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?

Me too!

White wash once a week on a Friday which is DC’s school shirts and couple of my work blouses. Bedding wash once a week. Everything else goes in together.

Colour running is definitely still a thing. I recently chucked a teal bath towel in with my favourite white ones in a rush and they're now a hint of teal colour not white.

If you wash whites with coloured or darks particularly, whites still do go grey. Whether you're bothered about it is another matter. I do Whites, Colours, Darks all on 40, and Towels and Bedding on 60. It's not a big hassle to seperate, and I am not someone who likes dingy whites. Horses for courses.

I'm glad I'm not the only one (I also have ikea stacking bins in my garage):

Lights (grey, blue, green, light brown etc)
Brights (red/orange/pink, yellow)
Darks
Whites
Towels, sheets, tea towels (dark or light)
Cleaning cloths and bathmats

Same here

Broadly i chuck white in with Bedding and towels (which are white ish). I have a toddler DD and I often lob her pale pink stuff in too. All other colours go in together.
I have a few silk or cashmere bits i wash separately.
I never separate my tights despite telling myself I should 😂

So do it, mixing is cringeworthy

Haha this sounds like my DP. Has the odd colour things in a white wash and it grinds my gears!!!

I use a different detergent for my whites than the rest of my washing. I also found that the colours of items were becoming murky - nude pants taking on a pinky tinge or a muddy green, blues getting darker, reds getting purply.

I tend to separate my washing by colour. Pale blues go in the white stuff but otherwise red, blue, black, brown. And sometimes I've noticed things I've rinsed due to stains are still turning the water green or purple. Maybe I just buy cheaper clothes?

Generally whites and lights, darks and brights! I do throw in some whites with coloured and always fine, but not anything new. X

I do separate light wash and dark/colours wash. White clothes go grey otherwise. Dd washes things together at uni, as not worth doing a separate wash and she has a few white t shirts that do look grey now.

I separate washing. Always have, always will. I don't just separate it, because it's colour.

It's also texture that needs to be taken into account and washing length of time.

1/ Bedding and towels separate washes
2/ Underwear and pj"s another wash
3/ Dishcloths and tea towels another wash.
4/ Outwear clothing another wash
5/ Jumpers and the type another wash
6/ Whites separate

Same here. Whites religiously on their own to keep them white, everything else chucked in together willy nilly.

I do wash whites separately, but besides that I don't separate by color. I separate by temperature - many of our clothes say to wash in cold water (trousers, nicer tops, bras, sports clothes) and others in warm water (t-shirts, underwear, socks).

Same! Bras, shirts and white socks (and any other white stuff) on the weekend. 😂

Always wash whites separately.
A colleague & I once turned up in the same white jumper from Next.
A few months later, it happened again.

A third party made a comment about "didn't know they made it in grey".
Wounding, but accurate.

I am with you! Towels, bedding, white wash with school shirts and any white underwear, black wash which is mainly school uniform, coloureds. My machine is always on!!!

White on their own. The rest all goes in together.

I do whites together and usually put oxy powder in with them. Colours go together. Our whites never get to the grey stage some do.

I can spot the kids at my kids school whose parents don't separate. Their white shirts are dingier.

Often they are the same people who use persil non bio (full of whitening agents because non bio powders are poorer at removing stains) on coloured clothing - their jumpers are terrifically faded.

You don't notice it when all the clothes in your home are like it but if you laid some of your whites on top of mine, you'd see it pretty fast.

Of course not everything runs loads. But yellows & pinks in particular quickly get dingy & dull when washed with darks.

Keffie me too.

Towels can't have fabric softener so they go in their own wash. Bedding i occasionally do at 60.

Whites
Lights
Reds
Navy and denim
Black

Whites
Lights
Brights
Darks (sometimes a navy pile and a black pile)
Bedding
Towels
Cleaning cloths
Delicates

Doing laundry is a job I love!

I do lights, darks, hot wash for bedding and let whites build up as we haven't got many. nothing terrible will happen there and then usually but lights and whites go dingy over time if you don't. I prefer to do that than use extra products

I think washing at lower temperature helps tbh. I wash everything except bedding and towels on a 40° wash that takes 24 minutes, our clothes are not filthy as we both retired, everything comes out fine .