, Ca, Mg, ammonium, mono-, di-, tri- or tetra-C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl ammonium, mono-, di- or tri-hydroxyalkylammonium or ammonium that is di- or tri-substituted with a mixture of C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl and C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 hydroxyalkyl groups, provided that at least two of R.sub.35, R.sub.36 and R.sub.37 are SO.sub.3 M and the third group has no solubilizing character;
- and
- 5) the bistyrylphenyl compounas having the formula:
- ##STR30## in which R.sub.36 is H, SO.sub.3 M, O--C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, CN, Cl, COO-C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or CON(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl).sub.2, M is H, Na, K, Ca, Mg, ammonium, mono-, di-, tri- or tetra-C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkylammonium, mono-, di- or tri- hydroxyalkylammonium or ammonium that is di- or tri-substituted with a mixture of C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl and C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 hydroxyalkyl groups and r is 0 or 1;
- and
- c) the substantial remainder of the composition being water, whereby the sun protection factor of the textile fabric is increased by at least 300%.