The Salt Hack That Will Prevent New Clothing Dye From Bleeding In The Wash

If you have watched any American sitcom at any point in your life, you have probably seen the gag where a character does laundry and accidentally includes one red sock in a load of otherwise all-white fabrics. The result is an entire wash of bubblegum pink clothes. Unfortunately, this mishap can happen in real life — though it's much funnier on television.

Even if you do not wash whites with colors, fabric dye can sometimes bleed onto other clothing when the fabric gets wet, especially if the garment is new. You should always follow the directions on your clothing tags to ensure you wash them properly and to help avoid color bleeding. However, there is a hack you can try to keep color from running in the first place. According to Reader's Digest, you only need three simple ingredients: water, vinegar, and sodium chloride (otherwise known as salt).

This hack works by first soaking your new clothes in the saltwater mixture before putting them in the washer with the rest of your laundry. The mixture consists of half a gallon of water mixed with half a cup of salt and one-third cup of vinegar. Once you combine all three ingredients in a large container, submerge your new clothes and let them soak for an hour.

Once the time is up, remove your clothes from the mixture and run them under water in a sink or bathtub. Continue this until the running water is free of any color or dye. Once the water runs clear, your clothes are ready for the washer. Now, the fabric dye should not bleed when you wash the new garments with other clothing.

Additionally, make sure you're not washing your clothes wrong. Using cold water helps to prevent color bleeding by keeping the dye trapped in the fibers — which can also help prevent stretching, shrinking, and fading!

Treating your clothes with salt and vinegar mixtures can do more than just prevent the fabric dye from bleeding. It can also brighten faded colors, enhance whites, and even work to remove stains or eliminate odors from your clothes.

However, laundry is not the only thing that salt and vinegar help with. It can clean other things in your home and on your body, such as refrigerators, cutting boards, and even piercings. It can also help treat rashes, bee stings, and sore throats. Salt or a combination of vinegar and olive oil can even remove water stains from wood.

But most importantly, try this salty trick to avoid color bleeding the next time you wash new clothes. And remember, you should still separate your colored laundry — and be sure to keep any red socks far, far away from your whites.