• rufus@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 months 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 of colored fabric.

    And the other way around it won’t keep the white perfectly white.

    • takeheart@lemmy.world
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      3 months 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.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_brightener

  • Thorry84@feddit.nl
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    3 months ago

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

  • Delphia@lemmy.world
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    3 months 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.

    • Thorry84@feddit.nl
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      3 months 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.

        • Thorry84@feddit.nl
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          3 months ago

          Ah right, makes sense. In that case it probably fine to just mix it up. But if you want old whites to pop a bit more, using a detergent for white stuff works well.

          Personally I use a special detergent for blacks and darks and also the dark program on the washing machine. I’ve found it greatly increases the life of black and dark stuff. I almost exclusively wear black and dark blues and want to use clothes as long as possible.

          • FrostKing@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            I might try that, while they don’t drastically change colors like people say, I do notice my white clothes don’t seem to last long before they look old and worn out

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      3 months 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

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    3 months 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.

    • s38b35M5@lemmy.world
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      3 months 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.

  • WeeSheep@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I never have used detergent for colored clothes.

    Apparently not specific enough: I use clothes detergent for all my clothes, but not detergent for colored clothes, I use regular clothes detergent for all my clothes