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Does it really matter if you use white or colour detergent for washing clothes in a washingmachine?
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this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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I think washing detergent for white fabric can contain bleach, so the clothes will stay white and won't become grey. If this is the case, it'll gradually fade any colors of colored fabric.
And the other way around it won't keep the white perfectly white.
Dunno about the bleach part, that might be in some as well, but typically white fabric detergent contains optical brightener that counters the typical yellow tint of worn garments by emitting extra blue light (and your eyes perceive the full presence of the spectrum as white). That's also why this whitening effect will fade off if you then use detergent that doesn't contain brighteners: you are washing out those blue light particles once again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_brightener
AKA blue dye.
The process is also called "bluing" and existed way before they made up a scientific "you have to buy this product, you can't do this at home" name.
Well that unlocked a memory. I was on a road trip around California and stopped off in a small town to do my laundry. An elderly gent was already in the laundromat and the washing machine window showed bright, bright blue. He said he recalled that his late wife used to use blueing tablets to get the sheets etc white. "I couldn't find any at the store, but these toilet cleaning tablets are blue, so figured I'd try them."
This is what my late mother used: https://www.retonthenet.co.uk/vintage-washing-laundry-reckitts-bag-blue-reckitt--coleman-hull-dolly-bag-1960s-nos-dolly-blue-5487-p.asp
Toilet cleaning tablets?!
The kind that clip under the rim and turn the water blue. Some kinds you put in the cistern. https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/4e1b697a-ca2d-4243-96fd-b7ce27bdcabd_1.20c57db567797b6b4993bfb863b44d06.jpeg?odnHeight=180&odnWidth=180&odnBg=ffffff
I know what they are, was just shocked he uses them for laundry. I can almost feel my skin breaking out in a rash just thinking about it.
Ha ha yes, he was experimenting. I did wonder how he got on. Bright blue sheets I fear.
Optical brighteners aren't the same thing as blue dye, even though they have the same role. Optical brighteners absorb high wavelength (UV) light and re-emit it as blue light. This helps prevent the new particles from overpowering or covering the existing dye. Blue dye would just paint the clothing more blue, which usually isn't what you want.
So in this case it isn't just marketing bla bla for some old thing, it's actually a new(er) thing that replaced the old thing.
“Liquid bluing” is dirt cheap. You can still buy a small bottle that will last forever, for like $6. Just add a few drops, per instructions on label, to you load of whites and it can really brighten them up
Honestly I'm more in the "buy durable fabrics and treat them well but if they acquire a tint or lose color over time so what" camp. Good linen shirts for instance will still look great after a long time, never mind any fading. For some stuff it can even enhance the optics like the famed worn out jeans look.
It’s really the whites you have to worry about acquiring a tint over time. It makes them appear dingy, aged, even yellowed, so you may need to replace them sooner. Bluing or brightened will keep whites brighter for longer, so you can keep them longer
That's my point though: to me buying new garments just because they aren't as white as they used to be is both economically and ecologically wasteful. Ideally you just adjust your sensibilities or else purchase colors, fabrics, patterns less affected by tinging.
I have to admit though I'm looking at this from my own biased perspective of a single household though. I do basic separation of light, dark and hygienic (anything that needs high temperatures to kill germs) but also spontaneous mixed loads depending on what's in the laundry bin and what I need soon. If you're in a big household you can actually do real nice sorting like all the reds together, all the sports wear together, all the rags and towels, etc.