Have you ever seen the words “wash separately” or “wash with like colours” on a care label? If yes, it probably means that the piece of clothing at your disposal is prone to colour bleeding. And also can ruin other fabrics in the laundry cycle if not washed with effective fabric care precautions. In this clothing care guide, we will tell you how to prevent colour bleeding in laundry with some easy yet practical tips. Let’s get started!
How to avoid colour bleeding when washing clothes?
When sorting your laundry, take a look at the care label attached to it. If you see the words “wash separately” or “wash with like colours”, consider it a sign that the article might bleed colour during laundry.
Fabric care instructions of this kind mean that the dyes in the clothing are susceptible to bleeding during washing and drying processes and can give an ugly or unwanted coloration to other items in the cycle.
However, demystifying care labels is not always straightforward. For example, some dyes continue to bleed to some extent – or even greatly – every time they are washed which is why they MUST be washed separately. These include madras, denims, and fabrics dyed with vegetable or “natural” dyes.
Other dyes bleed very little but visibly and can be washed only with like colors. Finally, the dyes that bleed only during the first two to three washes (e.g. towels) are colorfast. They are only giving up the excessive amount of dye on the first few washes. A good manufacturer will mention this on the label, but unfortunately, in most cases, they don’t!
How to prevent denim dye from bleeding?
Blue denims which are both known and notorious for their “faded look” continue to bleed colour for their entire lives even if they are “stonewashed” or “prewashed” when you buy them.
If you are washing a pair of brand-new blue jeans that have not been “stonewashed” or “prewashed” should only be added with very dark blues or colours darker than the jeans like deep brown, charcoal, or black in a laundry cycle.
You can wash your faded blue jeans safely with other medium-coloured fabrics in the load like medium purples, grays, or greens. Just keep in mind that the more closely you match the colours of the garments in the load, the better it is!
NOTE: Sometimes, your denims can start looking “faded” due to the fabric becoming hairy as part of the pilling and lint process. For best fabric care, wash your denims with BIORESTORE cotton pill remover after a month or two to remove the hairiness of the denim and restore the original handfeel and vibrancy in only one home laundry wash.
How do you wash coloured clothes without bleeding?
When you sort coloured clothing for laundry care, divide the loads based on colour type, and intensity. Whites and pastels go into one pile, clothing with cool-toned colours like green, blue, and purple go into another pile, and finally clothing with warm-toned colours i.e. red, orange, and yellow go into a separate pile.
If you have a lot of clothing to be laundered, you can further separate these colour hues. For example, oranges with reds, bright blues with purples, navy with black, light tan with cream. While this principle can be compromised a little every time you wash your clothing, it’s better to stay as close it to as possible for ensuring the best fabric care.
In some cases, even the clothes that are supposed to be colourfast can lose a tiny amount of dye every time they are exposed to water, detergent, or other fabric care items. Say, a tiny bit of colour from a sky-blue shirt will be hardly visible on a forest green skirt but it could probably ruin a pastel yellow one. This is why hue matters!