Does it really matter if you use white or colour detergent for washing clothes in a washingmachine?

Comments

• rufus@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  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.

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  • takeheart@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    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.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_brightener

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    • PP_BOY_@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      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.

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• Thorry84@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  Washing white stuff with regular or color detergent is mostly fine, washing dark stuff with detergent for white stuff is not fine.

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  • Slovene@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Yeah, you gotta keep them segregated.

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    • lando55@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      They’re under eighteen they won’t be doing any time

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• Delphia@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  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.

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• RobotToaster@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  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.

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• WeeSheep@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  I never have used detergent for colored clothes.

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  • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Er, wut?

    I’m a Luddite and old fashioned, using maybe 1/4 the detergent recommended, always use cold water, and use things like washing soda…and even I use detergents.

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    • quicksand@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I think they meant detergent specifically for colored clothes. I’m sure they used some kind of detergent.

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• FrostKing@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  I have literally never separated my clothes, and I’ve never had anything get messed up.

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  • Thorry84@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    New stuff should definitely be washed on it’s own a couple of times, before being mixed in. New stuff can easily give off enough color to make a white shirt pink for example when washed with a red thing.

    Just because you’ve been lucky or maybe have a lot of same colors where it doesn’t matter doesn’t mean it’s a general rule to go by.

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    • FrostKing@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Oh, I just always get clothes at a 2nd hand shop or thrift store

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    • otp@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Doesn’t that only happen in nim-cold water washes?

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  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    If you’re washing older clothing and aren’t using bleach, you’re fine.

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  • AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    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

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• Etterra@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  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.

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  • s38b35M5@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    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.

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    • NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I just break it up with a screwdriver

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• Dkarma@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  What are u on about? There’s only one kind of laundry detergent.

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• Nemo@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  No.

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• emptyother@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  I doubt it. But I want to know too.

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