Imagine a situation that you wanted to buy a pair of jeans/ hoodie and you get it, but after a few washes it starts fading. Or in another situation, you take out your favourite pair of jeans, just before going out and you realise that it is faded at certain places and your mood just goes off just before going out. This happens especially with black clothes, especially black jeans/ trousers. So the question arises is it possible to undo the faded patches? All dark colours, especially black, are very versatile for any wardrobe but in many fabric types, black clothing can start to look a little tired after repeated washes. Here is how to make the black look a little more like new again:
- Separate the black lingerie, tops, dresses, shirts from the rest of your wash.
- Place these in the washing machine.
- Wash as normal. To the rinse cycle, however, add a cup of coffee or tea. This will help to restore the black colour and overcome any brownish tinges.
Fading of clothing is a function of oxidation by light and laundry bleaches (oxygen bleach, i.e.: oxyclean or chlorine bleach, i.e.: chlorox) and dye loss due to washing (the coloured stuff that runs off in water and sometimes stains your whites). Once the cloth has lost the dye and is no longer saturated with it. However, as visible, undoing of fading is neither easy nor permanent. Also, the same or similar processes can’t be applied to the clothes of other colour. Thus, as the saying goes, “PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE”, there are a series of steps that can be undertaken in order to prevent or avoid fading of your clothes, like:
- Read the instructions: Always read the labels of your clothing to make sure that the items are machine washable. Delicate items should not be given this treatment but you might try a smaller quantity during a hand wash.
- Turn your clothes inside out before washing to help reduce wearing a bit as long as you don’t have any real dirt on them.
- Avoid bleaching your clothes. Although household bleach is a powerful whitener, it is bad for the environment and weakens fabric.
- Take a bucket or a sink with cold water and about 2 cups of vinegar and soak your new black (or dark) colours in it for several hours. Then wash them as usual. This will keep your dark clothes dark for a longer period of time.
- Don’t leave your clothes in soap (detergent) water for long as it will result your cloth to lose colour faster and result in having uneven lighter patches at different places. Although the trick works well with very light coloured clothes, for eg: whites, but it does weaken the fabric of your clothes.
- Avoid drying your dark clothes in direct sunlight as it lightens the dye of your clothes.
- Buy clothes from a good place as there are more chances as they would hold to dyes longer.
- Don’t wash clothes in hard water.
- Use mild detergents for washing dark clothes.
We can’t stop fading completely, but we can hold it for long. Dry-cleaning holds them the longest.