How to stop colors from bleeding in the wash

Color bleeding is loose dye leaving one wet garment and landing on another — it's most common with new, deeply-dyed, or cheaply-dyed items, and it gets worse with heat, water, and time spent wet together.

Before you wash

• Sort by color — see our full guide to the three-pile method.
• Wash new dark or bright items alone for their first two or three washes, or add a color-catching sheet to the load.
• Turn garments inside out so the outer face sees less abrasion and less direct contact with other items.

While washing

• Use cold water — dye releases more readily as temperature rises, so a cold wash is the lower-risk choice by default. See our wash temperature guide.
• Don't overload the machine — clothes need room to move through the water rather than sit pressed against each other.

If it already happened

Rewash the stained item immediately, while it's still damp, in cold water with a color-catching sheet — don't let it dry first, and don't tumble dry it before the stain is gone, since heat can set a transferred dye stain permanently.

LaundryMax groups garments by color as soon as you scan them, so a load that's safe to wash together is one tap away. See how it works.