Can You Wash Light Grey Clothes With White?

This question comes up often: Can you mix grey clothing with white items in the same load?

It’s usually OK to put light grey laundry in the whites load with Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach. A couple of things to consider here:

First, make sure the fabric can be safely bleached by checking the fiber content on the care label. Avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather and spandex. Cotton and cotton/polyester blends are bleach-safe as long as there isn’t also a small amount of spandex so it’s important to check.

Next, make sure the grey color is colorfast to bleach with our simple colorfastness test. Any color change noted will give you a clue about whether or not the color will change if you include the item in your bleach load.

With dark gray items, there is an added concern about dye transfer to the other white items, even if the item is colorfast to bleach. Unless you know that a dark gray item that is otherwise bleach-safe doesn’t bleed color, wash dark gray items with other dark colors.

Finally, for items that are part of a set (e.g., shorts and shirt), always wash both items together. This will help keep the set looking the same.