Unbleach????

[hqueen13]

Well, I know that isn't possible, but I couldn't think of anything else to say....

My bath towels keep getting bleached and I don't know why! Help!!!
For years, we've been getting spots on our towels. Pretty much only the bathroom towels, and we can't figure out what the heck is causing it. Back when it started, we were using chemicals and bleach to clean with, and so I stopped using them. But my towels are still getting bleachy-faded spots on them.
The only things I can think of that MIGHT have SOME bleach power is the saline solution we use for our contacts (it is a peroxide based solution), the toothpaste (whitening anyone?!), or the baking soda that we use in the laundry and I use on my hair (first thing, then it is rinsed).
We no longer use the harsh chemicals, I do most of the cleaning with Vinegar and baking soda and peroxide, though I know he stills grabs the old bottles of other crap (none of it is bleach based though, usually it is Krudkutter/409 or windex) now and then (I'm going to have to get them out of the house to stop that...). Beyond that I have NO idea what could be causing these issues!

Anybody got any ideas?!

 

[CheerioLounge]

I've read that acne cream and similar face cleansers can leave bleached spots. I know you do the homemade stuff, so that's probably not an issue, but that's all I could come up with.

 

[Denim Deb]

Don't people use hydrogen peroxide to dye their hair at times?

 

[Marianne]

Or it could be the dye lifting out of the towels.

I bought some pretty, dark blue towels. Each time I washed them, there were some funny, little spots that looked like bleach had been spilled on them. I was pretty hacked off and let everyone hear about it. More washings, occasionally more spots, more yelling.

A year later, a friend of ours moved in for a brief period. He had the same towels with the same bleached looking spots! We finally decided it wasn't from anything that we were doing.

 

[hqueen13]

Interesting, Marianne. If that is the case, then ALL of my towels have had that happen. I have a set of lenox towels (admittedly that I did get from Tuesday Morning (a sort of seconds goods store)), a set of nice towels from BB&B that are "hotel quality", a set of Landsend towels (the latest set to appear with a spot), and a set of Nautica towels.
Is the dye THAT bad????

I use homemade detergent, Baking soda (stopped using that in the towel loads incase that was the issue..), and white vinegar in the laundry. The baking soda is the only thing that I can think of that might have done it..?

 

[hqueen13]

Interesting, Marianne. If that is the case, then ALL of my towels have had that happen. I have a set of lenox towels (admittedly that I did get from Tuesday Morning (a sort of factory seconds store)), a set of nice towels from BB&B that are "hotel quality", a set of Landsend towels (the latest set to appear with a spot), and a set of Nautica towels.
Is the dye THAT bad????

I use homemade detergent, Baking soda (stopped using that in the towel loads incase that was the issue..), and white vinegar in the laundry. The baking soda is the only thing that I can think of that might have done it..? We also have fairly hard water here, though I don't think that we have much chlorine in our water. My mom noticed when she went home that there were suds in her washer after she washed her things. So in order to get things clean we have to use more soap. Maybe that is the issue?!

 

[Bettacreek]

Peroxide will "bleach" or lighten dyes...

 

[FarmerChick]

Or it could be the dye lifting out of the towels.

I bought some pretty, dark blue towels. Each time I washed them, there were some funny, little spots that looked like bleach had been spilled on them. I was pretty hacked off and let everyone hear about it. More washings, occasionally more spots, more yelling.

A year later, a friend of ours moved in for a brief period. He had the same towels with the same bleached looking spots! We finally decided it wasn't from anything that we were doing.

Interesting. never had a towel do 'spots' but I didn't know that huh

 

[Marianne]

That's weird that all those towels from different stores/suppliers, etc, would be spotty. The ones I had were from Penney's (the guy got his there, too). They were the only towels I've ever had that did it. They were a real dark blue.

The vinegar and baking soda wouldn't make them look bleached in spots. Are you putting the homemade detergent on top of the towels in the washer? I put my laundry soap in first, then load the clothes. I think the soap would have to sit on the towels for some time to have any bleaching, but I'm just guessing here. Like Bettacreek said, is there any peroxide in your recipe? Weird.

 

[hqueen13]

Ok, don't know why that posted twice, sorry about that. I guess the site hiccuped.

I put my detergent in first and let the water fill to help disolve the soap better, and add the clothes as the washer fills. I agree that it would be pretty crazy for the soap to bleach that much.

We do use a peroxide based saline solution for our contacts, so I guess we'll just have to make sure we're UBER careful with it from here on out.