How to keep your dark clothes from fading.
First of all, look at your laundry detergent and see if one of the ingredients is optical brightener. This is a mixture of chemicals that make your clothes appear to be cleaner. It makes your clothes appear to be white. I believe that it also will fade your colors and dark clothes. Also I believe the detergent mixture will make your clothes more scratchy thus the need for fabric softener. Adding about 1/2 to 1 cup white distilled vinegar to your wash will help make your clothes soft and keep your colors from fading.
This was my experiment. I painted laundry soap on my sink. I could not see the laundry soap in regular light. So I got a black light and this was the result. The camera made the picture look pink but to me the room was black and only the laundry soap was white. The real color of my sink is white. The whitener in the laundry soap was glowing.
Read your garment label.....
Another problem, if your water is city or town water it most likely has a good bit of chlorine in the water. Clothes are expensive and if you want to keep your colors bright and dark clothes dark you need to do things differently. The best solution is to hand wash your favorite clothes in filtered water, spring water or non chlorinated water. Look for laundry soap that does not have optical brighteners, colorants, bluing etc.
Just plain old bar of lye soap will do good for this job. There are products out there, I believe 7th generation is one that does not have optical brighteners. I read that Cheer makes a detergent for dark clothes, I have not checked out the labels but next time you go to the store READ THE LABLES. This is something you should do on everything you buy.
For clothes that tend to yellow.
If the label reads do not use chlorine bleach then just the chlorine in the water may yellow your delicates. I figured this one out when a favorite camisole turned yellow. Same thing can happen to bra??™s and slips. Filtered or spring water, soap with no optical brighteners will help protect your clothing. Also do not put your delicates in the dryer. I hand wash my delicates in the sink with lye soap and hang them to dry inside my house. If you wash them out before bedtime they should be dry by morning.
TIP: We purchased a filtered shower head for our shower. The filter lasts about six months. The replacement filter cost about $10.00. I catch water from this shower head and use it to wash delicate clothes.
There are also chlorine removers but I do not know what is in that solution.
There are also chlorine removers but I do not know what is in that solution.
TIP: Vinegar in the water will help keep clothes from fading and will soften your clothing.
