‘I have not separated darks and whites in close to 10 years lol’: Laundry expert reveals whether separating dark and light clothing makes a difference
A dry cleaner who literally wrote the book on doing laundry has weighed in on whether people should separate lights from darks when washing clothes.
The advice was delivered via TikTok from a creator going by "clean freakz" (@jeeves_ny). He touts the Zack Pozniak and Jerry Pozniak-authored The Laundry Book. The video, first posted Saturday, received more than 257,000 views as of Sunday morning.
"I'm a dry cleaner, and I hope this shows you why you should separate dark and light-colored clothing when doing laundry," he said by way of introduction.
"Dark clothes will always release dye, which will make your whites look old, gray, and dingy," he continued. "White clothes will leave white lint on your dark garments, which nobody wants."
He also offered advice about washing clothes in cold water. A caption on the video claimed that the cold-water temperature is 86 degrees Fahrenheit (or 30 degrees Celcius).
A post from Speed Queen corroborated that to a degree. It noted, "Hot water is typically about 130 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. Between 90 and 110 degrees is considered warm water. And water temperature between 60 and 80 degrees is cold. If your cold water is below 60, it’s likely too cool to wash your clothing well."
Is the expert correct?
According to the Cleaning Authority, it's best to separate lights and darks. However, it's not entirely essential depending on what you're working with.
"If you have a load of wash that’s made of similar fabrics that require the same washing and drying care, you can probably skip the sorting step, and nothing too terrible will happen," it advises. "However, even if your dark colors don’t noticeably bleed out, your white and light-colored clothes will lose brightness over time."
It also notes, regarding cold-water washing, "If you’re not going to separate your laundry by color, then it’s best to use a cold-water wash cycle. While separating your laundry is still recommended, cold water washing will limit most color transfer. However, your whites will slowly lose their luster if you do this regularly."
On Reddit, however, a commenter on the appropriately named r/unpopularopinion forum expressed a contrarian view.
"Anytime I do laundry its always a mix of light and dark," said u/magicweener. "I have one hamper and everything goes in there and when i do a load i grab everything out of the hamper without a second thought and throw everything in the washer and in the dryer straight after. None of my clothes have changed color or been destroyed from it and I have been doing it for as long as i can remember."
"Different clothes are different in the wash," countered another. "None of yours have released color, but all clothes aren't the same. The rule is a general precautionary rule since you can't be sure without testing if all your clothes are the same or none of them will release any color in the warm water."
Viewers had varying opinions
The video brought some additional takes and questions on the matters discussed, starting with cold water.
"You said cold water is 30°C, but I asked chat GPT and it said it's between 15°C and 25°C and in winter or colder climates can drop even lower," one offered. "So who is the more correct here?"
"Probably the guy who’s an expert on this topic and does it for a living," countered another. "Not an ai that is not a search engine and has been known to get things wrong."
"What if you have shirts with both white and color on the shirts?" one asked.
The creator cheekily responded, "Cut it in half and wash the light parts with whites," while someone else more soberly answered, "Wash like a colored shirt (or according to the instructions on the garment itself) and hope it's a well made one so the color doesn't bleed."
Though some adhered to the separation advice and touted it here, another declared, "Yeah. I hear you but I’m going to live my life mixing the colors."
@jeeves_ny I'm a 4th generation dry cleaner and I hope this laundry waste water demo shows you why you should be separating your dark, lights, and colored garments when doing laundry! Dark clothes will ALWAYS shed a bit of dye when being washed (washing on a cooler temp will minimize this) which will make light colored clothing look grey, dark, and dingy. White clothes will ALWAYS shed white lint which can cause a ton of frustration. Let me know what other laundry questions you have! #laundry #laundrytips #laundryhacks #lifehacks #lifeskills #cleaning #clean #cleaningtips #stainremoval #howtodolaundry #washingclothes #adulting ♬ original sound - clean freakz
The Daily Dot has reached out to the Pozniaks via TikTok direct message and the contact form for their Jeeves of Belgravia dry-cleaning business in New York City.
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