by Denise Neville

Created on: August 16, 2009

Every time you wash or dry clothing you are losing a little of the color from the fabric. The shirt that was so nice and bright when you bought it suddenly takes on a color of its own and it's not pretty. There are steps you can take to help slow down the process but eventually you will have to resort to dyes to bring your clothing back close to looking new again. To make your colors last longer here are a few suggestions to what to do when colors fade in laundry.

Sorting your laundry

You can prevent fading just by sorting your clothing properly. If you place dark items together with close to the same colors, the colors may bleed a little but it just goes into all the color of the rest of the clothing and helps to reinforce the color in each garment. Always check your labels before you wash any item. This could tell you important information on how the garment should be washed.

Cold water washes

Use cold water for your washes. It helps to keep the dye in the clothes and not in the water. Every wash robs a little of the dye but cold water won't take the dye out as quickly as warm or hot. Over time even cold water will rob your clothes of color but it takes much longer for this to take place. Your washer helps in fading color, just by the agitation of the movement of the clothing. You can help this by placing your washer on a gentle cycle so they are not battered around too much. Clothes don't get real dirty unless they are worn by kids who spend their time outside all day or you are doing some outside work like gardening or construction, so the majority of clothing will wash fine on a gentle cycle and still come out clean.

Hot water washes

The only time you really need to use hot water is with bedding or whites if you intend on keeping them white and bright. Hot water helps to keep white clothes looking white and germ free and with sheets hot water is the best thing you can use to be sure all the dust mites are out of your bedding. Clothes washed at 130 degrees will kill any germs that your clothes may have. You can also add bleach to hot water washes which gives you the peace of mind that your clothes are clean.

Dryer heat

Heat can play havoc on any clothing's color. This is hard to avoid in the busy world we live in but if you place your clothes in the dryer on a low setting it will help to prolong the life of your color. This low setting will take longer for your clothes to dry but is not as harsh as a high setting. If you can air dry your clothes

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