Is separating laundry colours dated practice?

I separate and think it keeps things looking nicer for longer! My categories are:
whites
pale colours
bright colours
darks
husbands super filthy work gear
stuff that needs a hot wash (towels, bedding, tea towels, cleaning cloths etc)

it works for me!

Whites always go a bit grey at best if they are washed with colours, or get ruined if the darker items aren't colourfast. I always do separate washes for whites, medium colours, and dark things.

I do whites, blacks, reds and oranges, denim, mixed pastels, bedding and towels. Use colour catchers when items are new.

Are you my mother? I’ve never known anyone else that did the pot of laundry on the stove apart from her…

Whites, lights, darks, bedding and towels here too. Sometimes a brights wash as well.

School playground is the best place to see who doesn’t separate their whites and darks. The polo shirts that are no longer white stand out a mile next to the nice white ones. I don’t know why you wouldn’t bother to be honest, it’s not exactly a hardship.

It happens over time rather than anything immediately obvious. Ok for fast fashion but white shirts you want to last a school year definitely need a white wash, or underwear and staples like vest tops. I was often asked how I kept our yellow school polo shirts to bright too as at one point I even did a yellow wash - it really showed after a few months of the school year!

Whites inc all bedding, lights, darks and towels. No hassle and the whites stay white.

I just did a pinks wash today (!) And I put a colour catcher sheet in, and it came out very pink, so something in there was leaching dye, but I'm not sure what. If I had put whites in too, they would have turned pink. I wouldn't risk it.

And I def wouldn't wash whites with anything else. They go a grubby shade of grey. I had a lodger for a while. She only wore black and white and washed everything together. Yuk, everything white was so grubby looking.

At least use a colour catcher sheet if you are going to mix stuff.

I read somewhere that some white clothes are dyed white, so you should use a washing powder for colours and not whites.

I do dark, light and whites separate and the days foster child is with me I wash those separately.

Why do you wash your foster child’s stuff separately?

I did an unintentional “experiment” on this topic. We have a massive laundry basket and there was a small white sponge paint roller replacement at the bottom for about a year, I kept meaning to move it to the garage but it frequently ended up in the washing machine with my laundry, then I’d chuck it back in the basket again. It’s now a dull grey colour. Which motivates me to separate my whites now!

If your washing machine is quite new, you can safely wash your whites and sleep well at night. 😊 It cost money to boil water in a huge pot too. And then having to get the water out of the clothes, takes longer to dry..

Yep I always separate whites and darks otherwise I find the whites go dingy. My whites are always pristine, even after years of wear. I wash on 40 and add vanish.

I do whites, lights, darks, and reds.
Mostly do whites, towels and light bedding on a 60, but will put them in a 40 with light clothing if needed sooner or not enough for a full wash on their own.

🤭 It's sounds so Victorian when you put it like that - it's a habit I picked up from my mum - and my washing machine is quite new 🫣. I assure you, the boiling pot is quite big so no water ever spills over, but I take your point.

I have a white sweatshirt which was on The pricier side and I only wash that with other whites, but it takes me a long time to accumulate enough for a full load as I don’t own many other white clothes. If the sweatshirt is clean I don’t separate anything and if I have something white (mostly tea towels and bedding) I’ll just bung it in with everything else.

I do dark, light and whites separate and the days foster child is with me I wash those separately.

I mix whites and colours, except for washing strongly dyed new items a couple of times by hand to see if they run. I think that the lower temperatures we tend to use now means that dyes don't run as much as they useful.

Whites, lights and darks. I can’t abide grey knickers and bras.

I do darks and colours together but whites separately. Maybe not after one or two washes, but over time they definitely seem to go greyer if mixed with darks. I used to do them all together and this is what I started to find, but for a few years now I’ve done whites by themselves and they do stay so much nicer/brighter for longer.

Definitely separate. My daughter has a pair of light blue socks with a white kitty face on them. I think one of the socks got stuck in the leg of her joggers and got washed with the darks. One kitty has a grey face and the other still bright white.

Same here! If you wash whites other colours eventually they go greyish. I also do underwear separately on a hotter wash but lightly soiled clothes on a colder one.

I do whites separately but that's it really. Once a week and its mainly socks

Oh god here we go, Mumsnet porn. The Bat(shit) signal has been lit. Soon we'll have the posters who do 20 loads a week, whites, beiges, rainbows, frillies, hards, softs, sporty, farmy, all willingly partaking in their own opression.