I think washing detergent for white fabric can contain bleach, so the clothes will stay white and won’t become grey. If this is the case, it’ll gradually fade any colors of colored fabric.
And the other way around it won’t keep the white perfectly white.
Dunno about the bleach part, that might be in some as well, but typically white fabric detergent contains optical brightener that counters the typical yellow tint of worn garments by emitting extra blue light (and your eyes perceive the full presence of the spectrum as white). That’s also why this whitening effect will fade off if you then use detergent that doesn’t contain brighteners: you are washing out those blue light particles once again.
optical brightener
AKA blue dye.
The process is also called “bluing” and existed way before they made up a scientific “you have to buy this product, you can’t do this at home” name.
Well that unlocked a memory. I was on a road trip around California and stopped off in a small town to do my laundry. An elderly gent was already in the laundromat and the washing machine window showed bright, bright blue. He said he recalled that his late wife used to use blueing tablets to get the sheets etc white. “I couldn’t find any at the store, but these toilet cleaning tablets are blue, so figured I’d try them.”
This is what my late mother used: https://www.retonthenet.co.uk/vintage-washing-laundry-reckitts-bag-blue-reckitt--coleman-hull-dolly-bag-1960s-nos-dolly-blue-5487-p.asp
Toilet cleaning tablets?!
The kind that clip under the rim and turn the water blue. Some kinds you put in the cistern. https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/4e1b697a-ca2d-4243-96fd-b7ce27bdcabd_1.20c57db567797b6b4993bfb863b44d06.jpeg?odnHeight=180&odnWidth=180&odnBg=ffffff
I know what they are, was just shocked he uses them for laundry. I can almost feel my skin breaking out in a rash just thinking about it.
Ha ha yes, he was experimenting. I did wonder how he got on. Bright blue sheets I fear.
Honestly I’m more in the “buy durable fabrics and treat them well but if they acquire a tint or lose color over time so what” camp. Good linen shirts for instance will still look great after a long time, never mind any fading. For some stuff it can even enhance the optics like the famed worn out jeans look.
It’s really the whites you have to worry about acquiring a tint over time. It makes them appear dingy, aged, even yellowed, so you may need to replace them sooner. Bluing or brightened will keep whites brighter for longer, so you can keep them longer
That’s my point though: to me buying new garments just because they aren’t as white as they used to be is both economically and ecologically wasteful. Ideally you just adjust your sensibilities or else purchase colors, fabrics, patterns less affected by tinging.
I have to admit though I’m looking at this from my own biased perspective of a single household though. I do basic separation of light, dark and hygienic (anything that needs high temperatures to kill germs) but also spontaneous mixed loads depending on what’s in the laundry bin and what I need soon. If you’re in a big household you can actually do real nice sorting like all the reds together, all the sports wear together, all the rags and towels, etc.
“Liquid bluing” is dirt cheap. You can still buy a small bottle that will last forever, for like $6. Just add a few drops, per instructions on label, to you load of whites and it can really brighten them up
Stuff formulated for whites specifically CAN contain things like bleach that can fade colors faster. Its not going to do it in 1 wash but cumulatively over time.
If it isn’t specifically for coloured clothes, it contains optical brighteners, which fluoresce under UV light (like the sun) to make whites appear whiter. That’s fine for light colours, but it makes blacks look greyish and dull.
I have literally never separated my clothes, and I’ve never had anything get messed up.
If you’re washing older clothing and aren’t using bleach, you’re fine.
Aside from new clothes bleeding dye, there’s definitely a difference in whites, even if you can only see it in comparison to other whites.
Actually, I think at that point it’s the dryer, scattering fine colored lint across the white shirts, making them appear duller, greyer
I never have used detergent for colored clothes.
Apparently not specific enough: I use clothes detergent for all my clothes, but not detergent for colored clothes, I use regular clothes detergent for all my clothes
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I think they meant detergent specifically for colored clothes. I’m sure they used some kind of detergent.
I dunno, general purpose works well enough. You can just add a little bleach if you need it for whites if you care. Oh and use powder of you can - liquid has way too much water in it, they’re ripping you off.
Oh and use powder of you can - liquid has way too much water in it, they’re ripping you off
Where I live, if you don’t use the powder up in a month, it clumps or worse from the humidity. I swear by powder in the US Northeast. Here in Central America, I have to buy liquid.
I just break it up with a screwdriver
But won’t the orange juice leave residue?
You just lick the orange juice back up, It comes with extra crunchies.
I doubt it. But I want to know too.
What are u on about? There’s only one kind of laundry detergent.
No.
