The Goth wardrobe consists mostly of black clothes and that can be a pain when you need to wash your blacks, which tends to fade the color. (yes I am referring to black as a color) So I am going to give you some tips on how to keep your blacks black longer.
1. Refrain from washing your clothes too much.
No I am not talking about NEVER washing your clothes. I'm just talking about cutting the amount you wash something down by even half.
Now I am not talking about not washing something that clearly has body odor on it, but sometimes we tend to wear something once and toss it into the laundry. Clothes can easily be worn several times before they need washed. Unless you've been out all night at the club dancing the dawn away...then please...do wash your clothes. All my T-shirts are black and I wear them four or five times each (not in consecutive days) before I put them in the laundry.
2. Inside Out
Yup. Turn your blacks inside-out. This protects the dark fabric that is visible from being hit with the harshness of water. And yes, water actually has levels of hardness. The harder the water level the more your blacks tend to fade. There isn't much you can do if you have very hard water, but you can protect them the best you can by turning your clothes inside out.
And I know you aren't going to like this tip, but hang dry your clothes. The dryer can increase fading. But if you are like me, there is no way I am hang drying my clothes so my next tip is to dry it on low.
3. Wash on cold
Always use cold water. Now I wash everything in cold water anyways to reduce the shrinkage but this also will help your blacks. For the same reason your hair stylist tells you to wash your newly dyed purple, red or black hair in cold water. Warm or hot water makes dyes bleed out.
4. Let's talk detergents
Liquid detergents are much softer than powders. Powders are harder and liquid is softer and as you can imagine that plays into how your clothes react to the specific type of detergent.
One detergent that helps keep your blacks black is Woollite Darks. They claim that their formula contains an active ingredient that keeps your dark's dark. There is also Perwoll renew 3D detergent. It is suppose to also keep your blacks intense and claims to be very, very gentle (and remember, gentle is a good thing). The third recommendation is The Laundress Darks Detergent which is the most expensive. It is a concentrate that has a color guard that keeps your black black.
So I hope this helps you on your next trip to the laundry room. Just start with fewer trips there and you are already on your way to keeping your black clothes that wonderful midnight color we all love so much!
-Moon Chick
