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How to keep red clothes from turning pink
February presents us with lots of reasons to wear red. February 6th is National Wear Red Day. Sponsored by the American Heart Association, it's a day when everyone is encouraged to wear red as a simple, powerful way to raise awareness of heart disease and stroke in women. Then there's Valentine's Day on February 14th, and President's Day on February 18th, where patriotic red, white and blue prevail.
Laundering red garments, particularly new ones, can present some challenges. That’s because, in order to produce a bright, rich color, red fabrics are often overdyed. When laundered, the color may fade or the red dye may transfer to other items. To prevent this from happening, Nancy Bock, Vice President of Education at The Soap and Detergent Association, has some hints.
General Laundering:
- Launder red items in cold water, either by themselves or with other bright colors.
- For color-blocked garments, such as a red shirt with a white collar, or multicolored items, such as a print on a red ground, add a dye-trapping cloth to the wash. It's designed to absorb and trap loose dyes during laundering, locking them away so they can't redeposit onto other clothes.
If the dye bleeds:
- Pretreat the area and relaunder the garment in the warmest water that's safe for the fabric.
- Don't dry the garment until the bleeding is removed, as drying in a hot dryer may set the stain.
- Once the bleeding is removed, dry promptly. Dye transfer can also occur when damp items stay in contact with each other for a period of time.
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