# What's up with my towels?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-my-towels/341004>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 21, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-my-towels/341004 "2006-01-21T18:38:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-my-towels/341004/1 "2006-01-21T18:38:13Z")

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My towels keep getting spots that look bleached after I wash them. I usually use powder detergent, without bleach, but my friends say this happens with liquid detergent too. What’s up with this?

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**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-my-towels/341004/2 "2006-01-21T19:19:42Z")

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Are you using a laundromat? There could be bleach residue in the machine from previous users that cause faded spots. I have a couple of shirts that were ruined this way.

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**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-my-towels/341004/3 "2006-01-21T21:27:58Z")

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Does your washing machine have one of those cups in which you pour the bleach? Sometimes, water gets splashed up there and any bleach that dribbled outside of the cup could drip down on another load. (I always pour a cup or two of water in the dispenser and around it after I pour bleach into the cup just to make sure this doesn’t happen.)

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-my-towels/341004/4 "2006-01-21T21:38:57Z")

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Maybe a bunch of detergent hit those spots before it was mixed and diluted in with the water. I let a few inches of water into the machine, add detergent, and mix it up by spinning the agitator (by hand) **before** adding any clothes.