Why do ppl in U.S. sitcoms separate their white and colored laundry? Do Americans in general practice this weird custom?
In: 0
People in sitcoms know how laundry works. So do a lot of Americans. Here’s what you don’t know.
Hot water makes things the most clean. But the temperature can damage some kinds of fabrics, and it can make clothes with dyes bleed their dye. So normally the only things that get washed with hot water are things like sheets, which either aren’t dyed or are all the same color so if the dye bleeds it won’t matter.
Warm water can still make colors bleed, but more importantly it can also still damage some fabrics. The kinds of clothes that are “whites” are *normally* also fabrics that can be washed in warm water. Not always. But a lot of them.
Some fabrics simply can’t tolerate warm water, and certain dyes are going to bleed in anything but cold water. Because of that, most clothes that are colored get washed together in cold water. The *fabric* may tolerate warm water, but the dye can’t, so in it goes.
Each piece of clothes you buy should have a tag with care information on it. It’ll tell you something like, ‘machine wash warm with like colors’. That means it’s a fabric that can tolerate warm water, but you need to be mindful the dye might bleed a little.
If you always use cold water it matters a lot less. Some stuff can still bleed colors in cold water, but it’s a lot less likely. So maybe wherever you are people simply don’t wash in warm or hot water. Or maybe your clothing is almost all fabrics that use one temperature. Or maybe the dyes in the kinds of clothing you buy don’t bleed.
But it’s not a “weird practice”. If you wash a new red shirt with white clothes in hot water it’s very common you’ll have pink clothes when you’re finished.
Latest Answers