Laundry Pros

[ten ocho recon scout]

Alright, no matter what the he'll I seem to do, my clothes keep coming out faded, shrunk, and pitted.

I almost always do warm/cold water and the dryer on a medium setting. 

The he'll am I doing wrong?

[ten ocho recon scout]

My water softener broke about a year ago and I never replaced it, does hard water screw up clothes?

[Tank]

dude, deionized water.

[arch stanton]

Have you tried deciphering, and then following, the instructions on the tag? It sounds to me like you have lots of cotton stuff. cotton fades and shrinks.

[ten ocho recon scout]

18 minutes ago, Tank said:

dude, deionized water.

Lol, knew that was coming

Yeah, I follow the tags (generally) arch. But it's like the first wash or two...leaving the clothes looking 5 years old kind of fading.

[Tank]

if this is a recent thing and you weren't having any trouble before, you might want to look at your machine or (not kidding) your water.

[ten ocho recon scout]

It's an old ass machine and dryer, could be it. I never killed clothes like this before, but over the last year or so everything is coming out in little kid size and hand me down quality.

[JAHV76]

A lot of clothes over the last few years do seem to be less durable and more susceptible to wear and tear. Cotton shirts for example seem to shrink far too sooner then they used to.

[ten ocho recon scout]

And not only shrink, like shrink a whole size.

I can usually require stretch them out, but I look like a poser that buys shirts too small. My main gripe is the fading and pilling

[AngelsLongBall]

But I bet your Joe Jost shirt is finally looking righteous 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Wait...so it's supposed to be faded?

[arch stanton]

My first thought would be to significantly reduce the amount of soap and softener you use then maybe find a water softener. And wash everything inside out.

[Blarg]

Buy better clothes. 

[nate]

9 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Alright, no matter what the he'll I seem to do, my clothes keep coming out faded, shrunk, and pitted.

I almost always do warm/cold water and the dryer on a medium setting. 

The he'll am I doing wrong?

It has come out recently that washing your clothes with hot water really has no impact.  Best off just using the tap cold option on your washer.

Check the dryer to make sure it is not getting too hot and consider using low instead of medium.  Follow the instructions on your clothes and good luck.  Usually cheaper clothes will fade and shrink while higher end will not.

If it is a tshirt with graphics on it, make sure to wash and dry inside out.

[Blarg]

What you may also be experiencing is the higher amount of chemicals put in our piped in water supply during the summer that are bleaching your clothes at a quicker rate. You could consider a simple shower filter between the hot and cold outlets and the washer. It s less expensive than a whole house water softener and if you get a citrus filter (more expensive) it will clean out most of the chlorides along with the other impurities.

[Blarg]

Or use deionized water.

[Brandon]

Darks, cold. Whites, hot.....sometimes medium depending on the fabric.

Low heat with the dryer.....this is what is shrinking your clothes.

If you don't have stains, simply go cold water with everything and low heat or hang dry. I have a couple high end 100% cotton type shirts that I never put in the dryer due to what you experience. I air dry it and then when ready to wear put it in the dryer for 5 minutes to de-wrinkle. 

[gotbeer]

Faded could also be the laundry detergent, and using too much of it.  I just stick with Tide, it works and I don't notice it fading my clothes.

As for stains, whites, I use warm water, clorox bleach, and if it's stubborn stains a sprain and wash or zout or something of that nature before washing. 

[Blarg]

Do like I do with laundry and it comes out perfect every time.

Have your wife do it.

Perfect. 

[Tank]

4 hours ago, Blarg said:

Do like I do with laundry and it comes out perfect every time.

Have your wife do it.

Perfect. 

i think that's the missing part of this entire equation.

time to get married, TORS. i hear russian brides are lovely this time of year.

[Adam]

Get yourself a Maria

[CaliAngel]

I wash all my clothes on cold. Except whites, towels, and bedsheets, I use warm/cold. Don't use too much soap, with super concentrated detergent these days, too much soap doesn't allow it to get out of your closes during the last rinsing process.

I don't throw my jeans or shirts in the dryer, I whip them to get out any wrinkles, and hang dry them, then turn on the ceiling fan low. Same with jeans. Overnight -- boom! Theyre good in the morning. Underwear/socks, towels, bedsheets I use the dryer. 

I'm super picky about my clothes being washed and cared for and even if I get married my wife is not touching them out of fear she'll ruin some of my favorite ones.

[nate]

Don't worry, I doubt anyone will ever marry you.

I use the Tide Pods things, they work well.  My wife does most of the laundry when she is home but she travels about one week a month so I do my share.

We have two dryers so we can separate out different kinds of clothes that have different drying temps without needing to do separate wash loads.

[Guest]

Use Woolite for dark clothes.

[NJHalo]

You need more Calgon