Comments on: Many shades of grey

Question: Many shades of grey

purplefiber — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:04:00 -0800

How do I keep my blacks black?

For my work I have to wear a lot of black clothing. I find that the color fades quickly- often with just a couple washings. Is there anything I can do to retain the color longer? As a side note, I rarely dryclean, just use my washer and hang to dry. The fading happens to dry-clean-only clothes and regular clothes.

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:15:27 -0800

You may want to try drycleaning. Alternately, use a DIY kit like dryel, if you don't have a cheap and fast laundry nearby.

Almost all of my black clothing is dryclean only, I always dryclean, and it never fades.

Also, the old college trick of not washing every time you wear clothes can save a few pennys here and there.

By: AmbroseChapel

AmbroseChapel — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:20:49 -0800

There are washing additives for keeping black clothes black just as there are for keeping whites white.

Although not necessarily where you live.

If you google for "persil black velvet" you'll find links from the UK and Ireland. It seems to be a rather experimental new product though.

If all else fails maybe someone can send you some in the mail?

But lots of other sites have tips on things like washing in vinegar before you wash black clothes the first time and so on.

By: fireflies to stars

fireflies to stars — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:24:44 -0800

Also,
1) sometimes just buying cheap black clothing is worthwhile if you go through it quickly. (like from Ross, perhaps)
2) synthetic materials stay blacker longer than cotton.

By: IvyMike

IvyMike — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:31:49 -0800

Cheer dark?

By: j-dawg

j-dawg — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:41:43 -0800

I wash all blacks in cold water with Woolite dark, and dry them on gentle. I actually get pretty terrific results. Even some of my cheap Target blacks have stayed nice and dark through months of regular washing. I've kept better clothing respectably dark for a couple years.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:44:28 -0800

Wash in cold water always and dry on the lowest setting.

By: furtive

furtive — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:49:18 -0800

Avoid ironing them if at all possible.

By: theora55

theora55 — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:57:34 -0800

Cold water & Cheer dark. Apparently, it has something in it that neutralizes the chlorine in water.

By: fireflies to stars

fireflies to stars — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:58:05 -0800

oh, and I also wash all my blacks together in cold water.

By: neda

neda — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:58:53 -0800

Don't overstuff your washer--do smallish loads of laundry for your nicer darks. Also, turn your clothes inside-out before you wash 'em.

By: purplefiber

purplefiber — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:59:44 -0800

Great answers- thanks folks. Funny- I made a trip to Ross this afternoon for the express purpose of buying more black clothes (great minds think alike, LS).

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:05:11 -0800

If you're hanging your clothes outside to dry, that's probably your problem. Ultraviolet from the sun causes most synthetic dyes to fade, and it can be quite rapid. (And there's a lot of ultraviolet even on cloudy days.)

By: aneel

aneel — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:06:33 -0800

The woman who used to run the wash & fold place near me recommended turning black jeans inside out before washing. Since that laundromat closed and I started using another one, some of my blacker jeans have become noticeably greyer. May just be coincidence, but I'm going to start turning my own jeans inside out.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:12:12 -0800

Hoo boy, can't anyone dig up the previous thread that had all the same answers?

Well, anyway, let me point out again that cleaners were originally known as cleaners & dyers because clothes were progressively dyed darker rather than cleaned.

If you keep your blacks separate, you could re-dye them in your washing machine with rit dyes or such.

By: kcm

kcm — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:29:31 -0800

To be honest, cheap clothes won't last nearly as long as quality stuff. Jeans are a good example - denim from, say, Express will tend to fade and run in just a few washes where a lot of quality denim (that can cost a bit more) won't. I wash mine inside out and don't dry them at all, and I figure this would work for most of your blacks and darks. The only clothes I do dry are undershirts, workout clothes, and underwear/socks (plus towels and such).

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 22:19:35 -0800

Denim is a lousy example, because for the majority of denim wearers, having the color fade is an advantage. (It looks cooler, or something like that.)

By: sperose

sperose — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 22:38:14 -0800

I dig Woolite for darks and wash everything on cold water.

By: defreckled

defreckled — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 22:49:12 -0800

Once or twice a year, I re-dye all of my black, washable clothes black again. The clothes are already black to begin with so I ignore the manufactures recommended weight to dye ratio and fill the washer as though I was doing a normal load. Everything comes out looking revitalized because the small gray hairy/furry bits are black again. Also, this works best on solid black clothing rather than something like black jeans with color gradations.

I find this to be enormously satisfying.

By: Mr Stickfigure

Mr Stickfigure — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 02:28:04 -0800

previously

By: pollystark

pollystark — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 03:59:50 -0800

Yep, turn your clothes inside out before washing them (and check they are still inside out when drying them). This helps preserve colour quite a bit.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 04:20:41 -0800

defreckled, I am so trying that.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 05:57:46 -0800

Can I just say I was astonished on visiting your user page to discover you're in San Francisco? I just assumed anyone who has to wear a lot of black clothing for work lives in NYC.

By: joeclark

joeclark — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 05:58:32 -0800

Consumer Reports tested dark laundry detergents and found they worked, but not really any better than regular detergents. It isn't what those products have but what they don't – optical brighteners, which deposit on black clothes and work at cross purposes anyway.

I seem to recall that the book Laundry scarcely discussed this subject in its 380 or so pages.

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:18:07 -0800

neda - your advice is counter-intuitive. You'd expect that if dye was leaching from clothing, doing less per load would result in greater dilution of the leached dye, and faster fading. Is there something I'm missing? I really would like to know, because I always do full loads of darks, according to my reasoning above.