Is this you?  Have you put your white load of laundry in, only to find that some red intruder turned your clothing pink? 

“What dark magic is this?” you think to yourself, secretly cursing the Dryer Monster who steals your socks for returning the red one at a very inconvenient time.

The best way to counteract such dark magic is to educate yourself in the Sorcery of Laundry. 

While laundry detergent has evolved to protect the color of clothing, most of the things we wear still have tags saying they should be washed in cold water, and really, those tags should be listened to.  Many people take this to mean that all of their clothes, and even their towels and sheets, should be washed in a frigid bath.  But there are some things that really should be washed in hot water.  Here’s a little guide for you so you can avoid the above issue.

These colors should generally be washed in cold water, as they are the darkest ones and are the most likely to bleed.  In addition to specific colors, clothes made of denim, cotton, or rayon should also be washed in cold water, primarily to prevent shrinkage and warpage.  These clothes should also not be put in the dryer, as the heat will shrink them, and they won’t fit properly.

Warm water should be used for light colors, such as the ones listed here and others like light gray and beige.  Basically, use warm water for your lighter colors and for fabrics that you know won’t shrink.  Bras should also be washed on warm unless they are a dark color, but they shouldn’t be put in the dryer.

Hot water is the trickiest one.  One would think that all clothes should be washed on hot, right?  The heat kills the germs, yes? 

Technically, yes, the heat kills the germs that reside on your clothes.  Your laundry detergent has a role to play too, though.  Detergent contains chemicals known as surfactants, which assist in the removal of soils from the surface of your clothing.  So as long as you have some nature of detergent in with your load of laundry, you are cleaning your clothes in some way.  The hot water is therefore only necessary for your particularly nasty machine washables and anything white.  This includes things like your towels, sheets, and, usually, your underwear too. 

“But Susan,” you ask, “Won’t the colors bleed?”

If you have dark colored towels, sheets, or underwear, then yeah, the colors might bleed.  And while I personally don’t own anything red from any of those three categories, I’m sure many people do.  If you’re concerned about bleeding colors, go ahead and wash these things on a lower temperature setting.  But if you don’t care too much, then wash them on hot.

Personally, I wash all of my sheets and towels on hot, but if I’m washing anything I wear in hot water, it has to be white.  And since I wear very little white, my hot water loads are typically just towels.  I usually wash these on a “Sanitize” cycle, which is extra hot.  And no, my darkest towel hasn’t bled onto the other ones yet.

One last note:  if you choose to use fabric softener or bleach, make sure to add them properly.  Fabric softener can be added to any load, and if you are allergic to some of the commercial ones, vinegar is a good substitute (and no, your clothes won’t smell like pickles later).  Bleach should ONLY be used for white clothes, towels, and sheets, and I would suggest only using it for your super stained things.  It’s better to not have bleach stains on your black jeans.

So that, my friends, is the Sorcery of Laundry.  Or at least, the Sorcery of the washing part.  Drying your laundry is another matter entirely.  To do that, one must defeat the Dryer Monster…