Why Do White Clothes Turn Pink in the Washing Machine?
Here are reasons your whites might turn pink.
Most people sort their clothing based on color and washing requirements when doing laundry.
Since whites contain undergarments, socks, and towels, people usually wash those in warm or hot water. When you pass a new or non-colorfast item in warm or hot water, the dye can bleed out of the fabric.
Although this can happen in any load, it’s more noticeable when it happens to a load of whites. It is because there’s no other color to hide the bleeding.
What Causes Discoloration in Laundry?
Commonly used laundry, skincare, beauty, and personal hygiene products can cause stains and color changes in white or yellow garments. Toothpaste, sweat, facial soap, deodorants, and hair sprays often cause stains on garments.
Water-soluble dyes used to color garments can cause stains to appear. It is after a garment gets washed or dry-cleaned.
Dye transfer can occur in both expensive and inexpensive items. Price does not determine colorfastness.
Return the item to the store if a garment gets cared for as stated on the label and a dye transfer.
Makeup, strong perfumes with alcohol, and even rain (acid rain especially) can leave spotty stains. All these stains may eventually dry up, not causing any visible stains. But, age and exposure to heat will cause them to reappear.
Similarly, items like ChapStick or markers can transfer dyes and colors onto your clothing. It can happen when things run through the washing machine.
Although you may not notice these stains or bleeds in a load of black shirts, you will see the discoloration on your whites.
How do you get pink out of white clothes?
If you open your washing machine to find a load full of pink items that once were white, use the following steps to fix your white clothing. Before completing these steps, make sure that all affected items can be bleached. (a triangle with a cross through it stands for “do not bleach”).
1. Remove the colored item, then separate all-white items that appear discolored.
2. Soak all affected garments in a weak household bleach solution. (1/4 cup of bleach diluted in 1 gallon of cold water) for up to 15 minutes.
3. Rinse all items thoroughly and repeat Step 2 if needed.
4. If the discoloration persists or you notice blotches of color, re-wash the stained garments. Do it in the washing machine with one cup of non-chlorine bleach plus your usual amount of detergent.
5. Check items carefully before transferring them to the dryer. Applying heat will make the discoloration permanent.
How can I make my pink clothes white again without bleach?
- Use a Citrus Soak
Instead of sending your white laundry into the washer to get clean, do it with a citrus soak. It is recommended to boil your whites with lemons or lemon juice. Turn up the heat until the water bubbles, letting them soak for about an hour. You can also add lemon juice to your regular wash cycle and achieve similar results.
- Brighten with the Power of the Sun
Once your whites are thoroughly washed and wet, skip the dryer cycle. Instead of making them suffer through super high heat, lay them out in the sun to naturally whiten them.
According to Keeper of the Home, the sun will bleach your clothing without the smell and danger of bleach. If you’ve ever left something out in the sun for an extended period, you know how whitening its rays can be.
- Add White Vinegar
Get your whites white once again by adding a dose of white vinegar during the wash cycle. White vinegar softens the fabric, bringing brightness and comfort to your clothes.
- Create a Baking Soda Soak
You can whiten your whites with a homemade mixture of water and baking soda without additives in your washing machine.
Combine four liters of water with one cup of baking soda, and drop in your white laundry. Let it soak, and your clothes will be fresh and clean once finished.
- Try Dishwasher Soap
A secret whitening tool is hiding in your kitchen: dishwasher soap. Eco-friendly dishwasher detergent works to whiten whites and other DIY methods.
Simply blend in with your regular laundry detergent, and run your whites through their normal wash cycle.
- Break Out the Aspirin
Aspirin, excellent aid for headaches and other aches, breaks down the gunk that’s yellowed your whites.
Dissolve five white aspirin pills in water, and add your clothes to the mix. Let them soak a while, and then toss them into your washer. Be sure to avoid the colored varieties of aspirin, though, or your whites could come out with a colorful tinge.
- Add in a Bit of Blue
Though it might sound counterintuitive, it is suggested that adding blue coloring to your white laundry can counteract the yellow stains that this color tends to attract. Look for a bluing agent at your local grocery store (or on Amazon).
And carefully follow the directions on the bottle. The source warns that it’s bad to pour the agent on your clothes directly. Or add it to your detergent because you might have dyed blue clothing.
- Try Whitening with Borax
A bit of borax can increase the effectiveness of your usual laundry detergent. Making it more effective at restoring cleanliness and color. It also removes residue from stains and is a standard item in medicine cabinets.
- Skip the Detergent
With each load of laundry and each trip through the wash, your whites become laden with detergent and residue from dryer sheets.
And these additions to your once-bright clothes can create that yellow tint. It is suggested to send your whites through a simple, detergent-free cycle with a small amount of ammonia to eliminate all accumulated residue.
- Brighten with Hydrogen Peroxide
A standard item in medicine cabinets, hydrogen peroxide, can breathe new life into your dulled whites. According to PopSugar, it’s an oxidizer that dissolves residue and brightens whites like common store-bought whitening agents.
How To Prevent Accidental Color Bleeding.
The easiest way to prevent color bleeding is by separating your clothing and checking the washing machine thoroughly between loads to ensure no lost items remain.
If you specifically own things that say they are non-colorfast, you can wash these independently with similarly colored articles of clothing or hand wash them to avoid color transfers.
Whether a stray red sock fell into the load or your daughter’s ChapStick fell into the load, discolored whites can make even the coolest, most collected mom lose her sanity for a moment.
However, following these tips can quickly restore the brightness in your whites with relatively little fuss. Make sure you handle this sticky situation immediately — because it’s all over once the load hits the dryer.
Pulling your laundry out of the washing machine and having it be any color other than that you put in can be very frustrating, not to mention expensive. Fortunately, there are several thoughts to keep in mind to keep your laundry from coming out pink unless, of course, it went in pink.
Check Them Out. Before you put anything in the wash, especially new items, check them to see whether you think the colors will bleed. If you doubt, wash them separately, at least for the first few times you wash them. If you are still wondering, read the labels and wash accordingly.
Separate. Separating your laundry, whites, lights and pastels, bright colors, darks, and towels. Too much work? Separate them as you throw them into hampers after you have worn them.
Minimize Friction. As you wash items over time, fibers tend to break down. It releases dyes and leads to fading.
You can minimize this effect by washing items such as heavy fabrics (jeans and the like) together. Better yet, turn them inside out and wish the zippers closed. Using the permanent press cycle on your washing machine is also good.
Test For Colorfastness. If you are unsure of the colorfastness of certain items, test them by putting them in a sink full of soapy water for a half-hour. If the water has changed colors after that time, the things will bleed and require special handling.
Don’t Use Salt or Vinegar. A common misconception is that adding salt or vinegar to your wash will improve colorfastness (thanks, Pinterest), but this is incorrect.
A tiny group of fabrics set in vinegar, but this is very uncommon. Vinegar does help to eliminate odors but use it sparingly.
Wash In Cold Water. One of the best ways to help prevent your wash from turning pink is to wash everything in cold water. Adverse side effects such as less clean laundry will be minimized, and you can usually counter this with a good detergent.
Use Color Catching Sheets. Buy these anywhere they sell detergents, and they will help prevent bleeding.
Hand Wash. If all else fails, and you are very concerned about colorfastness, hand washes the items of concern. You will have cut the chances of damaging other clothes and left pink laundry to the fraternity guys.
Spills from beverages and food that dry without leaving any spots cause many unknown stains. Common invisible stains are soft drinks, corn syrup, fruit juices, and honey.
In addition, if the stain is not pre-treated before the garment is laundered or dry-cleaned, it may oxidize into a yellow stain from the heat of the cleaning process, and the stain may appear.