Does Borax Cause Dark Colored Clothing to Fade?

susan
Silver Feedback Medal for All Time! 472 Feedbacks

January 18, 20081 found this helpful

Borax is a laundry whitener. It is one of the ingredients in homemade laundry detergent/soap, which I have used for years. None of my colored clothing have faded more than when I used store bought detergent.

Lizzyanny
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 226 Feedbacks

September 28, 20091 found this helpful

Borax in your laundry does produce small amounts hydrogen peroxide, so the possibility of fading of darks does exist. However I have used it for years and have never seen any fading.

Kristin M.

April 22, 20130 found this helpful

Yes it can. I'm actually searching for a solution to this problem. I just sprinkled the borax over my clothes in the washer when I probably should have mixed the borax with the water before adding the clothes.

Yes, in fairly large doses. I was trying to to remove paint, so I used half a box of borax on just 2 items. It did lighten, but not fully remove the paint, and it did lighten the clothes

deborahvaders

October 21, 20211 found this helpful

I just began using borax two days ago in our very hard water for washing clothes. I read it will help boost the cleaning power of my detergent. I use dark gray kitchen towels. They are two years old and used daily. I think I have reached maximum natural fade. After two washes they look like I have bleached them and are a good bit more faded than the bottom of the stack that have not had borax. They also have a different texture. I am choosing to discontinue using it in my wash and just use it in the dishwasher.