Gray Dingies in Your Laundry

Problems may range from temperature to detergent.

Sometimes the gray dingies are caused by washing white and colored items together. Gradually, colored dyes may transfer to the white items. Cure, by sorting the items you wish to keep white. If you don't have the time or desire to do this, avoid buying white items.

If your white laundry has a bad case of the "gray dingies," it might be caused by a number of things.

Gray dingies can be caused by not using enough detergent.

Usually it's safe to follow the directions on the detergent container. But, detergent manufacturers' directions are for washing a "normal" load of clothes with "average" soil in 16 gallons of water with "average" hardness. In hard water, or if the laundry is extremely dirty, you may have to add extra detergent. You put in less detergent if your water is soft, if clothes are just lightly soiled, or if the load is small. But, more laundry problems are caused by too little detergent than by too much.

Another cause of the gray dingies is overloading the washing machine. You've probably had the urge to pack clothes into the washer basket. When you do this, the clothes cannot move freely, resulting in poor washing and unremovable soil. To estimate the right-sized load, place dry, unfolded clothes in the washer loosely until it is about three-quarters full.

If you're planning to use the low-water level, load clothes until the washer basket is less than a third full.

Non-phosphate detergents, particularly the granular type, can cause the gray dingies. If you`re using a non-phosphate detergent, use the hottest water possible and dissolve the detergent in the water before adding the clothes. If you have hard water, you might want to add about a third to a half cup of packaged water softener along with the detergent.

Not using hot enough water is one cause of the gray dingies.

Lowering the thermostat on the hot water heater saves energy but can cause laundry problems. Water heated to 140° to 150° degrees removes soil best.

If the gray dingies have struck your laundry, here's what you can do.

• Check labels to be sure fabrics can be washed and bleached.
• Fill the washer with water as hot as possible. You may even want to add some boiling water to the washer as it is filling if the water temperature is not very hot. Add twice as much detergent as you would normally use.
• Place grayed clothes in washer and agitate for about four minutes on the regular cycle.
• Stop the washer to add one cup of chlorine bleach diluted in one quart of water. If your washer has a bleach dispenser, add the bleach to the dispenser. If you don't have a dispenser on your washer, add the bleach and water solution slowly, so the bleach can mix with washer water before touching clothes.
• Be careful using bleach. It helps laundry by disinfecting, removing soil and whitening fabrics, but it can also remove color, rip, tear or burn holes in clothes

Never pour bleach directly on garments. Always dilute it with at least four parts of water and mix well before adding to clothes.

Agitate clothes in the bleach solution for four minutes. Stop the washer and let the clothes soak for about 15 minutes. Reset the washer so it has about 10 minutes of wash time, then restart the machine and let it complete the cycle.

If your clothes still are grayish, repeat the process until they are white. On bright, sunny days, hang white clothes out and let nature's bleach the sun continue the whitening process.

For more information on gray dingies in your laundry contact your local County Extension Office.