# What Do Those Pink Spots Mean?



## landho (Sep 26, 2007)

Several of my light-blue shirts have developed pink spots over time. I wash my shirts in cold water, using liquid detergent and liquid fabric softener (triggered by a Downy Ball), and then hang them to dry. Then I iron them. Over time, I've noticed the pink spots.

Recently, my newest light-blue shirt (about six months old) developed a pink spot the size of a safety-pin head). I am at a loss as to why this occurs.

This also happened years ago to a charcoal-color shirt I had.

I've searched around, both online and through this forum, and haven't found anything addressing this.

Has this happened to anyone else, and does anyone know what causes this? How can I prevent this from happening in the future?


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## FIHTies (Jun 24, 2004)

Sounds like either some bleach is somehow involved or your shirts are not colorfast and running in those spots.


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## landho (Sep 26, 2007)

Would I be safer using powder detergent and no fabric softener?


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## Bidny (May 2, 2007)

Do you wash other items with bleach in your washing machine. I had the same problem with a few items.

I have stopped using bleach (instead, opting for color-safe bleach), and the problem seems to have gone away.


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## Alan (Jun 30, 2005)

landho said:


> Would I be safer using powder detergent and no fabric softener?


Washing powder or liquid is fine. However fabric softner is a no go for any washing machine. It puts extra grease on the moving parts that don't require and grease. If it has to be used, either use it in every 10th wash or dilute the softner. No matter what the softner manufactuer tells you it is a sales ploy. Fabric softner puts a wax covering on the fabric therefore not allowing the washing powder/liquid to do its job. I am from the whiteware industry (washers, fridges, cooking etc). DON'T USE FABRIC SOFTNER AT ALL IF IT CAN BE HELPED.


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

It's bleach residue. Bleached Blue runs pink, dark greens tan and black chalky white.


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## landho (Sep 26, 2007)

To my knowledge, I have never used bleach in _any_ of my washes. I was given a bottle of liquid Tide with bleach alternative, however, and used that bottle completely up.

If my roommate uses bleach in his wash, is there any chance that there is bleach residue infiltrating my wash? Does fabric softener have any bleaching effect? I have (unfortunately) faithfully used fabric softener in every load of laundry I've down.

(When I first saw the spots, I thought they looked as if they had been either bleached or superheated, but neither should have occurred. The spots on the new shirt are small and round and do indeed resemble liquid drops of some sort.)

Is there any other explanation besides bleach to account for these discolorations?


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## Alan (Jun 30, 2005)

landho said:


> To my knowledge, I have never used bleach in _any_ of my washes. I was given a bottle of liquid Tide with bleach alternative, however, and used that bottle completely up.
> 
> If my roommate uses bleach in his wash, is there any chance that there is bleach residue infiltrating my wash? Does fabric softener have any bleaching effect? I have (unfortunately) faithfully used fabric softener in every load of laundry I've down.
> 
> ...


Bleach is contained in fabric softner and I'm sure most washing powders and liquid. May not use the word bleach but its there in some form.


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## KCE (Nov 13, 2006)

When I was in college I had to use community washing machines, and several articles of my clothes got pink bleach stains on them. What I would do was to turn the machine onto a cold cycle, let it fill up a little bit, then twist the knob over to spin. This had the effect of rinsing out the machine, removing any bleach residue that might have remained from someone else's wash. If you are sharing a machine with roommates, I recommend you do this.


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## JRR (Feb 11, 2006)

Keep bleach away. Go to the cleaners. My wife has killed more shirts with fabric softner with bleach than I would like to remember.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

KCE said:


> When I was in college I had to use community washing machines, and several articles of my clothes got pink bleach stains on them. What I would do was to turn the machine onto a cold cycle, let it fill up a little bit, then twist the knob over to spin. This had the effect of rinsing out the machine, removing any bleach residue that might have remained from someone else's wash. If you are sharing a machine with roommates, I recommend you do this.


+1 this is awfully good information. I remember having to do this when sharing a washing machine with my late wife!


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## Brian D. (Oct 29, 2007)

Kav said:


> It's bleach residue. Bleached Blue runs pink, dark greens tan and black chalky white.


Yeah, it sounds like bleach residue. You should rinse out your washing machine, before using it, like KCE mentions above. Hopefully it helps.


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## couch (Mar 8, 2005)

The small, well-defined spots do sound like bleach (could be granules from powdered detergent-plus-oxybleach-brighteners product that hit the damp cloth before they are fully dissolved).

A less likely scenario but one that has occurred to me is postassium aluminum sulfate (alum) salts (used in crystal deodorants, for instance). Alum is used as a mordant in some dying processes. Most modern cloths are well fixed and impervious to alum salts but I've had two cases (one '80s-era navy bemberg jacket lining and one recent light-blue shirt) where moisture and alum salts have caused color offset or loss. In the case of the shirt (a light-blue stripe) the blue faded under the arm and gained a pinkish cast. I don't know to what extent the alum solution made the dye molecules mobile and to what extent they caused pH-related fading/shifting, since many blue dyes are acidic compounds and alum is alkaline (in essence the cloth becomes like litmus paper and the alum turns it from blue to pink). Ordinarily using an alum deodorant causes much less cloth discoloration than any other type I've used, but in these few cases it's a problem. I now ask for a jacket lining cloth sample to test before I have a bespoke jacket made, and have had no more problems with tailored clothing. 

Is your problem only happening on blue shirts? It could be that some strong alkali other than bleach is doing something similar. Certainly be sure that your laundry chemicals are fully dissolved and the water level is high before adding the clothes. Is there any chance you're getting drops or particles of something strongly alkaline on the shirts while you wear them and the color is released when they become wet in the wash?

If you're not the sole user of the washing machine, bleach does sound the most likely culprit, though.


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