I mistakenly washed some mostly white towels with something red, now I have several pink towels. How come dye washes out of the original clothing so readily, but will now Not wash back out of my towels?

Question

It seems that the dye was lossely bound to the original clothing, but has bound much more tightly to my towels. There is no sign of the pink fading after several more washes.

Edit to add: I’m not looking for advice on how to get them whiter again, I can cope with pink towels! I am just curious as to why this happens.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

I would guess its a % game, 1% of the red dye coming off in the wash turns your towel pink. 1% coming off your towel leaves it pink in the same way the original garment remains red.

Source: thought about it for a couple of mins so pinch of salt.