Are you sick of your brightly colored clothes losing their vibrant colors over time? Or your black clothes turning gray? While fading of clothing is inevitable over long periods of time, there are some simple things you can do to help keep your clothes from fading.
How To Keep Clothes From Fading In The Wash
- Firstly, make sure the detergent you use is gentle and won’t cause fading.
- Look for clothes that are made from natural fibers like cotton or silk so they don’t fade quickly.
- Look at the care instructions of your clothes to see how long they can be worn before wearing them again. More washing equals a greater chance of fading so, if you can get a few extra wears out of your clothing items before you wash them, you’ll help them to keep their rich, vibrant colors for longer.
- Avoid using chlorine bleach to clean your laundry because it will only accelerate fading by breaking down fabric fibers into dyes that make your clothes turn yellow over time.
- One tip suggests that if you want to keep the bright colors of your clothing for a long time, you can try adding some lemon juice to a full quart of water. Swish your clothes in this solution for about 10 minutes before rinsing them out in cold water. After this is done, then rinse them in regular clothes washing detergent again.
- Wash in cold water. Use cold water as your default washing machine setting, the warmer the water, the quicker your clothes will fade.
- Select a delicate or light setting on your washing machine rather than a heavy duty wash if possible. A heavy duty wash cycle will cause more wear and tear on your clothing which, in turn, encourages fading.
- Avoid using your dryer if possible. Hang your clothes on a clothesline to dry rather than always putting them through the clothes dryer – dryers, again, cause wear and tear on your clothes which can make them appear faded, even if they are not.
- Wash your clothes inside out – that way any wear and tear caused by the machine on your clothes will be more likely to affect the inside of your clothes which no one will ever see anyway.
- Another tip is to add half a cup of white vinegar to your washing machine. The vinegar acts like a fabric softener, lubricating the fibres and reducing friction so that your garments don’t wear out too quickly. Don’t worry about that vinegar smell, it will wash away in the rinse cycle of your machine.
- Or, you could just use a commercial fabric softener or conditioner to act in a similar way to the vinegar. It will reduce fading and make your clothes smell nice too!
- Our final tip to help keep your clothes from fading is to add half a cup of salt the first time you wash your new garments. The salt helps to lock in the color and should prevent any bleeding as well as reduce fading.
Doing laundry is a never ending chore and trying to keep your clothes from fading might seem like an extra hurdle added to the task.
But, as you can see from our list of tips above, there are some very simple things you can do to easily slow down the fading process of your clothes. Try some out today – or the next time you do a load of laundry!
