How to wash faded items at home and restore their original appearance: TOP 11 methods

How to find out if something might fade

Pay attention to one detail when buying a new item: it comes with a piece of cloth. Before washing, do a simple test on it.

If there is no such piece, test the hem from the wrong side.

Dye fastness test

How can you tell if the fabric is fading? Place the product in a bowl of warm water and soak. If after half an hour the water turns coloured, this will happen with every wash.

Moisten a cotton pad generously and rub the hem from the wrong side - if there is paint left on the cotton wool, the item will definitely fade.

What to do if the paint is unstable

If the item is dyed, wash it by hand and separately from others. Be sure to follow the instructions on the tag.

To fix the color, try pre-soaking in this solution.:

In a bowl of water - 0.5 cups of salt and 0.5 cups of soda.
Soak the item for 1 hour, rinse and wash as usual.

Advice: After washing, to fix the dye on the fabric, rinse the item with vinegar: 0.5 cups per basin. Just dry the fabrics in the fresh air so that the sour smell of vinegar disappears.

We use special equipment

If the problem is not noticed immediately, traditional methods of solution may be powerless. In such cases, one can only hope for the achievements of the modern chemical industry.

"Antilinin." According to the inscription on the packaging, the product will help if clothes are accidentally stained, and it can be used for colored materials.
Bleaching agent for natural and synthetic fabrics. The oxygen-containing product is quite effective mainly for light-colored materials.
Stain removers for colored materials. They usually have the corresponding “Color” designation. Among the most preferred ones, you can pay attention to Paracle, Oxi or Clean. Preparations labeled “White” will help save white clothes.

Brighteners and stain removers

The market offers many effective whiteners. These are “Whiteness” type products with active chlorine, as well as gentle oxygen stain removers. Some of them work in hot water, for example “Persol”, others also work at low temperatures, which means they are suitable for delicate care.

White

Soak white laundry in a bleach solution for 1-3 hours. For dense and natural cotton and linen, “Whiteness” is suitable.

Popular bleaches are produced by Eared Nanny, etc. Dilute them according to the instructions and soak things for 2-3 hours.

Colored

Special stain removers are suitable for colored fabrics. Look for bottles marked “for color” or “colour”.

The products are suitable for soaking and machine washing, and can be combined with powders.

Removing yellow stains from sweat

It is almost impossible to completely remove yellow stubborn sweat stains from white clothes. Such traces of organic matter are eaten into the fibers. Of course, if you treat the material with aggressive household chemicals, you can get rid of yellowness on clothes quite effectively, but in this case, most likely, your favorite item will also be damaged.

The only effective way to prevent permanent yellow stains from appearing on clothes is to wash them after each use. You should also, if possible, try to dry your laundry in direct sunlight, but this is not true for all fabrics.

Review of the best products

Based on the properties of the fabrics and their color, choose the appropriate home method and act immediately.

Stain remover + bleach + washing powder

Throw the still wet clothes with traces of paint back into the machine, this time excluding the faded items. Pour bleach or stain remover into the compartment, the product is selected according to the type of fabric. Start a new wash cycle.

Hydrogen peroxide

Washed and dyed laundry will be saved by hydrogen peroxide 3%. The product is suitable for all types of fabrics, including wool and silk products, swimwear, etc.

Soap the stains with laundry soap or Atipyatin, add 50 ml of peroxide to 4 liters of warm water. Place the item in the basin and wait 3-4 hours. Make sure that the fabric is completely immersed in the solution, otherwise streaks will appear.

Hydrogen peroxide + baking soda

Hydrogen peroxide acts as an oxygen bleach without damaging fabric fibers. In combination with soda, its effect is more noticeable. How to bleach white:

Prepare a thick paste of baking soda and water and apply it to the stains.
After half an hour, move the item into the peroxide solution and leave for several hours.

Boric acid

Effective bleach for delicate fabrics and underwear.

Works when things are soaked:

Place a bottle of boric acid on a basin of water.
Immerse things in the solution for a couple of hours.

The method is also effective for sun-bleached white clothes.

Citric acid + soap + starch + salt

Complex of stain removers:

Mix potato starch, citric acid and salt in equal proportions.
Add soap shavings (it’s better to use laundry soap).
Make a warm solution and treat faded stains with it or soak the product completely.
You can leave it overnight.

Ammonia

Ammonia will help correct washing errors. Works on white and color:

For 10 liters of water - 25 ml of ammonia.
Soak the item for at least half an hour.
If the fabric is strong, use hot water.
Wash as usual.

Baking soda

How to remove a stain with soda, two ways:

Soak your clothes in a soda solution.
Add some powder to the washing machine compartment and run the cycle.

Tip: Soda ash has the best whitening properties.

Vinegar

We use vinegar against traces of faded clothing:

For 1 liter of water - 1 tbsp. l. vinegar 6-9%.
Soak for 1 hour.

Whitening with aspirin

The pharmaceutical drug aspirin combats yellowness, grayness and traces of faded clothing. How to wash:

Choose only pure aspirin, without vitamin supplements. An additional plus is that this drug is cheaper.
Add a couple of crushed tablets to the powder.
Wash the item by selecting the appropriate cycle.

Do not overuse the method if you bleach in a machine, as aspirin harms the parts of the device. If the method works for you, alternate between machine washing and soaking.

Washing with potassium permanganate

A rare but working method will restore the original white color:

Prepare a weakly concentrated solution of potassium permanganate. The water should be slightly pink.
Then lather the wet cloth well and immerse it in water.
Leave for 3-4 hours.

Important: Only white can be saved; potassium permanganate is not used on colored ones.

How to remove faded stains from colored clothes

How to wash faded items and still maintain their original color? Special stain removers for colored linen and some folk recipes will help. Oxygen and optical products marked “Color” are designed for colored items. Chlorine-containing bleaches are not used on colored items because the result is an off-white stain on the colored item instead of the expected return to the original color.

Hydrogen peroxide

Dissolve the usual dose of washing powder in a container with warm water, then add 6% hydrogen peroxide. The soaked laundry is left overnight. Then another wash with powder and rinse.

Ammonia

For 10 liters of warm water, take 20 ml of ammonia. Faded clothes are immersed in the solution for an hour. After soaking, wash with powder. This will get rid of any remaining stains and odors. The method is suitable for color and white.

Baking soda

To remove stains, soda is diluted with a few drops of warm water to a thick paste and applied to the stain for 10–15 minutes. Afterwards, rinse thoroughly under running water. With the help of soda, faded stains and stains from juices and berries are washed from clothes.

Vinegar

Vinegar solutions are used to fix color. Immediately after washing, dilute 1 tbsp in cold water. l. vinegar (3 liters) and rinse the product well. If you wash faded colored items and fix the color, then next time they will not lose color.

We recommend reading: What sneakers can be washed, and how to do it correctly?

Salt

Salt is often used to remove excess dye and restore the whiteness of cotton fabrics. Dissolve 1 tbsp in 5 liters of water. l. salt, used for rinsing after washing.

Boiling

This radical method is only suitable for white and completely natural fabrics with a dense structure - cotton and linen.

They boil sheets, towels, sometimes clothes and linen:

Add powder, soap shavings or bleach to cold water. Folk substitutes - hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, soda.
Place the damaged item in the solution and only then heat it.
Keep the bowl or pan over medium heat, stirring the item constantly.
Boiling lasts 30-40, maximum 60 minutes. The water becomes cloudy in the process.

Avoid boiling clothes with elements such as embroidery, mesh, rhinestones, etc.

Tips for washing clothes

During the washing process you need to be very careful, as you can stumble upon problems such as molting of things, changes in size, deterioration in the quality of the material. The most common problem for housewives when doing laundry is faded items.

Many people have wondered how to wash and bleach a faded item?

Women, frightened by this problem, often run to the dry cleaner, hoping that their clothes will be saved there, but there is no guarantee that the item will return to its previous condition. Some people get rid of things right away without much effort.

But if this blouse, skirt or anything is of some value to you, then do not despair, you can solve this problem at home if you follow the following rules.

In order to generally reduce the risk of encountering such a problem, it is better to avoid it. It is easier to prevent than to have to deal with it in a long and tedious way.

You need to follow a few simple recommendations. Before washing an item, pay attention to the tag attached to it. It will indicate the temperature and other washing conditions.

If you are still afraid of things molting, you can leave things in the saline solution for several hours.

If your white linen is faded, you need to soak it in cold water with a large amount of cleaning powder. You can wash a white T-shirt or shirt at home using bleach.

To do this, you need to take a deep container, pour water and add a generous portion of bleach, then soak the faded item for at least six hours. Next, you need to rinse it very well. This way you can get rid of bright streaks and stains.

What to do if the item has faded and cannot be washed

Try redying your clothes if they are very dirty. There are special dyes for fabrics, as well as a number of traditional methods.

The most commonly used soaking is:

in an infusion of onion peels or tea leaves (brown color);
blue solution (blue, the best option for redying jeans);
solution of pharmaceutical green;
ink solution from a pen (to maintain black color);
in berry and fruit juices and decoctions.

If the stain is small, try placing an adhesive patch over it. This move will only transform children's clothing.

As a last resort, go to a dry cleaner, they know how to deal with complex stains.

How to prevent the situation from happening again

Returning fabrics to their original appearance is much more difficult than following simple care rules. Here are simple recommendations that every housewife should know by heart:

Follow the recommendations on the label: do not wash in hot water if the 30 degree icon is set.
Wash black with black, white with white, wool, denim and multi-colored laundry separately. Even different shades of black can affect each other, so a faded item should generally be washed separately.
Do not neglect gels to protect colors - white, black, colored. Buy special anti-staining conditioners.
Try not to buy dresses that are not durable.
Do not mix different types of bleaches and stain removers to avoid trouble. It is better to alternate methods to achieve results.

If the color is not restored the first time, try another method or repeat the steps. In most cases, the situation is corrected by industrial or folk remedies, if you immediately tackle it.

How to wash so things don't fade

Simple rules should be followed.

The first wash is done by hand. This is difficult to do with bulky items such as bed linen or bedspreads. Soaking with powder for two hours before washing in the machine will help. It is better to take water at the same temperature as planned for washing.
Sorting before storing for washing in the washing machine. Do not mix white and color, synthetics and natural fabrics.
Follow the recommendations on clothing labels.
Do not wash jeans along with other colored items during the first washes (until the excess dye is washed out).
If you have any doubts about how to wash something without it fading, wash it by hand.

To prevent your favorite sweater from fading during washing, soak it in salt water, and then rinse thoroughly and wash it in the usual way.

It happens that there is no time to sort the laundry, there is not enough sorted laundry for the bookmark, and a thousand other reasons why everything ends up in the drum. In this case, it is worth minimizing the consequences. With a quick wash (30 minutes) and cold water (300), the chances of clothes fading will be much less than with a full cycle in hot water.