What Makes Towels Change Colour?

Do you notice any stains on your towels? It's an annoying but all too typical issue. No matter what color your lovely towels are, they suddenly have discolored scars that won't wash off. Finding the source of the bleached and discolored spots on your towels will help you resolve the issue and stop other stains from appearing. Let's examine the specific causes of stained towels in more detail, along with possible solutions.

What causes towels to become discoloured?

It can often be challenging to determine the specific cause of bleached or discoloured spots on towels, especially for a business dealing with a significantly higher number of towels and problems that may not be apparent until after they have been washed. Some of these reasons are more blatant, like bleach that has been spilled, while others are a little sneakier. To identify the root of your problem with stained towels, it's a good idea to be aware of the potential causes. The following are a few of the most typical reasons why towels discolour:

• Makeup and skincare items

A wide range of skincare and body care items contain chemicals that can stain towels. Additionally, many cosmetic products leave behind residues or bleached stains that are challenging to remove.

• Acne treatment

Stained towels' specific forms of acne drugs and therapies are a persistent cause. Benzoyl peroxide, a terrific agent for treating and preventing acne but not so great for colored towels, is present in many of these products. This component is present in various products, including moisturizers, medicines, spot treatment creams, and facial cleansers. Customers who use any of these items on their faces and then wipe their faces with towels may cause the towels to get stained with product buildup.

• Bleach

As a starting point, let's discuss the apparent culprit. While this is a potent cleaning agent, it shouldn't be used on colored towels or other materials since, as we all know, it can leave white stains on virtually any fabric and cause this. Accidents, however, can occur! Discover whether your personnel uses bleach to clean your colored towels or your usual detergent contains bleach. Another potential problem could arise if bleach-containing cleaning product spills or messes are cleaned up with towels or if they are used as cleaning rags with bleach-based cleansers.

• Bleach residue in washing machines

Occasionally, even when you are not using bleach in your load of towels or washing them with other rags intended for cleaning with bleach, residues left over from prior washing loads could be the cunning culprit. It's relatively typical for a small amount of bleach to linger in the dispenser of your washing machine's automated bleach dispenser and leak out in a subsequent load even when you don't want it to.

• Cleaning rags in the laundry with other towels

This could cause an issue if your towels are washed alongside cleaning rags. When bleach or bleach-containing cleaning products are used on cleaning rags, the chemicals can seep into the laundry, where they can absorb other cloths and leave white or reddish stains.

• Minerals in the water

Your water supply may be the cause of the hue on your towels. Towels absorb the extra minerals in hard water. These mineral deposits are challenging to remove and might accumulate further over time. Your towels may develop areas of discoloration due to the mineral buildup. The towels may absorb the extra minerals throughout the wash cycle as the minerals could accumulate within the washing machine. This could cause rusty streaks on lighter towels.

• Chlorine from pool water

To keep swimming in pools safe and bacteria at bay, chlorine bleach is frequently added to pools. Moreover, even if it is so diluted that sprays of pool water on towels or clothing are not a problem, frequent exposure can accumulate over time and cause materials to seem faded. As the towel supply is constantly and repeatedly exposed to the pool water, this problem frequently affects hotels, resorts, spas, and other businesses with pools.

• Whitening toothpaste

Some of the substances that keep our teeth bright and shining can also be damaging to our towels. Towels can become stained by the bleaching substances used in toothpaste, mouthwash, whitening solutions, and other dental goods. Customers might be using some of these products and wiping their cheeks on the towels, leaving residues behind that could cause bleached spots on the towels.

How Can I Reduce Towel Discoloration?

Prevention is the key to preserving your towels and keeping them looking their best for your consumers because discolored towels can be challenging to mend. The following are our top suggestions for avoiding bleach stains on towels:

• Determine the issue's origin

If your facility consistently experiences issues with bleach stains and discolored towels, try to identify the root of the issue and make any necessary adjustments to stop it from happening again. It may be as easy as switching to new cleaning supplies or altering how you do your laundry.

• Test suspect products

Before releasing a new cleaning or skin care product to a more significant portion of your customer base, test it on a small patch of one of your towels. You might consider using a new product or towel if the test spot is stained.

• Use oxygen-based bleach

Consider switching to an oxygen-based bleach if you enjoy using bleach-based solutions for laundry or other cleaning tasks. This bleach formulation still works well to clean while less damaging to materials. Using oxygen bleach has the added benefit of being more environmentally friendly.

• Choose white towels

Have a plentiful supply of white towels on hand for any applications where the towels may come into contact with bleach solutions, such as poolside towels, face towels that may be used with acne treatments, or teeth whitening treatments. In this manner, the towels won't be as easily stained by bleach or other similar things.

• Get towels resistant to bleach.

By selecting bleach-resistant towels, you may ensure that this issue won't impact your subsequent batch of towels. These towels are more color-fast than other types of towels since they were dyed utilizing a unique technique. Therefore, this is the way to go if bleach products or other sneaky chemicals that cause discoloration are inevitable in your business.