Laundry Q - What is a 'darks' wash?

Chopsie&Chelvis

I feel a bit embarrassed asking this, as I'm sure it's something I should know, but I can't seem to find anything on the net or on a search here, so I'll have to ask!

What is a 'Darks' wash? I mean, what is included in it? I've never been taught how to do the laundry properly, so I just had to learn how to muddle through it as a student and I've carried on ever since. I wash bed linen and towels on hot, delicates I handwash, but all the clothes, I just shove in together (neither me nor the hubby wear white, so I don't worry about it running - although I do stick one of those colour catcher sheets in if there's something new in).

I presume it means black clothes, and maybe navy or charcoal grey, but what about medium / light grey? Red? Green? What about stripes???? EEk!

This came up as I mentioned to a friend that I was really disappointed that a black work dress of mine had faded so quickly, and she suggested that I use a special darks wash powder with my darks washes - and I thought, 'eek, I don't even know what a dark wash is, let alone do one'! :rotfl:

tigerlily

As far as I go by.....
Lights = white, and light colours e.g pale pinks,bluesbeige etc
Darks = Black, brown, grey and dark colours.

There are exceptions to this, new colours I would put in dark wash just incase they ran. Bed linen goes in together on a hottish wash. If I want to do just whites they would get a hot wash.
I am not too fussy as I live on my own so would never amass enough dirty clothes to split it down any further! Oxy powder or like is brilliant for putting in with whites if they look a little dull from being washed with light coloured's.

marrowgirl

I agree.
I do "lights" =white, cream, light pink, lemon - colours that won't run into the white stuff. If the whites look dull I use something like Daz to make the whites nice and bright.
Darks: black, navy, dark grey etc - jeans too. If they run I don't care coz you won't see it. I'll add dark red/green but if I'm not sure it is colourfast I add a colourcatcher. (you can get a free sample of this to try on the freebies thread) so nothing runs.
If i have lots of medium colours like OHs sky blue shirts, mid green, orange etc I do a coloureds wash at 30degrees. (again any new stuff i put in a colour catcher). Once you know things don't run it doesn't matter so much.
I pretty much do everything on 30 degrees (biological powder works best between 30 and 40 degrees) but sheets/towels on a hot wash. I also do a 90 degree wash (with no clothes just soda crystals) every so often as we have really hard water. Cleans the machine out and helps with limescale.

Bitsy_Beans

I work on the basis that "dark" is anything that lis likely to run and colour something that is a lighter colour eg cerise pink etc gets included in the dark load. I guess my way is working on a strong colours wash to light colours wash. In light colours it can be H's light blue work shirts, creams, whites, pale pinks etc.

Beccatje

LaurenManchester: don't be embarressed or think it's something you 'should' know.
If some one never told you, how are you supposed to have learnt it? Don't worry about it, we are here to help.

You've already been given some pretty good answers.

The way I do it (5 kids, DH and myself)

I'll seperate whites.. and maybe toss in some really light colors that I know aren't going to run.

Jeans usually get washed together

Everything black goes in together and I do use a special detergent for that.

But something coloured or white stripes with black goes in with the normal coloured wash.

For the rest I'm not too fuzzy.. I just sort of have a quick dig through the pile to see what can go in with each other and that's that.
If I start out with a pair of jeans, I'll toss in all the other denim as well. If I still have space I'll kick in a couple of towels. They go with anything.

Hope it helps.

Becca

newlywed

For stuff that is striped or multi coloured - squint - if it looks the same tone as the rest of your washing pile chuck it in - if not leave it for another time or wash by hand!

I tend to do darks - black, chocolate brown, navy, dark green etc and chuck jeans in with that

colours - mid blue's, greens, turquoises, purples etc (but leaving out reds and pinks as I rarely have those and so wash separately) - I wash these on a "non-fast coloured" wash setting just in case.

Whites (and I mean 95% white items - OH would include anything with a bit of white - but that tends to dull down your whites if it runs). Creams and pale beige sometimes get chucked in too - if I know they are safe and been washed plenty of times before.

Bedding, towels and anything new and really bright coloured gets done completley separately.

chmmy

It's interesting to see how everyone groups their washing lol. OP there's no right or wrong, just whatever works for you and it sounds like you are doing it right anyway.
I have 4 kids so quite a lot of washing so usually do a 'reds/pinks' wash, a 'green/brown' wash as well as a 'darks' wash. I never know what to do with teatowels or bathmats myself:o

Gigervamp

I do pretty much the same as the other posters.

Regarding the special washing powder for coloureds, Asda, Tesco and Ariel do liquid capsules for coloured washes. It does seem to work quite well. Hubby used to wear dark green polo shirts for work, and the other guys in the office who all got theirs at the same time asked him why his shirts weren't as faded as theirs were.

pigpen

Well I must be excessive... I have

black wash
grey wash (school uniforms mainly)
blues
greens
reds
pale things.. pink/lilac
pale things.. lemon/cream
'not quite whites' .. tea towels/cloths etc
White whites.. shirts, socks etc

MMLS

What a lovely question and you shouldn't be the least embarrassed to ask it. We all have to learn from someone at sometime and this seems an ideal place to do so.

I live in a hot country and when I hang out my washing I always turn it inside out which seems to help stop clothes fading. Okay, not something you need to know for the UK maybe but as a consequence I've found that there's much less creasing when they're dry and turned back the right way.

ZCC72

Don't be embarrassed - we all have to learn. That's why I love OS - it's like having a grandma in your pocket!!

I have 2 modes of laundry - white or dark. Dark is anything that isn't white or light enough to be an honorary member of the Whites Wash! I don't use any special potions, as I tend not to get anything really mucky (perks of having no kids!!) and wash most things on 30 deg, unless I fancy giving cotton bedding a treat with a hot wash!!

I tend to turn my "darks" inside out before washing. I find that this helps stop fading. Also, I put delicates into one of those washing tablet bags - (stops threads being pulled on buttons, zips, etc).

My washing is no fuss, minimum effort - the machine is lucky if it gets used twice a week, and that is fine by me!! The iron is getting more exercise than it used to though .......
*shakes fist at Valli, the evil purveyor of all things peg-like*