How to wash colored clothes - expertology magazine

Updated: 11/01/2021 14:39:28

Expert: Panteleeva Irina Vladimirovna

The main rule for washing things: colored - to colored, dark - to dark, light - to light. This distinction will prevent the clothing items from changing color. However, there are many more tips for caring for colored clothes: if you neglect them, you increase the risk of experiencing discoloration, staining of your favorite bright things, and streaks appearing on them.

We have prepared a list of recommendations for properly washing colored items. Follow them to maintain the brightness and original condition of colored clothing for a long time.

General recommendations

Sort clothes by color: orange items with red items, blue items with purple ones. If any item of clothing is very different from the overall color scheme, wash it separately. Do not load white or light-colored clothes into the drum together with colored items;
Items with heavy stains should be washed in water at a minimum temperature (optimal - 30 °C, maximum - 40 °C). Hot water will only help set the stain.
Also, before washing, strong stains should be treated separately: apply a stain remover to the stained area and rinse the clothes;
You cannot soak colored clothes for a long time - otherwise their color may lose its brightness.

Attention! Any new colored item must be washed by hand for the first time, as some of the paint will be washed off.

Do not use chlorine-containing detergents for washing, otherwise the fabric will be discolored. Buy special store-bought products for colored linen. As a result, you will not only preserve and fix the shade of the item, but also ensure its saturation after several washing cycles.

Preparing for washing

To preserve the structure, the initial color of the laundry must be sorted. It is strictly forbidden to wash colored, black, and white together if you want to preserve the originality of things.

White items without patterns or prints are placed separately, colored items are placed separately, and black items will be in the third pile.

Important ! Colored and black clothes are not washed together; these are two different categories of laundry.

When sorting, we pay attention to the quality indicators of the laundry:

natural fabrics are washed separately from synthetics;
undyed linen and cotton can be boiled if heavily soiled, but silk and other delicate fabrics will not survive this;
Delicate fabrics are washed in the machine with the lowest possible spin; synthetics are washed better;
Different types of fabric are cleaned with completely different cleaning agents, which can harm other types of fibers.

This should definitely be taken into account when storing laundry. Please note that it is not recommended to overload the machine; the quality of the cleaning process depends on this. The more the drum is loaded, the worse the clothes are washed.

Testing fabric for color fastness

Before washing, you should check whether the clothes are fading. Lightly wet it in some place, then apply a light-colored cloth or paper napkin to it. Staining a napkin indicates that the item is subject to shedding.

There are other ways to check fabric:

Cut a piece of fabric near the seam and place it in a small container of alcohol for 5 minutes. Press the cut piece onto the clothing and compare the colors. If the color saturation of the cut part has decreased, then these clothes will quickly fade;
Pour warm water into a bowl and add powder. Place a piece of clothing in the container for 10 minutes. Place the piece in a white cloth and squeeze it out of the water. If colored streaks appear on white fabric, it means the item is susceptible to fading.

There is a fabric color that is fragile; it is recommended to wash clothes less often and by hand, at a minimum temperature, with careful movements.

Useful tips

Owners of things that can fade when washed will do well to familiarize themselves with useful tips that can be adopted.

They are as follows:

Do not immerse the entire item in an ammonia solution; first, test the effect of the solution on an inconspicuous area of fabric or a similar piece of material;
for woolen products, add dry mustard powder to the detergent;
silk clothes should be washed in water in which bran is soaked;
beige, cream or brown products after rinsing can be kept for some time in tea leaves, poured with boiling water in such a proportion that the color of the liquid is not darker than the product;
If a green or black product has lost its original color, a solution of alum will help return it to its original color;
Vinegar applied to a cotton pad can remove light traces of dry deodorant on a dark product;
try not to twist the fading clothes too much; you should wrap them in white material and then wring them out;
dry the product in the courtyard or on the balcony, away from direct sunlight, so that the fabric does not fade;
Before hanging the item outside, turn it inside out so that the color of the item is not damaged by ultraviolet rays;
clothes made of delicate fabrics with combined shades should only be dried horizontally, laid out on a sheet or fabric that absorbs moisture well;
when ironing a product that can shed, you need to use the thermoregulation function;
You can’t use soda for things that shed;
If the product label does not indicate machine washability, wash the item by hand;
always read the manufacturer's washing recommendations;
at the stage of purchasing an item, ask the seller whether the product is capable of shedding in order to make the right choice;
Before washing, clothes are turned inside out and fastened with zippers or buttons;
before the process, do not soak the product in detergent diluted in hot water;
the optimal water temperature in which the product can be washed is no more than 30 degrees;
When using the machine method, always select a gentle wash cycle without using the spin option.

That's all the tricks. We sincerely hope that they will greatly simplify your life and allow your products not to fade when washed. Treat fading items with care, and then they will serve you for a long time.

Preparatory actions

Before washing any new item, read the information on its label. Manufacturers always warn that an item, for example, can only be washed by hand or dry cleaned.

In order to prepare an item for washing, you must:

Remove key fobs, keys, cards, coins and other small items from your pockets;
Unfasten the buttons and at the same time fasten all fasteners and buttons;
Remove pins, belts;
Turn the clothes inside out;
Straighten and smooth the sleeves of your shirts.

Place your underwear in a separate washing bag.

How to wash colored clothes by hand

Thanks to hand washing, the bright, rich color of the item will remain for a long time.

Procedure:

Fill a bowl with water at room temperature;
Add a product intended for colored laundry to the water. It should contain no bleaching components;
Soak clothes for 30 minutes if they are dirty;
Wash contaminated areas carefully;
Rinse clothes in clean water with added conditioner;
Squeeze lightly and hang to dry.

Before washing clothes, we recommend testing the water softness. Pour 25 g of soap into 250 ml of boiling water. If the soap dissolves completely in the water in a short time, it means the water is soft enough. If not, add baking soda or water softener when washing.

Rinsing

It is not enough just to choose the right washing method; you also need to take into account some of the nuances of rinsing a shedding item. If you make a mistake, you can say goodbye to the bright shade of the product forever.

To prevent this, you need to follow the useful advice of experienced housewives.

They are as follows:

At the end of the washing process, the item must be left at the bottom of the bathtub.
Rinse the product under running hot water from a tap or shower, first on one side and then turning it over to the other.
After this, the clothes should be turned inside out and the rinsing procedure repeated.
At the final stage, it is worth reducing the water temperature and rinsing the product again. To consolidate the effect, you need to add a special solution to the water. To do this, 1 tablespoon of vinegar or ammonia is diluted with 1 liter of liquid.
It is necessary to dry the product outside so that the smell of the substance disappears from it.

For items that shed a lot, washing in a washing machine is acceptable. You just need to remember that the bottle of laundry detergent should be marked “for colored items.” You can add 2 large spoons of vinegar to the product. For items that fade, it is better to choose the “delicate wash” option at a temperature not exceeding 30°C.

How to wash colored clothes in a machine

Washing machines do not have a special mode for colored items. Therefore, it is enough to set the temperature to 30 °C. Suitable spin mode is up to 800 rpm.

To prevent the fibers from thinning, wash your clothes inside out. And between the top of the drum and the laundry there should be a space the width of your palm.

Preference should be given to liquid detergents. So, in stores there is ALPI gel concentrate for colored items, which prevents fabric from fading and maintains brightness and color saturation even after repeated washing.

Immediately after finishing washing, remove the clothes from the machine and hang them up. If things continue to lie together, they may become mutually colored.

Selecting a detergent

This type of product can be processed with both powders and gels . You can use capsules and soap.

It is recommended to choose powder in cases where a colored item needs to be cleaned from stains. This product removes dirt better. The powder is also recommended for use when colored clothes need to be washed by hand.

Capsules should be used in machine wash only. They are also suitable for soiled items. The dosage of powder in them is optimal. They also contain the required amount of stain remover.

Gels are more suitable for washing colored clothes in a machine. They should be chosen in cases where the fabric needs to be restored to brightness. Gels are only suitable for washing lightly soiled clothes. They are intended for use in non-hot water (up to 40C).

Laundry soap is recommended for use when soaking colored fabrics. This product should be used when the laundry is heavily soiled or the stains have been on it for a long time.

Folk methods for washing colored laundry and restoring shade

In order to wash workwear or other heavily soiled items, prepare a special mixture. Add laundry soap, soda and kerosene to boiling water, place clothes in the solution and leave to soak overnight;
Mohair items should be rinsed in water with glycerin. For 10 liters of water you need 3 tsp. glycerin;
To wash blue items, use blue dye. Dissolve the paint in water so that its shade matches the shade of the clothing;
If cream or beige clothes have faded, add coffee or tea leaves to the water;
If the clothes are green, add a little green to the water, soak the clothes in it for 10 minutes and rinse. Be sure to wear gloves;
To wash blue, yellow, pink items, add vinegar to the water, and salt for red and blue items;
Ammonia will help preserve the brightness and richness of the pink color. To do this, simply add 2 tsp to the compartment with the powder or gel. alcohol

Black pepper will also help ensure color retention. The main reason for discoloration of fabric is soap scum, which is difficult to get rid of. It is enough to add 1 tsp. pepper into the rinsing section, and gel or powder into the main section. After finishing washing, turn on the cold water rinse mode.

Possibility of joint processing

Not all colored fabrics can be washed together. It is important to consider two nuances. The first is the combination of colors of things, the second is the combination of materials from which they are made.

Products of different colors with each other

When washing several colored items, it is recommended to follow these rules:

You can wash items of similar color shades together. This applies to the combination of blue and green clothes, yellow and orange, red and pink.
You cannot put clothes made from contrasting fabrics together in the machine or wash them by hand. This applies to yellow and blue clothes, green and red, blue and orange, gray and orange, blue and pink.
You can wash colored items made from the same or matching fabrics together. This applies to items made of cotton, linen, chintz and calico. It is allowed to put colored synthetic items in the wash together. It is permissible to wash cashmere and wool clothes together. You can combine clothes made of silk with synthetics.
You cannot wash colored linen and cotton linen with synthetics together. This also applies to items made of wool and cotton, wool and linen.

How to dry colored clothes

After washing, turn the clothes inside out and hang them to dry - but not in direct sunlight. Otherwise, things will quickly fade in the sun. For the same reason, you should not dry things on radiators or heaters, otherwise the item will lose its bright color. A suitable option is on a line or dryer in a well-ventilated area.

At the same time, the saturation of tones can decrease not only due to improper drying. If the fabric itself was initially poorly dyed, then such a thing will fade in a short time.

As for ironing, only the minimum temperature is suitable for colored clothes. First, the item should be turned inside out.

Ironing

In most cases, bedding sets do not need to be ironed, since ironed fabric absorbs moisture less well. But for small children or sick people this procedure is mandatory.

Natural fabric smoothes out easier and faster if it is still slightly damp. Therefore, it is recommended to remove the laundry from the line not completely dry. If the pillowcases and duvet covers are completely dry, during ironing they are sprayed with water or ironed with steam. Natural silk sets are ironed only from the inside out.