Graying Clothes

There are a number of reasons your clothing – especially whites – can turn gray, or look dingy. Depending on the cause, there are several solutions. Here is a quick laundry help guide to solve your graying problems:

Reasons your clothes may turn gray:

Not using enough detergent.

Overloading the washer – Clothes need room to agitate and circulate the detergent, as well as rinse clean, packing the washer too full prohibits this, so your clothes will start to become dingy and gray.

Not using the correct temperature – Yes, using cold water is fine for most wash loads – as long as you are using a detergent made for cold water. As a matter of fact, for energy saving purposes, many people choose to do most of their laundry in cold water. Just remember that you should try to occasionally wash those fabrics (especially whites) in the warmest temperature allowable by the fabric.

Water Hardness – If you have it and use laundry soap, it can turn the water into a nasty gray scum, which gets on your clothes.

Iron – Does bleach turn your water yellow (and your clothes)? This is caused by too much iron in the water.

Solutions –

For starters, the most obvious solutions would be in loading your washer properly – not overloading.

Use the correct amount of detergent.

Wash your laundry in the warmest temperature recommended by the care labels.

If you are dealing with whites that can be laundered in hot water, then try doing that along with the correct amount of detergent and bleach. If you cannot use bleach, read the last two hints below.

If you suspect water hardness or other mineral problem, the test your water. Testing kits are inexpensive (ex. WaterSafe All-In-One Test Kit). Companies that sell water softening equipment will also test your water, but my cynical side says they may have an interest in the results, so I would tend to look for resources that do not have money to make off of the results.

Water Hardness – If you have hard water, always use laundry detergent instead of laundry soap.

To solve severe yellowing problems on your whites, try washing with a product called Summit Brands #IO12N 18OZ Super Iron Out. This has solved the ‘iron in the well water’ problem we had and were of course, unable to use bleach. Chances are if you have iron in your water, the laundry is not the only place you notice it. Iron out can be used in other areas of your home too, such as the dishwasher and tubs.

The same company also makes a laundry additive called Summit Brands YO65N 5Lb Yellow Out, which is used along with your regular detergent to help remove yellowing and dinginess. It can be used on all washable white and colorfast fabrics. This product also removes transferred dye stains and color runs that happen – for instance, when your red sock gets in the same wash load with your whites. Do not use bleach or peroxide with either of these products. 

Next -> Washing Clothes