I Turned My Husband’s White Clothes Pink — This Pro Fix Removed the Dye Transfer in No Time

When my husband and I first moved in together, he brought with him a selection of brand-new white button-down shirts with fun patterns. I brought with me a maroon sweatshirt I got at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. In our first load of laundry at the new place, I threw all of it in the wash together, thinking that cold water would stop the colors from running. You can probably guess what happened next.

All of his pristine white shirts were now a fun pastel-ish shade of pinky maroon. Oops! I tried everything I could think of to get that color out of his clothes, and nothing worked. To save you the same trouble, I spoke to cleaning expert Scott Schrader of CottageCare to find out how to get dye out of clothes — here’s everything you need to know.

At the first sight of dye transfer staining, grab the clothes and immediately work to get the stain out. Don’t put the items in the dryer — the heat will set the stain permanently. Follow Schrader’s method below for removing dye from clothes:

• Cold water for rinsing
• Oxygen-based bleach (OxiClean White Revive) or dye remover (Dr. Beckmann Colour Run Remover)
• Warm to hot water for soaking
• Heavy-duty laundry detergent (Persil ProClean)

1. Rinse the stained fabric with cold water to remove as many loose dye particles as you can.
2. Make a soak with an oxygen-based color-safe bleach (one cup of bleach in a gallon of water) or a dye remover (one sachet of remover in 1.5 gallons of water). The water should be the hottest the care label will allow. 
3. Soak the clothes for six to eight hours or overnight for heavier stains.
4. Wash the item by itself in a cycle with heavy-duty detergent on the hottest temperature setting the fabric allows. 
5. If the stain is still there after washing, repeat the soaking and washing process (steps 2-4) again.

Getting colors from a dye transfer out of clothing can be a frustrating experience, especially when it doesn’t work the first time around. Schrader shared a few pieces of advice for what not to do in this situation:

1. Don’t scrub the dye, because the stain can spread deeper. 
2. Don’t dry the clothing until the stain is completely gone. 
3. Do make liberal use of color catcher sheets (a.k.a. dye trapper sheets) if, like me, you insist on mixing all colors and whites together in a single load.