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Help With Bath Towels Turning Pink

Bronwyn Timmons

It's a classic laundry mix-up: Your white bath towels got washed alongside red, orange or pink garments. The dye, of course, seeped out of the bright, warm-colored items and caused pink stains to appear on the white towels. But pink stains are no reason to feel blue. Preventing and removing them can be easily done.

Separate Your Laundry

The best way to prevent your white bath towels from turning pink is simply to separate your laundry based on color. Group all of your white laundry and towels together in one pile, each of your dark-colored clothes in another pile, and red, orange and pink items in a separate pile. Check the white pile thoroughly after sorting to make sure that no stray red items were accidentally included.

Wash Your Whites

Wash the white load of bath towels first, because they will need the longest amount of time in the dryer. Towels should be washed in hot water. Load your washing machine and pour in the laundry detergent, fabric softener and bleach. Bleach will prevent your whites from turning gray and keep them the stark shade of white they were when purchased.

Removing Pink Stains

Sometimes, a warm-colored garment accidentally gets tossed in with your white towels. If you notice any pink stains when you take the towel out of the washer, hang it up to air-dry and do not put it in your drying machine. Heat will cause the stain to set in deeper. These stains can easily be removed by washing your towels in RIT dye remover. A medium-sized load of bath towels will need two 1-oz. boxes of dye remover, and a large load will need three 1-oz. boxes. There is a box of RIT dye remover that is specifically formulated for pink dye removal. RIT dye remover is made of sodium hydrosulfite and sodium carbonate and will remove most dye stains. Pour the boxes of RIT dye remover in with your laundry and wash as normal. If the stains still appear and are light in color, rewash them with bleach to help return the towel to its original color.