[Blindtlk] Washing, How to Avoid Colours in Clothes Running in The Washing Machine

[Julie J.]

Plain white vinegar will help a lot to keep colors from bleeding.  Soak a 
new garment in vinegar for a few hours or overnight before washing.  Some of 
the new dye may still come out, so it's important to wash with like colors. 
Red seems to be the worst for bleeding into other colors.  I wash new red 
clothes with other reds if I have enough or dark jeans or towels if I don't. 
My towels are navy blue, so if the red colors them it won't be noticeable.

I don't buy a lot of new clothes, so mostly I use the college dormitory 
method of washing...I cram everything into the washer together, jeans, 
socks, colored shirts and wash it all on regular warm water wash and cold 
rinse.  99% of the time this method works just fine.  I'm not a fancy person 
though.  I don't have a bunch of delicates or clothes that can't go in the 
dryer.  I'm careful with new clothes for a few washes and then after that I 
go with the easiest method. I used to do separate loads for jeans, colors, 
whites etc.  I will do that now if I'm going to bleach the whites or 
something, but honestly I haven't noticed any difference between separating 
everything and the college method.  At least not for clothes that I've had 
for a while.

If I know I've spilled something on the item I treat it with a stain removal 
product and wash as usual.  After it comes out of the wash I'll ask a 
sighted person to make sure the stain came out before wearing.

HTH
Julie