Share with Fairy Non Bio your tips and tricks for mixing colours and fabrics. £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

The rules on laundry and what to do with mixing colours and fabrics can sometimes get a bit confusing with different people saying different things. Therefore Fairy Non Bio would like to know what your tips and tricks are when it comes to mixing colours and fabrics?

Here’s what Fairy Non Bio have to say: “Everyone’s got their own way of doing things. We design our products so that you can get the most out of every load but would love to know how you divide and conquer your washing and what you use for it!”

Do you find that once colours have been washed once you can mix them with the lighter colours? Are there certain fabrics that you know can be easily washed together? Or have you figured out a laundry system that means your dark colours no longer bleed into lighter clothes? Maybe you’ve had a laundry disaster that forced you to change how you did things?

Whatever your tips are, share them on the thread below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Anything delicate I handwash first. I find that most other things are ok after a few washes in terms of colour running - although beware with black jeans!

I always wash similar colours together if i can. I use a cool wash to help stop any fading of the colour. Also if you add a tablespoon of salt to the wash it will help to protect the colour as the chloride stops the fading.

I wash lights and whites together but I’m never sure I’m doing it right. I’m a rubbish grown up!

I don't think there's many of us who haven't, at some point, had a laundry disaster! These days I do 2 types of wash, lights and darks. It's always worked for me and haven't had a disaster in years. I'm always a little weary of new products, particularly if they're red, and make sure the first time I wash these in the dark wash that the rest of the laundry is VERY dark, like blacks and dark greys, just to make sure it doesn't run.
When it comes to fabrics, the only thing I don't mix with the rest of the laundry is towels. I spent a long time wondering why my towels weren't coming out smelling fresh, then I read a brilliant article that said that towels don't absorb the softener properly so I stopped using softener on the towels and it worked a treat! I have lovely fresh towels every time now.
Thanks :)

I generally do whites separately, occasionally ‘lights’ too (very pale, pastel colours). I also do darks separately (black, navy, dark grey). The medium colours (red, pink, blue, light grey etc) all get bunged in together with a colour catcher and that works fine.

Wash at 40c throw everything in...

I wash daily, sometimes twice, I separate lights and darks, for the full laundry basket,and use a colour catcher on low temperature mixed washes (school uniforms). I love the fragrance of Fairy, and as my youngest has eczema I am confident that his skin is protected. I am lucky that my washing machine has a hand wash function, so it is great for washing those wool jumpers on a cool wash, and they come out looking and smelling fab. My mum used it, and I use it because I trust it.

if you're asking someone else to put the washing on make sure you give them clear instructions on what to put with what unless you want your new top changed colour

I separate into piles and never mix anything with whites. I wash light colours and dark colours separately and if something doesn't fit with either, I throw it in with the nearest match and cross my fingers ... or use a colour catcher. I love fairy non bio though, it's the only powder that doesn't give my little girl a rash. So thanks :)

Wash dark and light colours separately, everything at 30 degrees

I just stick everything in together unless it’s something very delicate.

Never put denim or red garments in with lighter colours, the colour can bleed in the wash even after a few washes, lighter colours can be mixed, after a couple of washes most things can go in together. I try to keep white items together to avoid greying.

I wash most things together, at a low temperature.

LittleMe03 *

I put whites and lights on together at 40. And all dark colours together at 30.

When I had two teenage boys at home I used to do this, but these days it's just me and DH and frankly there's not enough pale washing per week to justify doing a separate load so I bung everthing in together but used two of those colour-catcher sheets (one from each of two different brands to be on the safe side) systematically to try to prevent the white t-shirts from going grey.

However, I must admit that any of my really nice fragile stuff is washed by hand and drip-dried.

Lights, darks and colours - keep it simple

I have two baskets one for whites and one darks/colours

I rarely mix my colours and have white, dark, blue, pink, dog, towel and bedding loads. I did once wash a new green hoody in my grey/blue wash and it turned all my greys green so now I'm even more careful!

I never mix whites, brights and pale colours because they fade and I like my whites to look WHITE! If I really have to mix then I wash on a low temp! X

whenever possible I keep DARKs away from lights
always wash NEW dark clothes separate for at least 5 times
I buy clothes which can be washed at LOW temperatures
watch for ,helpers

One question to the non-mix people. How would you wash this?

I wash whites separately and depends how much time I have but either wash all colours together or do a lights wash and a darks wash.

I soak the clothes beforehand so can get away with a cooler wash. But in reality, we have so much washing for our big family that we normally have sufficient clothing to not have to mix most of the time.

Keep whites separated from colours, have never had an issue when mixing light and dark colours and hand wash wool and really delicate items.

We never separate here and wash at 30. The only excepting being woollen items. Not had an issue so far!

I bung all the colours in together unless there's a brand new pair of jeans, which will get washed separately. Whites are rare in my home, I never wear it and my daughter only has a few tshirts in the summertime, so I don't worry much about it.