How to Prevent Bleach Stains in Colorful Towels and Family Laundry

One of my pet peeves on laundry day is discovering mysterious stains on freshly laundered clothes and towels. Most of these stains are fairly easy to fix using a bit of TLC and dish washing liquid. It's the bleach stains that I find most annoying because these cannot be reversed.

Bleach or peroxide-based products that come into contact with colorful towels or tee shirts will chemically remove the color, resulting in a splotchy look. To prevent permanent damage to your colorful new towels and the rest of your family's laundry, here's five tips that will help.

Don't pour detergent directly on the clothes. Laundry detergent with stain boosters may bleach out the dyes if poured directly on fabric. What I do to prevent bleach damage in the wash cycle is to measure the detergent into the washing machine first, then partially fill the drum with water before adding the laundry.

Use old towels at the pool. Many public pools are treated with bleach which can damage the stretch on your swimsuits and cause towels to fade. The best way to prevent pool water from damaging your good towels is to send the kids out with old, faded towels that don't matter. Be sure to keep those wet towels and swimsuits separated from the rest of your laundry until they can be washed.

Use rags for cleaning tasks. I ruined a colorful hand towel just last week by polishing up some chrome after a vinegar rinse. Acids such as vinegar or lemon juice, scouring powders, countertop disinfectants, and lime remover will bleach out colors in both your clothes and towels. When cleaning with any of these products, wear an apron to protect your clothes and use old rags (instead of your good hand towels or wash cloths) to wipe up and polish the fixtures.

Don't wash with bleach. If your towels are stained, add a laundry booster such as Borax to the wash and skip the bleach altogether.

Be careful with beauty cleansers and creams. My daughter ruined half a dozen colorful towels before we realized that the benzoyl peroxide in her acne medication was responsible for the damage. Acne medications containing benzoyl peroxide, along with hydrogen peroxide toothpaste will ruin the fabrics they touch. The only way to prevent bleach damage here is to switch to non-benzoyl peroxide acne medications or limit your teens to white towels only.

More by this contributor:
How to get the mildew smell out of laundry.
How to prevent clothes from fading.
A college student's primer to sorting clothes.