Is separating laundry colours dated practice?

[willywallaby]

When I moved out and started doing my own laundry I separated light and dark colours but then gradually I stopped doing it when I realised nothing bad ever happened if I mixed everything together. For most of my life though I've been quite careful about keeping brand new dark items away from white items until they'd been washed a few times. A few months ago I accidentally washed a new red t-shirt in with some white things and they stayed white. And we got some new dark things recently and because of the experience with the red t-shirt I didn't separate anything and still everything is fine. Have dyes modernised or something so that they don't run and you don't actually have to do this anymore?

my mum always used to call it a 'dirty wash' 😂

I think you can get a product that will make them white again in washing machine. Seems a shame to bin.

I just have three baskets on the go:

• dark clothing
• whites & pastels
• bedding, towels, cleaning cloths

In my house that means that everyone parks dirty items in the relevant basket, & dd1, who is in charge of washing, runs a 'dark' wash every other day & the others once a week.

I can't think why you wouldn't separate them!

Having said that, if dd1 is away the cleaner takes over & just puts a daily mixed load on, & it's fine - I don't think dyes do bleed like they used to.

For us it's more that one's school trousers are going to be in the dark wash, whereas a pink bra or fluffy cream socks can go AWOL indefinitely without inconveniencing their owner unduly - so it's helpful for the dark wash to be a priority.

I'm wary of new things, for instance a red cotton shirt I bought recently or dark denim. You still get things that run sometimes. If things have been washed loads of times I don't worry too much. Always separate whites though. And light/pale yellow things. They always go dingy for some reason.

DP never separated things. Said it wasn't necessary, clothes don't run anymore.

Several hundred quid later, he separates my stuff and the overly expensive bedlinen I bought and he had to replace, along with underwear, t-shirts, blouses, socks, face flannels and anything else that's light, very carefully in every wash.

My one concession was buying dark towels to replace the vaguely shit-stained resembling things that emerged from the machine that are now used to mop up leaks and spills on the kitchen floor.

I buy persil colour washing powder or capsules or equivalent
Plus use a colour catcher sheet in each wash

Household of many coloured items

I do whites, lights & darks, also bedding & towels separately.
Judging by the grey colour of my student DS's t shirts, I'd say colours running is still a thing!

I generally separate into lights and darks, but occasionally chuck in a mix if I haven't got enough for two loads. My whites are still super bright, no dinginess at all.

Whites and v pale things on occasion together. Unless some dickhead has squished a dark sock in.. weirdly, one of dd 's pale pink tops hotbed everything pink. How?

Lights if one got enough.
Very darks.

I don't separate things - if I did I'd either be running part full washes or building up piles waiting for their particular basket to be full! Lights, darks, bedding, towels...it all goes in the same wash, same temp, same washing powder. The only things I've ever bothered splitting out and washing alone are wool jumpers or silk items. But they come around rare enough that it's no big deal running them on their own.
Having said that, we don't own many white things...maybe a shirt after a funeral, or a vest. We tend to buy coloured stuff.

I never separate. The kids school shirts are really the only white things that get washed on a weekly basis. By the end of the year they are a bit grey I suppose but it doesn’t really matter does it. Kids don’t care, teachers don’t care and I definitely don’t care.

Our water is very hard and denim jeans especially seem to turn everything grey. I do a whites/very lights wash, darks, and reds as I have a lot of red for some reason.

Every now and then I just do a whites and add some whitener and stick it on cottons.

I have a white towel that turned peach - it's a lovely peach but I can't turn it back 😂

This!

The DC's PE kit is mainly black and red other than two white t-shirts. I do a mid week wash each week when I chuck it all in together. Those t-shirts were decidedly grey by the end of the year! The whites which I was separately at the weekend remain white

Depends how full the basket is. Could be whites- lights- brights- darks. Or could be lightish- not lightish. Towels and sheets always done hotter and without fabric conditioner.

There are a couple of kids at school with DS who always have really manky looking grey polo shirts - you really can't help noticing them, especially in summer when the kids don't have jumpers on. I always assume it's because their polos are just washed with everything else, not just whites. One wash probably doesn't make a difference , repeated washes does.

Whites, darks, coloured stuff all separately. Bedding and towels separately too. It’s how I’ve always done it.

I accidentally put a purple tee in with the whites once and lots of my lovely white T-shirts and vest tops all took on a horrible bluish/purple tone. I tried bleaching them but, alas, they never looked the same again, ended up being hair dye tops and rags.

I do the following...
Darks
Lights
Reds
Light delicate
Dark delicate
Light towels
Dark towels

Whites, lights, dark and cleaning/dog stuff - that's what I do! Especially important for the whites imo, keeps them bright and nice.

We chuck it all in together at 30. I use oxygen colour persil 15 degree liquid and lenor. It's all clean and fresh

I think whites get grubby over time if you put them in together. I do lights, darks and colours…. Plenty of washing in this house so I don’t have to save stuff up for long to get a full load

Not for me. I'm doing say 10 to 12 loads of laundry per fortnight - I'm absolutely going to sort it appropriately! I can do 10 mixed loads where everything goes grey and I'm washing a pair of filty black work jeans in with my best white lace bra - or 10 sorted loads.

It's no more effort, clothes last longer, look nicer, towels and bedding get separate hot washes.

I do whites separately with oxi action powder, lights separately, then colours and darks together.

I separate by type of fabric and by colour: dark synthetics, light synthetics, light cotton, dark cotton.

I do whites, lights, brights and darks. I’ll also use colour catchers if I know something is being washed for the first time. I’ll also chuck something in the “wrong” wash if I know it’s been washed dozens of times before - but never ever in a white wash. But we have enough dirty washing to do these separate washes so it works fine for us.

DH only wears white shirts for work and they are very expensive so I will not allow them to go grey. They wash brilliantly and last years. We always use bio powder and no fabric softener. I wonder if the detergent used makes a difference?