i cant do laundry..& my dh is mad about it

[Nikki Christina]

i cant figure out what i am doing to our laundry!!

alot of our shirts (mostly DH's) keep getting what looks like bleached out spots.

1) i separate all cleaning rags out ..they go on a basket on top of the dryer & get washed & dryed separately
2) ditto for towels & wash clothes.. they go in basket in closet
3)I never use bleach on anything
4) i use gain laundry detergent..but i switched to see if it was the problem & its not

its mostly been dh's shirts..but he wears darker shirts then the rest of us do..so although the rest of our shirts have gotten these spots..our shirts are usually lighter colored & dont show these areas

what is going on??


he came home mad today cause he threw a shirt on & got to work & it had a big area at the shoulder
so after work..he went & bought 3 new shirts..that we really didnt need to be spending the money on
then he came home..went thru his closet & pulled out a bunch of shirts..spread them out on the floor & asked me wth I was doing ruining all his shirts.
I dunno what to tell him
except do your own laundry!

[Clarinet]

Does it come off after washing? How much detergent do you use? Front loader or top loader?

My best guess - you are using too much detergent.

ETA: Powder or liquid? I had the occasional problem with powder.

[ibbit]

Are you using bleach on any loads? If not, that's really really odd. I'd be contacting Gain. When I run a whites load that I bleach, I then wash towels next and then lights and then darks, to make sure the bleach is all out of the washer (I know way paranoid, but I would rather be safe than sorry).

[a_work_in_progress]

When you start the wash, turn it on, let the water start to fill up, put the detergent in THEN load the clothes in.

[Nikki Christina]

Originally Posted by Clarinet

Does it come off after washing? How much detergent do you use? Front loader or top loader?

My best guess - you are using too much detergent.

ETA: Powder or liquid? I had the occasional problem with powder.

nope..dosent come off..its the actual fabric thats faded

i use 1/2 a cup of liquid on large loads..1/2 whats recommended
top loader

[Nikki Christina]

Originally Posted by a_work_in_progress

When you start the wash, turn it on, let the water start to fill up, put the detergent in THEN load the clothes in.

ill have to start trying that

[Wabi Sabi]

If I had to take a wild guess, it sounds like you're probably using a top-loading washer and powdered detergent. If that's the case, the detergent might not be getting dissolved before you add the clothes. Make sure you add the soap to the washer as it is filling with water- but don't add the clothes until the washer is partially filled and the soap seems more or less dissolved.

I'd also suggest using only 1/2 the normal amount of soap.

[Clarinet]

Hmmmmm. I was thinking what Wabi Sabi said. Powdered detergent, top loader but you say liquid. I have no clue about that, then.

[a_work_in_progress]

I feel so proud of myself for knowing what it is. But also embarassed to admit it took YEARS for me to figure that one out b/c I had the same problem.

[Steady101]

missed quote.

[Viola]

Originally Posted by Nikki Christina

I dunno what to tell him
except do your own laundry!

That's what I'd tell him. Because then he could get mad at himself instead of you when it happened to him.

I just got some little bleach spots like that on vacation. Not sure how, but i was using a front loader and not waiting for the water to fill up before I added the detergent, so I think that is what did it. I poured the detergent onto the towels so as not to have it sit directly on my clothes, but I still got a few spots on one particularly brightly colored shirt.

[Steady101]

Originally Posted by a_work_in_progress

When you start the wash, turn it on, let the water start to fill up, put the detergent in THEN load the clothes in.

You can't do that on a front loader though.

[a_work_in_progress]

Originally Posted by Steady101

You can't do that on a front loader though.

I'm not familiar with front loaders except at the laundrymat. Do they all have the opening on top to put the detergent in? If so, maybe put the clothes in, start it, and after the clothes have already gotten wet, add the detergent to the top.

[perl]

Originally Posted by a_work_in_progress

I feel so proud of myself for knowing what it is. But also embarassed to admit it took YEARS for me to figure that one out b/c I had the same problem.

:

[momto l&a]

Fabric softener?

[ibbit]

And if I had read your post better I would have seen you don't use bleach. I blame pregnancy brain.

[A&A]

Originally Posted by Steady101

You can't do that on a front loader though.

Depends on your front loader. I can with mine.

[Nikki Christina]

i do put our clothes in.. then water & detergent at the same time.. so detergent gets dumped right on clothes

i feel pretty dumb if thats been my problem all along.. i didnt think about regular detergent having bleach , or optical brightners in it..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_brightener
Im gonna start buying ones on the no optical brightner list
i know I see bold ,all & cheer where i shop
all the ones i bought trying to figure out if gain was my problem..are also on the optical brightener list

[Irishmommy]

Take out the centre post and clean it and all under it. You should be able to pry off the very top of it and unbolt it from there.

[beanma]

anybody use any acne stuff? benzoyl peroxide can bleach stuff. does it only happen to dh's shirts? maybe it's him and not you?