Laundry issues... HELP!!!

So for some weird reason I have had issues with my towels holding their dye. I bought new towels about a year ago, the cheap kind from Target. In a month they had these bleached spots. I - don't use bleach. Then I got the next step up in price towels, again from Target, bleach spots in a month. So I cough it up to crappy dying on their part. Then I bought Laurie Ashely towels from Kohls recently - and there is fading patch on one them, again seen in under a month... The thing is this DOESN'T happen to anything else - other than the towels. I DON'T get it. The Laurie Ashely set was $15 or one towel. Granted I only buy two at a time, but STILL. I would like ONE set of towels that look decent. I'm getting ticked. Is this just me? I finally went to buy Tide detergent, thinking maybe a higher end detergent will help??? I use All Free and Clear or the Purex Free.... HELP ME!!! I mean how expensive do these towels need to be to retain their pigments???

And - I use liquid soap because we've had bleach spots in the past from powered soaps. We fixed that issue a long time ago. . . I'm - desperate.

What do you use on your face? This has happened to me but only when using topical stuff on my face (acne creams, moisturizers) or some kind of face wash meant for helping acne.

ETA it only bleached my blue towels but did nothing to my yellow towels. (same type of towel, just different colors)

Oh man, that might be it. I didn't even THINK of that. DH uses a topical and so do I... crap. Maybe I should buy white towels?... I try to use the washcloths but I don't DH even thinks about it...

[bokelley]

I use proactive, and that will bleach anything it touches. I have to use white towels or I have spots all over it.

I buy white towels for this reason - plus you CAN bleach them and get all the germs out!

[ladymoreta]

I also have white towels now and love them. I noticed that when I switched to Finesse conditioner once, it caused my towels to get spots. Really weird...

[SoonerTexan]

Same thing happened to me with 2 pairs of green sheets from Target. I still have no idea why.

[Pollyanna]

We only use white towels. They seem to be the easiest to take care of and last the longest. Plus, I can bleach the heck out of them if need be

[medpedspouse]

We only use whites for the same reasons. I finally gave up on the colors. HOWEVER, now that we have a front loader washer, I feel like they do not look as white. I use to let them soak overnight in the other washing machine but now I am limited to the soak cycle.

[oceanchild]

Oh man, that might be it. I didn't even THINK of that. DH uses a topical and so do I... crap. Maybe I should buy white towels?... I try to use the washcloths but I don't DH even thinks about it...

Yeah, anything with benzoyl peroxide will do that. DH definitely destroyed some of our towels with it!

[DCJenn]

The greatest laundry hint that i ever got was about whites- someone told me that the 'real' reason why white towels, etc. get dingy is because we all use WAY too much laundry detergent. It's like when you get the carpets cleaned- they look great and then they look horrible. All the dirt sticks to the soap residue.

I use half the recommended amount for the smallest load amount on my laundry and i have to say it looks and feels better. and i don't use anything perfumed, either because the smells drive me nuts.

Whites are washed on the 'whitest whites' setting with a minimal amount of soap and some vinegar in the bleach section and they're pretty darned clean, I have to say.

Jenn

[SoonerTexan]

DCJenn--that's great advice! All my white towels look horrible. (Although I think I can blame much of that on makeup stains)

I gave Kevin my sheets & bed last year. He has managed to ruin my two most favorite sets because he bleaches the everloving shit out of his whites every time he does laundry. He sleeps in socks, boxers, white undershirt. There are bleach spots at the foot of the bed from his feet and up by the pillows from his stupid undershirts.

My DF is very specific about using HOT water and BLEACH for all his whites. He does this b/c he's a germaphobe with OCD. Whenever I do his laundry for him, I make sure to tell him that I did use hot water and bleach, otherwise he'll just do it over again. Sigh - what can you do???

[ladymoreta]

When I was in high school I noticed that all my friends who lived out in the country and had well water had grubby whites.

Haha! I was one of those kids! I pretty much never bought anything white.

Jenn thanks for the vinegar tip. I'm gonna do that. I'm not to big on bleach because I think it needs a rinse cycle after it to completely wash it out - and I'm not together enough to make sure to do it. Plus I'm always freaked out I'm gonna splash the bleach on me. When I do use it, I grab an apron to put on - I guess I'm just not very graceful.

[Thirteen]

Haha! I was one of those kids! I pretty much never bought anything white.

Add me to that list. Guilty as charged!