A common problem with coloured clothes, especially with those of intense colours such as black, navy or red, is that sometimes when they are dyed through low quality processes, they tend to release colour when you wash them, and the colour fades over time.
Not only is this inconvenient because your clothes will lose their brightness, the dye released can also stain other items in the wash. This is a problem which affects everyone at one time or another, so here at OneHowTo we are going to explain how to keep your clothes from fading in the wash.
The first step that is essential to preventing your clothes from fading is to read the washing instructions carefully. They tell us what we need to know about the temperature of the wash or the process that we must follow in order to keep the garment in good condition.
But it is not always easy to interpret these instructions, so we invite you to consult our article what do the symbols on clothing mean so you can discover how to read them properly.
When we buy a colourful article of clothing, we do not know if it will fade until we wash it, yet there is a good way to make sure it doesn't. Wash the garment by hand in two litres of water with a tablespoon of boric acid. This is an over-the-counter chemical product normally used as an insecticide, but it also serves as a way of protecting colored garments and will help prevent them from fading.
One of the most classic and simple ways to keep your clothes from fading is by soaking them in water with salt. It is best to do so before the first wash since we often do not know if the clothes will fade, so apply this trick on all new coloured articles of clothing you buy.
Mix cold water and plenty of salt, coarse salt preferably, and soak the garment. Let it soak for half an hour. Keep in mind that if the garments are of different colours you should soak them in separate containers and never together.
Sorting the laundry is very important to preventing accidents, but what if you failed to keep your garment from fading and it has in turn dyed some of your other clothes? You can actually reverse any colour bleeding that occured during a wash with a simple home remedy.
Boil several bay leaves in a liter of water, allowing them to boil for at least 15 minutes. Then wait for the liquid to cool, remove the bay leaves and soak the stained garments for one hour.
You will see that when removed they look perfect again - magic!
If you don't have bay leaves on hand, another more everyday food can help: eggs. Boil several eggshells in a quart of water for about 15 minutes. Let cool, strain and add the stained garment for one hour. The result will be as good as with the bay leaves.
If you want to read similar articles to 5 Tricks To Prevent Coloured Clothes Fading and Bleeding, we recommend you visit our Home cleaning category.