Black and white color-matched clothes are deeply loved by consumers for their classic and versatile style. However, such clothes easily have problems such as fading and color bleeding during the washing process, which has become a major challenge for laundry shops. To help laundry shop practitioners safely wash black-and-white clothes, this article will share useful skills to help improve washing quality.
Step 1: Do the Cotton Swab Test to Investigate the Risk of Fading
The cotton swab test is an important link before washing the black-and-white fabrics, which is directly related to the safety of the following washing. The operation is simple.
Dip a cotton swab in an appropriate amount of the detergent to be used. → gently wipe the inconspicuous black fabric areas of the clothes → Observe whether there are any signs of fading on the cotton swab and fabric.
If there is no fading phenomenon, it means the stability of the fabrics is good, and the following washing can be done normally. If there is color fading, people should adjust the washing solutions carefully.
Step 2: Reject the Strong Alkaline Detergents and Choose Mild Detergents
When washing the black-and-white fabrics, the strongly alkaline detergents should be strictly prohibited. The strong alkaline components can damage the pigment structure of dark fabrics, which poses a serious risk of fading and may, in turn, cause white fabrics to be stained.
As a result, choosing the neutral detergents is more stable. Its mild ingredients can both effectively clean the clothes and also greatly reduce the impact on the colors of the black-and-white fabrics.
Step 3: Control the Washing Temperature
The control of washing temperature is extremely important to prevent the color fading of the black-and-white fabrics. A high-temperature environment can make the pigment molecules activate and increase the possibility of fading and color bleeding. As a result, high-temperature washing should be prohibited, and using cold water to wash clothes is the best way to prevent the clothes from being dyed. The cold water can maintain the stability of the fabrics’ pigments and reduce the risk of color fading and color bleeding.
Step 4: Use Manual Scrubbing to Avoid Entanglement During Machine Washing
The black-and-white clothes should not be washed in the washing machine. During the machine washing, the clothes will easily get entangled. Fabrics of different colors closely touch and have friction, which easily form problems of color matching and dyeing. Manual scrubbing can effectively avoid such a risk. By gentle manual operation, people can better control the force and the degree of contact, reducing the mutual contamination between fabrics.
Step 5: Accelerate the Washing Speed and Reduce the Soaking and Washing Time
Long-term soaking or long-term washing will increase the risk of the black-and-white fabrics’ color fading and color bleeding. Because the soaking time is too long, the pigment molecules more easily dissolve into water and then stain fabrics of other colors. As a result, the washing speed should be fast, and the soaking time and washing time should be reduced as much as possible so that laundry safety can increase as the washing speed increases.
Step 6: Add a Color Fixative to Enhance the Anti-Dye Transfer Effect
During the washing process, adding an anti-dye transfer agent is one of the important methods to effectively avoid the white fabrics and black fabrics from dye bleeding onto each other, so as to enhance the clothes’ anti-dry transfer effect and provide external color protection for the black-and-white fabrics.
Step 7: Make Good Use of Neutralizing Acid Agent to Reduce the Risk of Color Fading
In the last rinsing process after the clothes are washed, adding suitable neutralizing acid agents can effectively reduce the risk of black fabrics losing color. Neutralizing acid agents can adjust the pH level of the water after washing, help the fabric fibers close, reduce further loss of pigments, and also make the fabric feel softer.
Step 8: Air Dry the Clothes without Using the Dryer
Black-and-white clothes should not be dried in the dryer. In the drying process, high temperature and mechanical tumbling can cause black and white fabrics to entangle and rub against each other, leading to secondary color contamination of the clothes. The correct action is laying the clothes flat or hanging the clothes in a well-ventilated shade to air dry them. Direct sunlight should be avoided to prevent the fabrics’ colors from fading.
Conclusion
After mastering the above skills, the laundry shop practitioners can effectively address the laundry problems of washing black-and-white fabrics, reduce problems like color fading and color bleeding, provide better laundry service for the customers, and improve customers’ recognition of the professionalism of the laundry.
