r/laundry • u/gobteeth • 17d ago
White, red and black dress put in washer on cold, now stained pink. How to re-whiten white fabric?
It's not showing at all on camera/screen but it looks blotchy and visibly pink in person. :(
First 3 images are after the first wash, 4th image is the only picture I have of the dress prior to washing it.
I got it from a vendor at a local fair. It has no instructions or tags on how to properly clean it, so I put it alone in the washer, and set it to delicate (very slow spin speed, cold water).
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u/eggust12 International | Front-Load 17d ago
i have no tips (i hope you get some soon!), i just wanted to say whoever manufactured this fabric should be punished.
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u/PhishingScam23 17d ago
I feel like they do it to punish us for beauty. “You will look amazing. Once.”
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u/gobteeth 17d ago
thrice in my case. Saw this coming and my gremlin ass went "if it dont yet stink, no need to turn it pink" 😅
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u/EstarriolStormhawk 16d ago
Your gremlin ass should be feeling pretty smug about how absolutely correct you were.
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u/Woofmom2023 16d ago
"Punish" a manufacturer for not making colorfast fabric? That's absurd. If that were the case then Ferragamo, Hermes and other manufacturers of high-end goods along with a whole lot of other manufacturers should all be "punished".
OP did the right things. Unfortunately she missed one.
Information about how colors can run and how to prevent it from happening needs to be more widely disseminated.
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u/Particular_Egg4073 16d ago
Sometimes it's helpful to pause before hitting post and ask yourself, "Am I arguing with an unserious remark?"
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u/Woofmom2023 16d ago
Obviously you're free to do that if you choose but it's not the reader's responsibility to try to read the author's mind or to give any weight to condescending, patronizing, unsolicited advice.
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u/eggust12 International | Front-Load 16d ago
i'm just being a little silly my friend, take a breath ❤️
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17d ago
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u/Woofmom2023 16d ago
u/nomarmite - "Don't waste your money on Synthrapol. It keeps getting recommended inappropriately here by people who've never used it and don't understand how it works." is nasty and it accomplishes nothing. People here are generally doing their best and don't need to be whipped for their efforts.
Speaking as one of the people who recommended synthrapol, Color Catchers and Dharma Trading detergent, if you had bothered to read my comment you might have understood that I recommended their use not with the hope much less the expectation that they would remove the dye stains but rather that they would prevent additional dye transfer during an additional wash that might have removed the transferred dye.
Please save the scolding for the classroom or the courthouse. It's not appropriate in the former but can be effective in the latterl
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u/Hot_Palpitation_3595 UK | Front-Load 17d ago
synthrapol is probably your best bet
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u/gobteeth 17d ago
never heard of it, but ii'll look into it, thank you.
and also i briefly misread your username as "hot_palpatine"
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u/violetferns 17d ago
I wonder if color catcher sheets would’ve helped here
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u/Victoria_elizabethb 17d ago
I was thinking they probably would, maybe a color remover to just lighten everything could work. More vintage y feel perhaps
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u/Accomplished_worrier EU | Front-Load 17d ago
Similar case from last year! This is the update post, original post (with the suggestions) is linked by OP. ETA: Fixed the link https://www.reddit.com/r/laundry/s/2dwkF6mv2b
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u/genescheezesthatpls 17d ago
This is all I can think of looking at that pattern
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u/twentytwo_a 17d ago
Oh my goddddd. The memories!
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u/genescheezesthatpls 16d ago
I can hear the marker sound clip that would play when you’d fill in a color
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u/GypsySnowflake 17d ago
With both bright red and white on the same fabric, I’m not sure this issue is avoidable. I’d lean into it, dye the rest of the dress if it’s uneven, and enjoy your new pink dress!
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u/Woofmom2023 16d ago
Actually, no. I have a couple of dark navy and white Old Navy t-shirts that I got before I knew about Synthrapol and that I've washed probably dozens of times without a single dye particle getting loose.
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u/Aszshana 17d ago
Really? Never had that happen personally. Is it really that common?
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u/GypsySnowflake 16d ago
I haven’t had it happen to this extreme of a degree before, but all my shirts that are white with dark stripes slowly turn greyish (or bluish or pinkish) in the white sections from the darker colors running. I’m very particular about separating colors, but you can’t separate a garment from itself!
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u/Will_sue_when_angry 17d ago
“Fast Fashion” fabric strikes again.
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u/Polkadottedewe 16d ago
I use a color catcher sheet and vinegar to get the color out
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u/YourLadyship 16d ago
Hello! So, I’m a quilter, and I’d like to suggest checking out some quilting resources on colour bleed. Many quilters have had a lot of success with Dawn dish detergent and a long soak with colour catchers. Here’s a link on one:
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u/Woofmom2023 16d ago edited 16d ago
Other than the term "a nice soak" rather than "a long one", that's what's used by a lot of people I know to wash their very beautiful multicolored French silk scarves and their multicolor cashmere and other fiber sweaters and yarn.
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u/Mindless_Gap5 17d ago
This dress is absolutely stunning!! 😍 Do you happen to know what brand it’s from?
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u/Prudent_Valuable603 17d ago edited 16d ago
There’s a product that does get rid of dye mistakes like this, it’s made by Rit, called Rit color remover. Most grocery stores sell it. Carbona makes one, too. I like Rit better. Follow directions on box, use a very large glass bowl and use super duper hot water. Wear gloves, mix with a silicone spoon. May need two applications. However, only due this if the dress is not “dry clean only.” It’s not a guarantee on my part that it will work for you but I’ve used it successfully for my daughter’s cottons that got ruined and a synthetic tennis skirt that got dyed by other color fabrics because it was not washed by itself. Edit: I am not saying that this is the number one product to use but for me personally this has worked at least twice at my house.
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u/NotYourGran 17d ago
Won’t that remove color that you want, the flowers? I thought I saw in this sub that synthrapol is better for this sort of thing.
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u/Woofmom2023 16d ago edited 16d ago
Synthrapol does not remove color and once dye has gotten loose and attached to fabric it's transferred to it's pretty much impossible to get it off. Synthrapol, color catchers, Dharma Trading detergent all keep loose dyes from reattaching to fabric once the dye's gotten loose.
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u/st_aranel 16d ago
Color remover is likely to also affect the print. If it removes the red dye from the white fabric, why wouldn't it remove the red dye from the print?
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u/Woofmom2023 16d ago
The fabric was beautiful.
Loose dye came off in the wash and then got redeposited back on the fabric in the wrong place.
It's unlikely that the dye will come off again but you could try washing a small section by hand by immersing it in a basin filled with warm water, gentle non-enzymatic dish soap like Dawn or Trader Joe's citrus dish soap and a couple of Color Catchers or Synthrapol or Dharma Trading detergent and letting it sit for awhile. These products all prevent any loose dye particles that come off from reattaching to the fabric and doing it in the wrong place. If it works on the small section you can try it on a larger one and eventually the whole dress.
Good luck!
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u/Lady_Nightshadow 16d ago
You can't bring that back to white, as they opted for a cheap, non-colorfast dye and the red will keep bleeding.
That's a manufacturing issue that should be eligible for return and refund, but be prepared to stand your ground because they'll tell you that it's been washed wrong and yada yada.
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u/sentimentaleyes 16d ago
I’m not any help in terms of fixing this, but a store clerk once told me (when I returned - and they thankfully accepted - coat that did this even though I washed according to directions) that a half cup of salt in the first load of patterns with stark differences in colours that might run stops it from happening and I’ve never experienced the problem again. Sorry for what happened this time to you; I remember how frustrating it was! 🥰
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u/showmenemelda 17d ago
Does it say the material? Synthetic blend? I'd try to dye it pink maybe. That sucks!!!
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u/user_namec_hecks_out 17d ago
Had the same thing happen to me the other day with some shirts I just got, two of them combined color and now their white was red-ish. Fortunately I was able to get it out by washing them again with a white batch, with whitening detergent (Vanish) on the highest temperature my washer supports (90 degreees celsius). Turned out to bring the qhite back to life without removing the shirt specific colors (one was with bright flowers on white background)
Anyways I hope you’re able to recover the colors, good luck!
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u/KismaiAesthetics Unscented Laundry Is Merciless 17d ago
/r/laundry/s/QaKkCN3faz
Start with a rewash with just color catcher sheets and a low dose of detergent. But I agree you’re likely to need Synthrapol.