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Protocol
Method steps
- Keep the load out of the dryer Do not tumble-dry stained clothes before you treat them: the high heat can set the dye stain (Persil).
- Take out the item that ran Pull out the garment that bled and hang it to dry away from the rest of the load (Persil).
- Rewash the stained items straight away Rewash the stained items as quickly as possible without drying them, working liquid detergent into the tinted areas, and repeat (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension).
- Soak whites in hot detergent solution For whites, soak in a detergent solution made with the hottest water the care label allows, for at least 30 minutes up to a few hours, then rinse, wash as normal and repeat if the dye remains (Persil).
- Still tinted? Route by fabric and bleach symbol Read the bleach triangle on the care label, then follow the decision table for your fabric: chlorine only where the label and fibre allow it, oxygen bleach where only oxygen is allowed, and no bleach under a crossed-out triangle (GINETEX).
Keep a bled load out of the dryer until it is treated, because the heat can set the dye. Rewash the stained items straight away with liquid detergent worked in. If colour remains, let the bleach triangle and the fibre decide the next step. To prevent it, wash with like colours in cool or cold water.
Bleeding is dye leaching out of a fabric into the wash water; if the garment shares a load, the released dye can discolour the other items (Iowa State University Extension (external link)). This page covers that transfer between garments. Whites that have gone yellow rather than tinted are a different problem, covered in how to whiten yellowed whites.
The decision table: where you are, then what the fabric allows
Find the row that matches your load and fabric: if its check passes, then take the action in the third column. The sections below give the method for each.
| Where you are | Check first | Then | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New garment, tag says “wash separately” | Expect it to bleed | Wash it alone the first time and watch the water | Iowa State Extension |
| New garment, no warning, not sure | Iron-blot test on a hidden patch | Colour on the paper: not colourfast, so wash only with like colours, cool or cold | Persil; Iowa State Extension |
| Bled load, still wet | Keep it out of the dryer | Take out the item that ran; rewash the rest at once with liquid detergent worked in | Persil; Texas A&M AgriLife |
| Bled load, already dried | Lower odds | Same routes as a wet load, fabric by fabric; removal is not always successful | Persil; Iowa State Extension |
| White, still tinted after the rewash | Hottest water the care label allows | Detergent soak, 30 minutes to a few hours; rinse, wash, repeat | Persil |
| White, bleach-safe fibre, empty triangle | Fibre list and triangle | Clorox’s chlorine soak with its Disinfecting Bleach, up to 5 minutes | Clorox; GINETEX |
| White with spandex | No chlorine; empty triangle only (not two-line, not crossed out); the remover’s own fabric list | Reducing bleach sold as “colour remover”, if its label covers the fabric | Clorox; GINETEX; Carbona |
| White, two-line triangle (oxygen only) | Label allows oxygen bleach | Oxygen-bleach soak in cool water for a few hours; no chlorine | Persil; GINETEX |
| Coloured, sure it is colourfast | Colourfast test, then the same fibre list and bleach triangle as whites; bleachability test before any chlorine | Same steps as whites, within what the fibre and triangle allow | Persil; Clorox; GINETEX |
| Coloured, not colourfast | Nothing stronger | Dab with rubbing alcohol or stain remover, rinse, wash, repeat; soak only if the colour holds | Persil |
| Colourfast, still tinted, fabric not on the remover’s excluded list | Empty triangle only; the remover’s own colourfast test | Commercial colour remover, following the package | Texas A&M AgriLife; GINETEX; Carbona |
| Crossed-out triangle | No bleach of any kind | Bleach-free detergent only | GINETEX |
Before the first wash: test, then sort
The label is the first clue. If the tag says “wash separately”, expect the dye to bleed: wash the garment alone the first time and note what you see in the water; more washes may be needed to remove excess dye, and each wash also fades it (Iowa State University Extension (external link)).
No warning, but you are unsure? To check a garment, dampen a small hidden patch, place a white cotton handkerchief or kitchen paper on top and iron it; if it picks up colour, the garment is not colourfast (Persil (external link)).
Sorting does the rest. Washing with like colours is the only way to prevent colour transfer, and the fixers that hold dye can wear off after repeated washing (Iowa State University Extension (external link)). Temperature matters too: hot water tends to encourage colours to run by opening up the fibres, so a cool or cold wash is best to prevent colour run (Persil (external link)). And take the load out as soon as the cycle ends, because colour transfer is more likely while wet items lie close together (Iowa State University Extension (external link)). For cotton specifically, the routine sits in how to wash cotton; for denim, in washing jeans without fading.
Colour-catcher sheets: a backstop, not a licence to mix
Colour-catcher sheets↗ trap loose dye released during the wash. The maker’s directions are 1 sheet per load, 2 for large loads or loads with new or heavily coloured fabrics, and in a front-loader the sheet goes in a mesh bag at the back of the drum (Shout (external link)). The limit: they work well but are not totally reliable (Iowa State University Extension (external link)).
If the load is still wet: the rescue, step by step
Speed matters here: the longer a dye stain has to set, the more difficult it is to remove (Persil (external link)).
1. Keep the load out of the dryer
Do not tumble-dry stained clothes before you treat them: the high heat can set the dye stain (Persil (external link)).
2. Take out the item that ran
Pull out the garment that bled and hang it to dry away from the rest of the load (Persil (external link)).
3. Rewash the stained items straight away
Rewash the stained items as quickly as possible without drying them, working liquid detergent into the tinted areas, and repeat (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension (external link)).
4. Soak whites in hot detergent solution
For whites, soak in a detergent solution made with the hottest water the care label allows, for at least 30 minutes up to a few hours, then rinse in hot or warm water, wash as normal, and repeat if the dye remains (Persil (external link)).
5. Still tinted? Route by fabric and bleach symbol
Read the bleach triangle on the care label, then follow the decision table for your fabric: chlorine only where the label and fibre allow it, oxygen bleach where only oxygen is allowed, and no bleach under a crossed-out triangle (GINETEX (external link)). The next section gives each route.
If the load has already dried
Set your expectations: colour removal after bleeding is not always successful (Iowa State University Extension (external link)). Work through the same routes as a wet load, in the order the decision table gives for your fabric, and escalate only as far as the label allows. For other stains that went through the dryer, see how to remove set-in stains.
Escalating by fabric and bleach symbol
Read the bleach triangle first
Empty triangle — chlorine and oxygen bleach allowed 
Two oblique lines — oxygen bleach only, no chlorine 
Crossed-out triangle — do not bleach On the care label, a triangle with two oblique lines allows oxygen bleach but not chlorine bleach, an empty triangle allows chlorine and oxygen bleach, and a crossed-out triangle means no bleaching — use only bleach-free detergent (GINETEX (external link)).
Not sure which triangle you have?The decoder reads the whole care label, including the wash temperature that sets how hot a rescue soak can be.
Decode the labelBleach-safe whites: the chlorine soak
The bleach maker lists cotton, linen, polyester, rayon, nylon and acrylic as bleach-safe, and wool, silk, mohair, leather and spandex as not bleach-safe (Clorox (external link)); the full fibre chart is in what fabrics can you bleach.
For bleach-safe items, Clorox’s rescue uses its Disinfecting Bleach: 1/4 cup in 1 gallon of cold water (US measures: about 59 ml in 3.8 litres), the item fully submerged for up to 5 minutes (wear gloves↗), then a thorough rinse in cool water; if the colour is only lighter, repeat the treatment rather than use a stronger solution or a longer soak (Clorox (external link)). Those numbers are for Clorox’s own bleach; with another product, follow its package.
Whites with spandex
Where chlorine bleach cannot be used, such as a white with spandex, or where it leaves the transferred colour unchanged, a reducing bleach sold as “colour remover” is the alternative (Clorox (external link)), but check that product’s own fabric list first (see colour removers below). A colour remover is still a bleach, so this page keeps it to garments with an empty triangle: a two-line triangle allows oxygen bleach only, and a crossed-out triangle allows none (GINETEX (external link)).
Whites whose label allows oxygen bleach only
For whites, and only if the care labels allow it, a solution of cool water and non-chlorine (oxygen) bleach, with the garment soaked for a few hours, is a further option before washing as normal (Persil (external link)).
Coloured clothes that are colourfast
Coloured clothes can follow the same steps as whites only if you are sure they are colourfast (Persil (external link)), and the fibre list and the bleach triangle above still apply to them. Before bleaching an item that had colour, run Clorox’s bleachability test: 2 teaspoons of Clorox Bleach in 1/4 cup of water (US measures: about 10 ml in 59 ml), one drop on a hidden part such as an inside hem, wait one minute, rinse and blot; if the original colour is still there, the item can be treated with bleach (Clorox (external link)).
Coloured clothes that are not colourfast
For coloured clothes that are not colourfast: dab the stain repeatedly with a white cloth dampened with a stain remover or rubbing alcohol, rinse in warm water, wash as normal, and repeat; only if the stain is still there and the original colour has not faded, soak in a colour detergent with the hottest water the label allows for at least 30 minutes, checking the colour while it soaks, then rinse and wash as normal (Persil (external link)).
Colour removers: read the product’s limits
A university stain guide lists a commercial colour remover among the options on white or colourfast fabric, following the package (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension (external link)). As above, keep it to garments whose bleach triangle is empty. Carbona’s Color Run Remover is for colourfast fabrics only; it is not recommended for silk, denim, khaki, synthetics, leather, suede, vinyl or garments that have bled onto themselves, and if the original dye is not colourfast it may be removed as well (Carbona (external link)).
Salt and vinegar do not set dye
Salt or vinegar in the wash does not fix dye after dyeing is complete; if it seemed to work, the loose dye was simply washed out (Iowa State University Extension (external link)).
Rinse out the machine afterwards
After a dye run, rinse out the washing tub or run an empty wash so the next load is not contaminated (Persil (external link)).
Mistakes to avoid
- Drying before treating. The high heat can set the dye stain (Persil).
- A stronger or longer chlorine soak. Clorox's limit is up to 5 minutes; if the colour is only lighter, repeat the treatment instead (Clorox).
- Colour remover on a garment that is not colourfast. Its original dye may be removed as well (Carbona).
- Any bleach under a crossed-out triangle. It means no bleaching; use only bleach-free detergent (GINETEX).
Related reading
- What fabrics can you bleach? — the fibre-by-fibre chlorine and oxygen chart.
- How to remove set-in stains — stains that have already been through the dryer.
- How to wash cotton — the everyday cotton routine, including sorting.
- How to wash jeans without fading — denim dye and fading.
- How to whiten yellowed whites — when whites have yellowed rather than picked up dye.