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?

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 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.

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

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!

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.

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

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

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

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 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!

I always separate ours into darks, coloureds, whites or just darks and lights.

When I havent the white stuff has ended up with marks/stains on. Its happened recently when I stupidly thought "nah I neednt bother"
Two of us in our household - on average I do 2-3 loads a week.

I don't own enough white sutff to do a separate load so I just mix. I don't mind is some pants turn a bit grey-ish.

I really can't be arsed to separate whites.

If any whites start looking dingy I stick them in a bucket with scalding water and a good splash of bleach for a couple of hours, then wash as normal and they're back to as good as new.

I separate washing into whites/offwhites, red/purple/pink, darks, fleece (an expensive volunteering uniform fleece was ruined by being washed with non-fleece), delicates, bedding and towels. I have a Kallax unit in my utility room to separate the loads and when a tub is full, I do a wash

My son does karate so they're in all white kit, it's 100% noticeable the families that don't separate whites from colours.

My husband and I do our own washing. He doesn't separate anything and all his lighter coloured clothes look grey or grubby!

I always do whites separately because I chuck a glowhite sachet in with them. Essential to prevent my son’s school polo shirts becoming a permanent record of what he had for lunch.

I do Whites and towels separately, everything else is thrown in together.

When I can I do
whites/v lights
coloured
darks
towels and bedding
lingerie

My DD mixed hers when away for the first time and now has very pale pink shirts.
I separate lights and darks. I have enough of both to do a full load. Sheets and towels go on a hotter wash separately.

Whites/lights/ brights/darks - only tend to do 4 clothes washes a week +towels and bedding (60 degrees)

I did an entirely pink/red wash today 😄

Whites and ‘Everything else’

Clothes are definitely more colourfast than they were in the 80s. I can mix everything but whites , whereas my mum had to separate all colours because they ran something rotten.

When we had a twin tub you could see how much dye ran.