How do you wash a black and white stripey top? Darks or colours?

[OriginalPoster]

My dd13 was sorting her washing, and asked which pile a new striped black and white top should go in. Does anyone know the answer?

Franke is clearly sponsored by Franke sinks, of course she wants us all to wash by hand

Cointreau

Your 'mediums' is my 'lights', I don't do a pure white wash

Must clean up my act...

choccy I do that - white only, pale colours, bright colours and darks. Yet the rest of my house looks like a bomb hit it! I used to be fairly confident of my laundry prowess untill franke confused me!!!!

Another vote for Colour Catcher. Never fails.

I shall invest in a colour catcher ASAP .

Hand wash it in coldish water then rinse a couple of time then spin it with other stuff in washer.
I have a whole group of stuff I have to do this with. I usually do it all in one go. Quick dip in suds for all regular changing of water cold rinse them then pop them all in to spin together.
It's the only way to keep the whites white and a non-white white depresses me no end to the point I end up binning it!!

"It is mainly white with a varying thickness of black line"

And you wanted to avoid drip feeding on this already controversial thread?!

Cointreau - a medium wash you say? How posh .

Oh and you can use your colour catchers several times over until they are quite dark coloured from absorbing all the loose dye in the washes so they become more economical

Even Colour catchers state on packet that items should be washed seperately several times 1st before mixing colours.

I always used to start off doing black and white things in with a load of dark stuff which either wasn't that dark (things like mid blues or greys or purples) or was old and definitely not going to run. And then they go in the white wash.

Generally when they make stuff they know you can't separate out the two parts of the clothing item to wash them, so the darker colour is going to be colour fast.

I found colour catchers didn't work, but maybe I was doing it wrong

I would wash seperatley on a delicate wash :)

There are three types of wash - darks ie. black, red, purple, navy, charcole
Whites ie. pure whites that can be out on a hotter wash like shirts, tops. Lights ie. whites that can't be hot washed like bras, dds school socks, my white delicate pj's and lighter colours and any colour with white/light stripes.

Aren't we all supposed to 'turn it to 30' nowadays? It doesn't really matter then does it? You can bung them all in and it'll all be fine!

But at least it's good for the planet,isn't it??

But really, am I all alone? Should I be changing my ways??

Pootle posy, I can't believe you're stirring this already inflammatory devisive thread with the mention of c-l-a-s-s...

I've got a Miele
, am I posh?

Wash it in a 40 degree wash with a colour catcher, not with anything too light or dark. Regarding the colour catchers if possible put them in a net bag, a bit like the ones used for putting socks and smalls in and zip it shut then put it in the machine. Colour catcher sheets on their own can sometimes go down between the drum and the rubbers on the door and block your drainage system in the machine - told to me by friend who is a machine engineer and has had to go out to numerous machines to empty the drainage cap at the front and pull out these sheets and show the owners why their machine had suddenly stopped emptying out properly or in some cases not at all. They are great little things but be careful how you put them into your machine, they can disappear down into the workings of the thing!!

In a shortish 40 wash (but eco setting) for mediums / mixed / stuff that got dropped on the way to the dark wash / teatowels / flannels. With a new Colourcatcher (if there is something I'm not sure of) and a couple of the used ones.

Most of my washes are like that. We have one properly dark (black / navy) wash, one brights wash and one super-whites wash a fortnight, but the rest are basically darker-ish or lighter-ish unless I've got so behind I can separate everything by colour!

I couldn't manage without colourcatchers.

The advice has changed now because washing at low temperatures doesn't kill bacteria, so your smalls, towels etc have to be washed at 60.

I'm siding with the 'mediums' - i.e not dark, as you'll make the whites go grey (is this what the colour catcher avoids?) and not with all whites either - but with other coloured clothes on a not too hot wash. Handwashing/washing single items just seems like a lot of work...

NotMostPeople

Is there a Washing Advisory Council or something?

Definitely not in with the darks as your White stripes will go grey.

If it's from a good make then the dark stripes will be colour fast so it can go in with the lights, but to be on the safe side wash it on its own the first couple of times.

I don't trust colour run sheets as they have failed me in the past. DS's hooded towel has pink rather than White stripes because I trusted colour catchers!

And colour catchers have also blocked the drain on my washing machine, another reason why I don't like them.

But if you add Napisan, can you still kill bacteria at 40C?

And those who say wash it alone the first few times, do you really put one lonely top in the drum all by itself and put the machine on? Really?

49 replies and still no definitive answer.

not with anything bright bright pink :s