I recently purchased some new colored guest towels. I have long been aware that certain toothpastes and acne products (benzoyl peroxide) will cause “bleach marks” on fabrics once they go thru the wash. However, I didn’t realize that many liquid face make-up products and facial moisturizers also contain ingredients that will bleach fabrics (clothing, towels, pillowcases, etc)
Recently I had a guest leave a face makeup mark on a guest towel. Before it was laundered, it just appeared to be a “flesh colored” face make-up smear on the towel. After it was laundered, the terry loops are now bleached.
Many people do not realize that these products will do this because the permanent damage isn’t usually apparent until AFTER the item is laundered. The water in the washer seems to activate the bleaching agents of the face make-up, face moisturizers, etc.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine said that she visited her daughter’s home and was later reprimanded by her daughter for ruining one of her towels. The friend’s moisturizer must have had some ingredient (maybe one that evens skin tone or something).
Anyway…this is just a “heads up” as many of us may be visiting friends and families this summer and certainly none of us want to damage anyone’s (or our own) linens and things.
OK, that makes sense. My sis recently built a new house and put in nice new towels in all her bathrooms. I noticed that some of the towels developed bleach stains and puzzled why that happened (to myself). I suspect that must have been what happened.
I don’t wear makeup, so no chance of me inadvertently bleaching something accidentally. H & S don’t either, so they’re safe as well. D wears makeup very sparingly and rarely, so I think she’s pretty safe as well. Thanks for the heads up–good to know and it makes you wonder what the chemicals might be doing to your skin!
If your kids use acne creams, remind them to wash their hands before touching their clothes. It took us a little while to figure out how some of my son’s pants were getting ruined. I tried using retin A (turns out I’m allergies, but that’s another story), and it seems to be damaging to materials.
Eh, just because it’s bleaching your towels doesn’t mean it’s harming your face. For one, your face isn’t made of fabric. For example, when benzoyl peroxide (the acne treatment mentioned above) breaks down into benzoic acid and oxygen, it can do wonders in killing pore-clogging and acne-causing bacteria. However, it can also oxidize pigments in fabrics, causing them to break down. Not to get too NSFW, but vaginal fluid can often bleach underwear because of its high acidity - but there’s not a concern of what that does to our skin.
Similarly, when our skin becomes too alkaline, it can become dry and sensitive, which is why many of the products one uses are actually slightly acidic - even though you don’t notice it. While these products are beneficial to our skin (esp in restoring it to a healthier pH), its level of acidity can unfortunately be detrimental to towels.
@dietz199 “this is why we can’t have nice things”. Lol. I’m waiting for empty nest time to finally get those nice things…new furniture, new towels, new house
It’s not just make up and acne products…it can also be moisturizers. There are moisturizers that have ingredients that “help even skin tone” or “improve imperfections” or whatever…those can have ingredients that will activate in the washer and bleach fabrics.
White towels and pillow cases, at least, are the norm for my D’s to this day. Even as visitors. They continue to have issues, they think, well into their twenties. And I continue to have issues with the products they’re using ruining my sheets and towels. So white it is!
I used to be in awe of people who could have white towels. Surprised they’re easier to care for than expected. At least, for an adult. In our house, from the get go, we made the kids use their own towels. Btw, there are some that claim to be resistant to BP type products. I have no experience with them.
So far, our towels and other linens still look fine with no bleach discoloration after several decades. We do have some white but mostly colors. Guess our moisturizers are “safe” for fabrics – or we’ve been awfully lucky!
I agree, Garland. It seems like it was the fault of the towel, not the person. Towels are utilitarian objects that should be designed to withstand contact with normal toiletries.
I bought a whole new set of towels for the house, 15 years ago. Within months, the bleached out spots began showing up, purples and reds are the worst! When I bought new towels for the master bath a few years ago, I kept a stack of the old washcloths for anything i feared could fade the towels, but still I see fade marks & any time someone else might use my bathroom, I try to put the old towels out
<<<
I can’t get past the idea of the daughter “reprimanding” her mother for something clearly inadvertent.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
lol…I agree. but the mom says that likely it was a “payback” for the many times she reprimanded her DD for ruining something at home. I don’t think the DD yelled at her mom…probably just a “hey, what happened to this towel?” Which is probably something she wouldn’t have said to a non-family member. I certainly didn’t say anything to my guest.
But, really, the fact is that the person’s face should be clean of stuff BEFORE drying with a towel.
I do think that manufacturers have gotten a lot of complaints because I just noticed that some other new towels of mine say something on the tag about being “bleach resistant”.
