Washing machine wrecking all my clothes!! Grrrr

[Twinkenteen]

Recently all my pants/bras have been turned grey by the washing machine. Weirdly cotton isn't affected just the nylon/Lycra type material most underwear is made from. Has ruined countless pairs of pants and all my expensive bras. I had initially blamed it on my DH washing on too hot a wash but It's not that. Thinking it may be caused by liquitabs? Anyone ever come across this??

[lollylou2876]

No, but i myself have learnt the hard way lol - I hand-wash in luke warm water, my best stuff now, and spin in a pillowcase and air dry them to preserve colour and stop deterioration. I always wash the bra and knickers at the same time so the colour stays the same. But on the plus side it's great to get some new equally amazing stuff!

[Girlwithnotattoos]

You need to use colour catchers, I use them on every wash white or colours and never have any problems with bras going grey or anything else for that matter.

[wowfudge]

I think it's the detergent. Liquid washing detergent and the tabs you've been using don't contain any bleaching agents. A side effect from them is a smelly washing machine as there's no bleach keeping the innards of the machine clean, especially if you only wash at lower temperatures. Go back to powder.

[rabbit123]

Definitely the liquidtabs. MIL had the same problem with her white towels. Liquids and liquitabs don't contain any bleach as wowfudge says, you need to use a good powder (not colour powder) for whites.

[dementedpixie]

Use powder not liquids

[MrsGsnow18]

I think colour catchers and powder might be a good idea. I also sometimes use the whitening sheets for things that I want to keep looking fresh and white.

[wowfudge]

It's unlikely you can restore the whiteness of the now grey stuff, but at least you can prevent it happening again with other items.

[Bert2e]

Do you religiously separate your coloureds, lights and whites? If not then there's your problem - and the reason I hate coloured t shirts with white sleeves - the sleeves always go grey!

[e1y1]

As wow and rabbit say, it's the liqui-tabs; NO liquid laundry product contains bleaching agents (no matter of the brand or the format - liquid/gel/capsules).

So they're not good for whites, and horrendous for your machine (sludge/grime and mould buildup) - if you could see behind your drum, you'd be shocked.

Use liquitabs for coloured clothes and standard powder (either bio or non bio, but NOT colour) for whites.