Lately after I wash my daughter's colored clothes or even my colored/dark clothes there are spots on them. They look like either water spots or oil spots. I have to admit, I have a habit of doing small loads of laundry because I am constantly separating colors that I don't think should be washed together. I use All Free & Clear on my daughter's clothes and it is concentrated. Most of the time because the loads are small, I don't even fill the laundry detergent to the first line in the cup. So how could I be using too much soap? It is driving me crazy with these spots because they are ruining my clothes and my daughter's clothes. I know you're supposed to separate clothes at least by whites, colors and darks but I tend to over think it when it comes to brights and light colors and I never know if yellow should be mixed in with purple, pink, orange or green. Any advice? Thanks!
Thanks for the advice. I feel kind of silly asking this question because I know how to do laundry just not very effectively I guess. Yes I only use liquid detergent and the kind I have is concentrated so maybe it is too sudsy and the fact that I do short loads doesn't help! I just cleaned out the fabric softener dispenser which I never use anyway. Boy it was yucky! I will try other things!
My magic cleaner for oily spots I get in the Rit color dye display. They have a Super Stain Remover that is fantasic.
It works after you've dried them or if they're fresh. My bottle lasts for several years because I only spot treat. When I see the stain, I just put the stuff on that area and toss it in the laundry bin. When it goes through the wash, it's gone.
If you can't find it at the store, amazon sells it.
There might be some build up in the washer. Put about 1/2 gallon vinegar and wash with hot as if you had a full load... that should take the gook out.
Try fuller loads too. Whites and all other colors washed in cold and make sure you have really emptied the pockets. Also run the washer with nothing in it but vinagar on the hottest setting to clean it out. Good Luck!
I get the spots sometimes, too - they are not permanent and I find them much more in my cold wash loads than my warm or hot loads. If I see one, I just squirt a little pre-treat on it and re-wash in warm and they disappear. I make my own laundry soap now, but have had the spots no matter which laundry detergent I use.
As far as separating, I do a dark (black/dk blue/red) cold load, a warm load with socks, jeans and towels, a mixed load with multi colors on cold, and a cold white load. When in doubt on a color, I always wash it with some jeans or colored towels the first few times. After that, I throw it in the mixed cold load. Yellow is a tough one :) If it's light, it goes in the cold white, if it is dark yellow, I put it in the mixed cold. If I can't decide, I wash it with my yellow towels the first time in case it bleeds.
Good luck!
Sounds like you are doing a good job of separating the clothes by color but are worried about the soap leaving spots. This does happen sometimes, especially if you use a powder. I fix that by filling the washer half way with water and adding the soap to it before adding the clothes.
Do you use liquid fabric softner. It may be that. Maybe since your loads are small you are using to much. Try using less or washing bigger loads. I wouldn't worry too much about the color mixing. As long as they are all darks and you use cold water, you should be fine.
I get them too. At first I thought it was the soap, but I have switch and tried different amounts. It isn't the washer because it happens with our new one too. I thought it was the dryer sheets, but I get it without as well! I just squirt some shout on it and it goes back in the wash. Really frustrating though, I wish I knew what it was.
I don't know what these are. I am not as finicky as you are about colors and I don't have these problems. I use my non-toxic cleaners, but I am wondering more if there is something on the inside of your washer. Be sure to check to see if anything got stuck or rubbed off in there.
Hi A.
Most large chain stores sell a product by Shout called "color catchers" . You throw it in the wash with your laundry and if you have anything that runs it will "catch" the dye instead of transferring on other items. I throw one in with just about every load I do. If it comes out white you can use it in another load!!!!!
I too have encountered the same spots on my husband white T shirts and my thought was that i had washed the socks with the loads.
I seperate my colors by the richness (deapness) of the color. Light pink and light green, light yellow...etc...can all go together. I only seperate into 3 catagories, REALLY DARK (Black and red mostly), colors (anywhere between kind of dark and pretty light), and whites with some grays and really light colors if I don't have enough for a full load.
I would encourage you to only wash full loads. Its much better for the environment and it takes a lot less time. I have been doing some research on the subject lately. The "experts" say that you can wash everything together as long as you use cold water. I don't entirely agree with that when it comes to new clothes that bleed color. But I am a little more laxed on what goes in together. Also, they say that we use WAY TOO MUCH soap. I cut my soap usage down to a quarter of what it used to be and my clothes come out great.
As for the spots, I get those on my clothes sometimes too, I assumed it was from the fabric softner. I cleaned out my fabric softner dispenser in the washing machine and switched brands and I haven't noticed them anymore. If you don't use fabric softner, it could be the soap, but only if you pour the soap directly onto the clothes, I would think...
I hope this helps???
I wash everything together on warm. Except when the items are new and I need to bleach some things. And I NEVER wash a small load.
Have you had your water checked? You could have hard water or something that is causing the spots. Try OxiClean in every load and see what happens.
I had the same issue with my washing machine. It was leaving oil spots on our clothes. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get AFRESH. It is a 3 disk packet that is used to clean the inside of the washing machine. I don't have any issues since doing this.
