Black clothes are a core part of most of our wardrobes, but they’re hard to keep looking fresh and new. What should we do: use detergents specifically marketed for dark clothing? Adjust our washing machine settings? There are steps that you can take to reduce the damage that washing does to your dark-colored clothes, which includes deep colors fading, running, or other disasters. How can you keep clothes looking new the longest?

Choosing a single magic dark-colors detergent isn’t necessarily the answer. You also need to remember some laundry basics, such as:

• Maybe it doesn’t need to be washed. If you wore something for just a few hours and spilled sauce on it, you don’t necessarily need to put it through a whole laundry cycle. Consider blotting out stains and then simply letting the item air out.
• Sort your laundry by color and weight. This is an especially annoying step if you use coin-operated laundry facility in an apartment building or laundromat, but washing delicate and heavy items together means heavy items that aren’t so clean and delicate items that may be damaged.
• Turn things inside out. To prevent fading on the outside of garments, wash and dry them inside out.
• Don’t use too much detergent. This is a useful way to save money on detergent, too. Too much detergent will leave streaks and residue, especially if you wash dark colors in cold water as you’re supposed to.

How to Keep Your Black Clothes Looking Their Best [Consumer Reports]

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