Laundry Question -- Black clothes.

[panthera]

Salt or vinegar

both work as mordants. The linked article is basic but explains enough about the process.

I hadn't thought about the chlorine in the water, but, obviously, that would contribute to the fading. Hmm, a separate chlorine filter just for the H/C washer lines? Shouldn't be too expensive.

Dryer heat definitely plays a role as does too hot of a steam iron.

Learned a lot here, thanks all!

Does anybody know if any of the PERC alternatives have proved truly useful? It's already 2010 and we only have about another 10 years or so in many countries before PERC is banned for dry-cleaning.

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en.wikipedia.org

 

[gmmcnair]

Vinegar

Good points!

I'll add my little tip. I use 1/4 cup vinegar rather than fabric softener in my final rinse. Definitely slows fading, and helps with residue and lint in this day and age of "self-cleaning" (read none) lint filters.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Pictures taken from inside my car.

My soggy bottom boys jeans.....

 

[jeffg]

We were once told by Rick Ralston (the guy who founded Crazy Shirts in Hawaii) that hot dryers are the major cause of color fading. We asked if line drying is better and he said not by much, because UV rays from the sun also fade colors. He told us tumble drying on low heat, with garments turned inside out is the best way to minimize fading.

 

[mrwash]

detergents for darks...

Sorry I have to say that but detergents for darks do no better job on darks than a good color-detergent. It is just a marketing gag by the manufacturers and that had been proven by German consumer reports. I will put the link the the report at the end of the post. Unfortunately, it is written in German, maybe someone can translate (panthera maybe? ;-)

So many people as well say, "I only use liquid for colors or darks because of white spots or stripes on dark laundry". Well, I had white stripes on dark jeans many years ago when my mother washed my them but since I figured some stuff out that I did not know before I have no problems with fading colors. I also refuse to soak my new clothes in vinegar even if that works well. I just don't like that.

Here is how I do my darks:

- I never mix darks with something else.
- I turn everything inside out
- I chose my Miele Navitronics "darks" cycle
- I use a good detergent for colored items (I use Ariel Color&Style or dm "color" or Persil Megaperls Color)

I haven't heard about the fact that much heat in the dryer makes the colors fade but since I do not dry darks on max heat, thats no problem for me.
I suggest to people whos washer do not have a darks cycle to select the delicates cycle and to raise the water level to maximum.

Here the promised link. I know it is from 2001 but I don't think that anything has changed.

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www.test.de

 

[cleanteamofny]

Is this OK Flo?

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www.microsofttranslator.com

 

[mrwash]

Ummm....

many scrambled sentences and the sense gets lost here and there. It is okay to get a basic impression of the text but I would prefer a more detailed translation. I eventually can do that, when I have more time.

 

[cleanteamofny]

OK, I'm just "lost in translation"

Oh that's a movie.....I'm a fallen star, Yea!

 

[alr2903]

i have never done it, by i have had nurse friends dye a nursing uniform White to cover totally unremoveable stains. A bottle of black rit may save the pants. alr2903

 

[jeffg]

Larry, that's a most unusual personal pic you've chosen. Have you ever studied the development of the guillotine? It's a fascinating story.

 

[bosch2460]

stupid me....

I did forget to say that I rarely tumble dry my clothes. Dryers are hell on fabrics, and do tend to fade faster. I guess that was an important fact I forgot to mention in my first post.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Jeff, I have to do some researching on that one.

But I hear strange voices in my head saying, "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"
Then a thump in a basket!
Then all the people gasp.
And one person said, "What a bloody mess," in a low, lowly tone!
LOL

 

[jeffg]

Read why they began tying the hands of the condemned behind their backs. I didn't believe it when I first read it, but it turns out the story is true.

I'll spare the details for the sake of decency in this off-topic discussion.

 

[gadgetgary]

Interesting article

From Martha

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www.courant.com

 

[foraloysius]

Oh, THAT Martha...

She doesn't know a thing about laundry apparently. At least not about detergent! Not only should a detergent without bleach alternative be used but as I said in my initial post it's also very very important that there are no optical brighteners in the detergent. Optical brighteners once used can never be washed out again, they sort of stick to the fabric. Optical brighteners are the cause for lighting up in black light. Ever experienced black clothes lighting up on the dance floor? Optical brighteners.

BTW Fred, how are you doing with laundering your black clothes? What machine are you using? Enquiring minds want to know!

 

[sudsman]

Salt will work just as well as vinegar

just too ones liking.. I have had a LOT of trouble with scrubs fading and then when new ones are put in they pic thru & throw the old ones on the floor wanting as near same colors as possible I found that salt will set the color and stop a lot of color loss on blues, greens. and the red linen bags. Most of the time chlorine in the water DOES play into the factor too. also some detergents will dull bright and dark clothes like a car the chalks out. If you look at the formulation on most of the "color" detergents you will find they all have a antichlor in them.