Help to Keep Dark Clothes Dark

I use Woolite for dark clothes. So far (knock on wood!) it has done the trick. It is a little pricey, but it is just used for dark clothes, on the gentle cycle and I do them in large loads.

Try washing them inside out in cold water and hang them out to dry instead of putting them in the dryer. You can also try Woolite Dark or another brand of detergent made for dark clothes. You can also try to use less detergent. I hope these suggestions help.

Wash them in cold water, on delicate. Hang up to dry in the bathroom. If you take them out of the washer as soon as they finish and hang them up you won't have to iron them, plus you save on electricity. This will keep your clothes looking great for a long, long, long time.

I wash my darks in cold water, and never use bleach. I wash most of the clothes we wear on gentle, and dry on delicate and hang up damp

I wash my darks in cold water, and I use a 1/2 to a cup of vinegar. It's a couple of dollars for a gallon and seems to do the trick for me! It won't make your laundry smell like vinegar, either, it actually helps cut down on laundry odor.

Hi J.,
I wash all my clothes inside out and add a little Oxyclean to the water. This doesn't prevent fading completely, but it does keep darks darker much longer.

Try Woolite for Darks...it works for us!
A. B

Turn the clothes inside out, put a little white vinegar in the load along with your soap. About 3/4 cup for a large load. To keep your clothes from smelling strongly of vinegar, add maybe 1/4 cup or less 20-mule team Borax (in the laundry detergent aisle near the powdered bleach) or Baking Soda to the load. I actually just dump it in straight from the box wothout measuring, I go once around the spinner in the middle, and that mostly takes care of the vinegar smell. If you or someone in your house is sensitive to smells, you could add a little bit of liquid fabric softener to the load (just a little, you don't want to undo your magic with the vinegar). Also, don't use any type of fabric softener on your darks-fabric softeners fade clothes (I know I just told you to use liquid fabric softener to combat the vinegar smell, but if you can't stand the smell, the fabric softener is what I have found to work the absolute best). Always wash then in cold water, and try using Woolite or Dreft to wash them, something very gentle. Sometimes I don't use laundry soap at all for my delicates, I just use about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of Borax and the same amount of Baking Soda for a large load. They sell baking soda in the laundry soap aisle, it is in a yellow box that says Super Washing Soda. It is cheaper to buy it that way if you are going to use it often for your clothes. You can also use the vinegar trick for any colors that you don't want to bleed. I use vinegar to wash any new clothes anyone gets at my house for the first 1 or 2 washes. Really keeps the colors in their place and keeps the clothes looking newer longer.

It helps trememdously if you pull your darks out of the dryer while still damp. Let them dry on hangers. I tumble mine in the dryer no more than 10 minutes to get some of the moisture out, then I pull them out one by one, shaking out the wrinkles and placing them on hangers leaving a couple of inches between them. Always wash in cold water. Super easy!

The Woolite for dark clothes works great. My husband worked for a place where we had to supply his black polo shirts when it first came out and short of constantly replacing them, we used the woolite. Now I use it on all my dark things.

I HATE that!!!! i'm an interpreter for the Deaf and nearly everything I own is black :) I used to use that Woolite Dark. It worked really well but now that I ahve an HE washer/dryer and I'm not sure it works in those...haven't asked yet.

I have found that the best way to make them last is to always wash them in cold and dry them in the coolest setting your dryer has or lay them on a drying rack to dry and put them in the dryer to "fluff" them :) just on plain air.

I also really like getting dark Microfiber clothes because they don't fade :)

good luck!!!

Watch TV.... there is a commercial that adveritises that colors stay bright. I don't know what the product is. I think my mind is immune to commercials. But just pay attention and see what it is. Try that.
My grown boys wash alot of their things out by hand because they are really cloths boys (fashionable) and they do that because they say they fade. washing by hand apparently is better than the washer. I don't know. Whatever is quick and easy for me is what I do.
But try the detergent that advertises brighter colors longer and see if it works. If it doesn't, write the company.
good luck

Couple of repeated suggestions:

After raising 4 kids (20-31 yrs old) and ALWAYS having them make sure their clothes were right-side-out before laundering, I've decided that washing --and ESPECIALLY drying-- them wrong-side-out keeps the colors brighter/darker (just look at the INSIDE of a black T-shirt vs the outside that's been through several launderings right-side-out!)

I separate each wash load into TWO dryer loads so they dry faster and don't receive as much 'wear' (but it may ultimately use more gas or electricity).

The cheap all-purpose spray called 'awesome' takes out most food stains including Kool-Aid! I work with several handicapped/MR adults, and one guy always wipes his 'foody fingers' on his clothes. His mother told me about Awesome.

Growing up with a hand pump and a wringer washer, my mom did a lot of 'spot cleaning' of our clothes instead of washing the whole garment.

I've noticed (on my own) that some black and red clothes have a funny smell (almost like 'musty', mothballs, or magic marker) and those dyes are always more permanent.

simply put about a teaspoon - 2 teaspoons (depending on the size of the load) of salt in the water. It keeps colors from fading because they don't "bleed-out" into the water. Seriously, you could wash a bright white t-shirt with a new, never been washed before RED shirt and as long as you put salt in the water, the two won't mix and each color will stay true. :) good luck.

Hi J.,
Oxyfresh has a great detergent that is mild on clothes, very concentrated (washes 128 loads from the gallon), is bio-degradable, doesn't leave any residue, doesn't break down fibers in clothes, and has a patented ingredient in it that eliminates odor. Go to www.Oxyfresh.com/D. and check it out. You will see retail prices, but there is a membership price, and for all mamasource members, you can try anything at my cost....a nice savings. Contact me for more details or if you have any questions.

Turning jeans inside out before washing really helps the color stay dark

Make sure that you wash them in really cold water. I usually add enough warm water to start sudsing the soap and then switch to cold. Also, don't use the liquid fabric softener, use dryer balls or sheets.

The salt in the water thing works well, and it keeps nylons from running, too.

I would only use Woolite if you're washing something other than cotton or cotton blends.

Try to only wash them when necessary. Also, I've read that dryers break down black/dark pigments, so I try to take out black things from the dryer after just a few minutes and let them air dry to finish.

Always use cold water for darks.

I try to not buy things that look (from my experience, or what I see others wearing) like they will fade. Cotton fades, which jeans are mostly made out of, as are a lot of other items. Polyesters and such don't really fade.

I have tried dying (with Rit) black or navy items before, but then sometimes that color comes out in the wash and hurts other things, so prevention seems like a better idea.

I use vinegar and it works wonderfully. I also turn the dark cloths inside out when I wash.

I have heard that vinegar works really well, especially for jeans... haven't used it enough to tell though for myself.