Laundromat changed my whites to pink!

[Kim Young]

I've been taking my clothes to a laundromat for the past few years and have been relatively happy with it.
They charge by the pound and do a decent job. I don't have many options to get my clothes cleaned on a regular basis. I use them to get my bras and panties, sweaters and jeans cleaned. The rest of my wardrobe I get dry cleaned.

Anyway, on my last visit I gave them a cotton red dress to wash along with my regular laundry. So you can guess what happened to my whites. And I had pretty much all my white panties in that load. Oh well, now I have a bunch of soft pink bras and panties. On the plus side, the colour doesn't look too bad and I didn't have any pinks. And now I have an excuse to go shopping.

I've attached a picture on a white background so you can see that they're no longer white.


Kim

[--Nina--]

You have to admit there a nice colour pink.

[Kiwi Primrose]

They look good to me, the colour looks very even. I love the style too, you have good taste.

[Teresa]

Kim,
I don't find too much of a bind to handwash my underwear, I use a liquid gentle wash product and always start with my whites . It is surprising how much colour comes out of supposedly colour fixed clothes . I've also found that many items that say dry clean only will wash in cool water with the same washing agent . Many manufactuers suggest dryclean other wise some people will choose the wrong wash cycle on machines and possibly ruin the clothes . The ones you do have to careful with are lined items, sometimes the skirt or dress may shrink slightly and the lining doesn't so it hangs below the hem afterwards but it's s simple job to turn the hem up by a few inches .

I admit it's a great excuse to go and buy some lovely white underwear, maybe buy some wash in dye and give the affected ones a very sexy colour !

[Elizabeth G]

At least they came out a nice shade and evenly colored!

[Stacy Darling]

What's Red, White & Pink all over?

Does sound like a good reason to go shopping though! Cos with the next wash their colour may turn to Grey!

I'm extremely fussy and so wash everything myself and only dry on my Hills hoist or clothes rack in the shade!

Stacy!

[Tracy Irving]

I don't think I even own a pair of white panties to discolor.

[kimdl93]

Turned out rather well, I think.

[darla_g]

That happened to me when i first went away to college. I washed a red t-shirt along with my tidy whities. Not knowing i washed everything in hot water assuming it would clean better. Everything white turned pink! My GF got a chuckle first time she saw it.

[DIANEF]

Yep, it happens. I did a wash a few months ago, lots of light stuff, and somehow a dark pair of socks got in the mix. The results were just like yours Kim.

[Stephanie47]

I'd say the laundromat was inept. My wife and I never wash solid reds with whites, especially if the garment has never been washed before. I'd recommend using a "Color Catcher" which absorbs the loose colors in the wash water as the washing machine is running. Our whites never get mixed with colors. While on the subject, if you want to change the color of your undies (bras, panty, slip) to a color that is not available you can try experimenting with RIT dyes. Their website even has directions on mixing various dyes to get color dyes not made. It takes a little patience but you can get some really nice colors.

[Beverley Sims]

I have a couple of pairs of nice bras, a similar colour.

They were a nice pink and white but after mistakenly washing with a pair of jeans they finished up a similar colour to your clothes.

Stacy!
A hills hoist costs $600 these days. :-)

[Robertacd]

Same thing happened to me but I did it to myself trying to be nice and toss my wife's new red cami in with my delicates.

[jacques]

I will have to remember that excuse next time someone sees my pink panties!

[IleneD]

Kim,

While it's another one of those little adventures of everyday life, I do not find this amusing in the least; at least on your behalf.
The launderers are professionals they see color intense clothing and mixed lots of clothing all the time. They should have known better, especially as you are paying a price for their professional service.

I don't even find them PINK, except in a most remote hint. They look mostly a muddy greyed out BLAH. I'd be bored to death to have to wear them.
Insist that your cleaners purchase you a new set of lingerie. At least make a claim.
You can laugh about it now as though it were just another foible. But the root cause was THEM not properly caring for your fine belongings. I feel for you, Kim.

[MarinaTwelve200]

HMMMM. Why do they always change to PINK when we make Laundry errors----And not Blue or green?

[Teresa]

Marina,
Interesting question ! Perhaps a little pink fog manged to creep into the wash . It's strange the ways we can be outed !!

[Kim Young]

While it's another one of those little adventures of everyday life, I do not find this amusing in the least; at least on your behalf. The launderers are professionals they see color intense clothing and mixed lots of clothing all the time. They should have known better, especially as you are paying a price for their professional service.

Hi Ilene,

Thanks for your concern on my behalf but it is a laundromat, not a dry cleaners and their clientele are probably more likely students than middle-aged professionals. They charge by the pound (not too much btw) and I think they just put whatever I bring in the bag all together into the wash.
I suspected it before, but now that my whites are pink, I have a pretty good idea that they just wash everything that I bring together.

I'm short on options for getting my femme clothes laundered so I'm not upset. I guess I just need to be smarter about what goes in the bag. I might try to find time to clean the whites myself in the future after my shopping spree.

Kim

[Teresa]

Kim,
Have you ever wondered why so many students at university have the same coloured clothes ? because they all use one wash launderettes !! I was only joking but now I come to think of it maybe a grain of truth in it ! The other explanation is most of them wear the same clothes for a whole term and then dump them all on good old mum back home ! That brings back memories of my kids , the one question sometimes asked was how come my son especially didn't bring all his own clothes back for washing some belonged to other people , no I don't mean he's a CDer but more to do with wild parties and the day after syndrome !!

[Sissy_in_pink]

If I ever have to wash clothes together that I think the colour may bleed into other clothes I use a product called Colour Catcher, you just chuck one sheet into the wash and if the colour does bleed the colour catcher catches it and turns the same colour as the garment that bled, they work a treat.
There is another product called Colour Run Remover, that removes any unwanted colour from washing accidents, but I have found it is only good on garments that were originally white as it will remove or fade any other colour.

[aly01]

The color came out nicely.