They are not kidding when they say wash whites separately

When my brother left for university 30 years ago, my mother gave him a solid piece of advice:  They are not kidding when they say wash whites separately. Nobody ever asked who ‘they’ was, but we all at one or another time cursed ourselves for not listening to them! Anybody who has ever had a white shirt with a faint blush tint is now a life-long clothes sorter:  whites with whites, coloureds with coloureds, darks with darks.

I didn’t start the washing this morning because I didn’t have colour-coded bundles to fill the machine. Thing 4 did the laundry by simply filling the machine with all the dirty clothes. I was trying to explain about ‘they’ and the ‘not kidding’ bit, but on inspection, ‘they’ must have forgotten about making the colours run.

The explanation starts very much with ‘in the beginning’, and we need to go back to the dyeing process – techniques, materials, but most importantly, when was it done. If the dyeing were done before the weaving process, the dye would be exposed to higher temperatures and pressures. You will have to use a good quality dye to withstand this treatment. When the dyeing process is over, the colour will be adequately embedded in the material.  

With cheaper clothing, you will mostly find that the dyeing was done after the weaving. Think of painting a wall – the colour is all on the surface – and the more layers you paint, the darker the wall will be. The combination of sub-standard quality and the excess pigment to create a darker colour means it is easier for the water to break it down. The excess dye is now in the water and will attach to everything else in the water. Voila, your white shirt is now white, plus whatever pigment is swirling around in the water. Washing coloured clothes separately does not stop this process from happening. It just means that you don’t see the transfer as easily as what you would see on a white shirt.

Often the most comfortable piece of clothing is that holiday purchase that you know will create havoc during the washing. Understand the numbers on this one: dyes release quicker in hot water than in cold water, so always set your cycle on cold. Fabric does the same thing – hot water will open it like a potato, while cold water will keep the dye trapped. 

Practice social distancing in your machine – don’t overload the machine. Allow water to flow between the clothes and limit the direct rubbing and easy transference. Ask any mother how quickly stickiness transfers from a child’s hands to any surface they touch – the same principle. And then ask any mother about washing whites separately…