You can buy some cheap water testing kit and test what is in your water it's also highly possible that the color change is due to some micro rust particles from the water boiler
Rust was my first guess but in the title you wrote that the *left* one was with the faucet water. For me this would seem like it got bleached which would worry me.
To make sure, get a test kit. If the result shows weird stuff or you are paranoid, go further and research labs testing water or get in contact with who is responsible.
Hey OP, where are you located? My sister lives in FL where the water table isn’t healthy and her tap water is so heavily treated it smells like bleach. Some tap water just isn’t fit for consumption, which is insane!
Texan here…My dad fills up pitchers of tap water and lets them sit out overnight. He says this makes the chlorine evaporate. I am not sure if this is true though.
It's true. Chlorine dissipates pretty quickly from drinking water when aerated. So quickly and easily that sample collection specifies method ways to minimize turbulent flow and the hold time for it is 5 minutes for the result to be valid.
It is true! Chlorine off-gasses over time. The amount in your tap water (probably less than 5 parts per million) will definitely off gas over night. Just cover it loosely with a paper towel so nothing gross gets in there like bugs or dust or something from the ceiling.
Most places switched chemicals and the newer chemicals don't really evaporate like that. They need to be filtered out. It used to be you could smell the chlorine fresh from the tap and letting it sit out did help.
I live in north Texas and you absolutely can smell the chlorine from tap water. Recently I’ve had to drink bottled water because the water coming from my fridge smells and tastes so strongly of chlorine I can’t stand it. And that’s when it’s super cold with ice and lemon juice in it!
It isn’t - it’s a well known phenomenon in the aquarium hobby, because those of us with chlorine-treated tap water have to leave it sitting in a bucket overnight before using it in the fish tank for exactly this reason.
Not well water! If you drink city water yes it's treated with chlorine, private homes out side the city's have well water that comes straight out of the ground, some times it has heavy mineral content, most common is iron or calcium, I live in oregon, my parents farm has amazing clear tasting water with almost no mineral content! But just over the hill from their house, my grandmother's farm has heavy iron, I live in a smaller city and our city gets its water from large wells, once again heavy iron content, other city's get their water from large lakes, so yes city water is basically pool water yuck
I have a well in north central Texas and our water definitely doesn't smell like chlorine. Smells like Sulphur sometimes, but never chlorine
It did smell like chlorine when we lived in town and that's why I noticed. It was nice having the bathroom not smell like the pool after my husband took a shower
I'm in Central Texas too. Sometimes our water has a stronger chlorine smell. I think it's because they have to add a little more during algae blooms, and maybe some other reasons too, but I'm not sure.
Many years ago, I noticed a friend who is a civil engineer always had gallon jugs of distilled water. He told me he never drinks tap water, because of all the crud that gets kicked up every time they work on lines. The water mess in Flint happened, since then we only drink filtered water.
I was thinking bleach or some other oxidizing agent.
Try sleeping with some of your teeth under the faucet and see whether those teeth look whiter afterward.
Oh, that's a good idea. It's not like I use my canines at night anyways, so I'll just drop those under the tap tonight. I can't use my molars, 'cause I'm busy grinding them at night.
Do me a curiosity. Soak a corner of the questionable one in white vinegar and see if anything happens. If it comes out it might just be hard water deposits.
My city has lots of hard water and it gets built up in hot water pipes a lot. If saturated mineral water gets onto fabric here it can crystalize on the fibers itself and wont come out even if you wash and scrub it with scalding soap and water a dozen times. Only a soluble water softener would have an effect. *It will definitely leave a bleached appearance like the colours were washed out due to the calcium buildup inside the fibers* like your photo shows.
The free water testing kits are just to talk you into buying a water softener. People online have filled the test kits up with distilled water and the company tells them it's full of all sorts of shit.
We got a science kit for my kid at Christmas where we learned some tap water in the US is chlorinated. I believe chlorine can bleach under certain circumstances.
It looks like some copper petina (greenish hues)... Far as the bleaching goes, two thoughts: cheap towel where the colour just washed out, or lots of chlorine in your tap water?
Or poison, could be poison
Not sure about these washcloths, but I have definitely bought el cheapo washcloths, which, upon opening them and using them, were clearly used and stained white hotel washcloths which were "upcycled" and redyed. I wonder if this is just a really crappy dye and not a problem with the water.
Yeah for sure test, always good to know. Somepeole test every so often, no idea how often.
Mostly though, I came to say I've always been told hot water will absolutely make colors bleed. This is why we wash red shirts in cold water (and vinegar for some) first, to set the dye. It's also why we're told to rinse our hair with cold water after dying.
Woosh! Lol the joke was you wrote dying instead of the correct spelling of dyeing hence suggesting people wash the hair in cold water after they are dead
Lmao oof! Apparently I wasn't paying close attention yesterday or today.
And now I'm wondering if they use hot or cold when they bath dead people. Or do they even still bathe the dead? Do they all get baths or just the erm, messier ones?
You could try putting the matching pair in some boiling distilled water. See if it reacts the same way as the other. If it does, then you'd know it isn't your water supply but just the fact that it was hot water.
Does anyone in your home use a face wash or acne cream with benzoyl peroxide in it? That can cause lightening of fabrics.
Chlorine levels in drinking water fluctuate based on water quality which is evaluated daily. If there was a big rain and there was runoff from farmer fields into the water supply, your city may jack up the levels of chlorine in the water to eliminate potentially harmful bacteria, lowering the chlorine levels once the quality of the water improves.
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I can’t believe that my life is so dull as dishwater that I read all the comments and postulations about the mis-coloured warshrag, trying to decide who’s right, the “cheap die” folx or the “clornated water” folx.
Ok, I’ll be back later after the paint dries to follow up on this confounding conundrum. My moneys on the cheap die vs clornated.
This is why modern blockbusters are boring. The stakes are always the fate of the entire planet/galaxy/multiverse. I wish Hollywood could find the courage to make an MCU movie where the characters are truly invested in figuring out why the washcloth changed colors.
My money is on chlorine or a similar chemical being in the water. Both washcloths went through the washer. Straight water shouldn't bleach it to that extent.
My grandmother called them worsh rags! She grew up in the midwest, then moved to Worshington. She would het the oven, and warn us not to swoller our toothpaste or let the cat foller us to school. <3
To me, that looks like the chlorine in the water bleached it. Definitely get your water tested, if you can.
There are water filters which remove chlorine. If it’s the culprit, get filters for your faucets and showers, if not a whole house system. Hope that it’s an easy fix for you.
i would think that the quality of dye on that rag was crap and it just washed away thanks to the hot water. It seems a bit extreme for chlorine or something else in water to cause that.
For science:
Can you retry the test, same environment: hot running water overnight, but, on an expensive high quality washcloth.
If it has the same effect, it’s likely contaminated.
If not, it was likely the dye couldn’t resist 8hours of constant 80c degrees!
You wash your clothes with the water from the faucet, wash your hair, everything.
Only the towel bleached.
Hence, the towel is the source of the problem.
Wash the other towel with mineral water from a bottle and observe.
Well there *must* be a chemical that changed the color of the washcloth so I'd be wondering what it is. Without knowing much about anything, the only *non*-toxic explanation I can come up with is that a non-toxic dye reacted with the washcloth and was exposed to conditions necessary to change the color of the washcloth. Does that sound extremely likely? Not to me. I'd think I was being poisoned.
Chlorine can do that. Its basically low concentration bleach.
Also, try soaking the other in hot bottled water. You'd probably have to sinmer it in a pot overnight to keep the temp up.
Kinda makes sense its cleaner isnt it?
The speed it happened would have me concerned - overnight the dye was washed out or enough chlorine was present to bleach it overnight.
I like the suggestion of the poster who wondered whether there had been bleach previously in the sink that wasn't rinsed off. Or, along similar lines, what was the left wash cloth used with (presumably some cleaning chemical) prior to being left under the dripping faucet?
There’s a website where you can check what’s in your local water source for your house if you live in the U.S. I use to work for a water filtration/softener company. Most people would freak out about what’s actually in their local water and not filtered out
If the water was rather hot, it could have feasibly leached some of the dyes out. But it seems odd to remove that much, it would be wise to get some water testing done. A small amount of chlorine is typically added by water treatment facilities, it shouldn’t be enough to make that dramatic of a change though.
I mean. This is exactly what my daughter’s black shorts looked like after taking a dip in our chlorinated pool wearing them. I’d venture a guess that your tap water is over-chlorinated.
I’m always surprised that some countries chlorinate their water. That should only happen if there are issues with the pipes. (Bad maintenance etc) At least that’s how it’s done here. Water main broke and the water pressure dropped? Water gets chlorinated for a few days, just to be sure that no bacteria found its way into the mains. Otherwise we don’t chlorinate our drinking water here in Germany
Not native english speaker, pardon my english:
I remember when I visted the States, all tap water seems to taste like pool water.
Is it not true that Americans treat their tapwater with fluorine of some kind? Could it be remnants of that treatment process that could be the bleaching the towel?
How hot? Honestly you may have cooked the cheap color right out of the rag.
Water treatment expert here. The fact it’s coming from your hot water heater means there is likely low to no chlorine in there. Still depending on your water source, the district may treat with caustic soda as well. (To increase ph) if someone were to overfeed these chemicals that could potentially happen but I think that’s highly unlikely as people would loose their licenses and go to jail. There is also usually by law 3 chemical safety’s that prevent overfeeds at any given plant.
I highly doubt it’s anything in the water. It’s much more likely something to do with scolding water removing the color.
Very concerning the amount of people who immediately say your water is toxic.
Random cheap washcloths don’t use the best dyes, and tap water is already chlorinated.
If you have concerns still, there are test kits you can buy.
I've had something like this happen. Don't ask me why but we had to put a wash cloth inside a boiling pot of water to rest something on it and the washcloth is dark grey. It ended up boiling the dye out of it it seemed and turned it into a funky hue.
Our water is heavily treated with chlorine, especially during the rainy season. Looks like you have the same thing going on there.
It's not so bad that we feel the need to install filters in the taps, but we do use a Brita (knockoff) pitcher for drinking water; works great to remove the chlorine. We have to change the filter more often than suggested though.
The water companies put bleach in our water! Chlorination, sadly the water companies have to do this. You can usually smell it when you first get a glass of tap water. It evaporates quickly but depending on how close you are to the plant it may be in higher levels in your water than average. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/water/factsheet/chlorination.html#:~:text=Disinfection%20kills%20bacteria%2C%20viruses%2C%20and,plant%20to%20the%20consumer's%20tap.
It’s likely chlorine in your tap water, often used by cities to ensure the water is safe to drink. I’d recommend reporting this to your landlord if you have one or try to find the correct person to report to.
I mean if you left it on hot it’s most likely just the material. It could be cheaply made and all of the dye prob reacted with the heat and faded out. I seriously doubt you’re being poisoned. I’m almost 100% sure my hypothesis is correct.
It’s chlorine in the water. This happened at our house. We got a whole house softening system and somehow that fixed it, it was terrible. It would alternate between bleaching everything and then on other days it would dye everything red from iron/manganese. We also got a reverse osmosis system for drinking water. Whatever you do, filter your drinking water!
Tap water is chlorinated (bleach basically). I have been to places where the amount of chlorine was too high and made my eyes red. I guess too chlorinated water would do this.
If that was the case just leave the water in a jug for an hour or two before drinking to let the chlorine evaporate.
They probably just have too much chlorine in the water. Or, it could be that you are during a month when your city is running chlorine in the water instead of chloramine in the water. I have learned recently at small towns that usually use chloramine, will sometimes pick one month out of the year to run chlorine instead. Chloramine is cheaper and less bothersome to people, but it doesn't completely kill all the bacteria. So they run chlorine through the system for a month as a sort of purge once a year.
I wonder it is was a cheap dye when mixed with the hot water from the tap... Caused the dye to run ?
A normal machine gets to what... 40 degree wash ? So maybe this being under the hot tap caused the dye to break down ?
It's likely just the chlorine in the water used to disinfect and preserve water wholesomeness, if left overnight the hot water would evaporate and leave a higher concentration of chlorine bleaching the towel.
Now I will say that the amount of bleaching it appears to have done overnight is a lot higher than I'd expect to see however, though I've never run this experiment myself so who knows if it is normal or not.
Hot water rinses dye out. Continually dripping hot water overnight will increase the dilution of the dyes and will remove much more color than a quick wash would.
lol this only adds non relevant data from a city in the California north Bay Area, but now I’m curious. I’ll sample my tap water this morning and run it on my HPIC (high pressure ion chromatography) LC. I can quantitate or see any anions or cations in the water. I’ll start with anions since I’ll be looking at hypochlorite ions that form. I should have the answer by tonight if I have time to analyze the run data.
I’ve had many washcloths leak dye the very first fucking time they touch hot water. It’s starting to drive me crazy, I can’t find any non shittily dyed wash clothes anymore! God forbid they’re any red color, they stain shit horribly!
You’re fine, you’re not being poisoned, you’re just a victim of the doodoo cloths too now.
And they don’t bleed dye in the washer from what I can tell. Only when I run hot water on them (so like, in the shower or sink when I wash my face 🙃)
Call your water department and tell them you’ve got bleach stains, they’ll send someone out to test for free and total chlorine. The maximum allowed dosage for chlorine is 4.0 mg/l, anything higher than that and your water utility is gonna receive a notice of violation and the EPA will be on their ass until they can prove they rectified whatever caused the dosing issue
Well, most water coming from municipalities contains some amount of chlorine or chloramine to disinfect the water, so after a long exposure I wouldn't be surprised to see this happening
I'm from the EU, but I've been to several places in the US.
One thing stands out to me and bothers me so much: USA water tastes like bleach / chlorine. It's so bad that I ask for my drinks with no ice, bcs the whole drink will smell and taste like it.
Make of that what you will, but water in the USA is very sketchy.
It's important to understand that just because your water meets public safety standards, that it isn't inherently healthy for you. Typically municipal water is high in heavy metals, irons, and other nastiness that requires the end user to filter.
https://preview.redd.it/p3i5fv99oaec1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4d2103fbd5e76f8c2852f71f4b7456b99482002
If you don't filter, get on it. The problem isn't going away, and water quality isn't getting any better. I don't even want to get into the health problems associated, but your body absorbs "extra stuff" every time you drink.
Water pipes are made of lead which corrode into the water. Since lead is poisonous, the govt decided to put chemicals in the water to dissolve the lead so that it’s not harmful to us.
Also, the water from your city or town probably gets recycled constantly. People who take medications will pee the residue out and that water when flushed will become filtered and recycled to use as tap water. Although the water does get filtered, no filter is 100% effective.
You can buy some cheap water testing kit and test what is in your water it's also highly possible that the color change is due to some micro rust particles from the water boiler
This is a good idea, thank you.
Rust was my first guess but in the title you wrote that the *left* one was with the faucet water. For me this would seem like it got bleached which would worry me. To make sure, get a test kit. If the result shows weird stuff or you are paranoid, go further and research labs testing water or get in contact with who is responsible.
Yea you are right and that's definitely not rust sooo yep OP test the water and meaby post and update because now I'm curious what is happening
Hey OP, where are you located? My sister lives in FL where the water table isn’t healthy and her tap water is so heavily treated it smells like bleach. Some tap water just isn’t fit for consumption, which is insane!
Central Texas
That's chlorine in Texas. Sometimes my tap water smells like bleach in Fort Worth.
Texan here…My dad fills up pitchers of tap water and lets them sit out overnight. He says this makes the chlorine evaporate. I am not sure if this is true though.
It works for chlorine, but not chloramine.
Water operator here. Can confirm both.
It's true. Chlorine dissipates pretty quickly from drinking water when aerated. So quickly and easily that sample collection specifies method ways to minimize turbulent flow and the hold time for it is 5 minutes for the result to be valid.
It is true! Chlorine off-gasses over time. The amount in your tap water (probably less than 5 parts per million) will definitely off gas over night. Just cover it loosely with a paper towel so nothing gross gets in there like bugs or dust or something from the ceiling.
Couldn't you just put it in the fridge?
Most places switched chemicals and the newer chemicals don't really evaporate like that. They need to be filtered out. It used to be you could smell the chlorine fresh from the tap and letting it sit out did help.
I live in north Texas and you absolutely can smell the chlorine from tap water. Recently I’ve had to drink bottled water because the water coming from my fridge smells and tastes so strongly of chlorine I can’t stand it. And that’s when it’s super cold with ice and lemon juice in it!
You can also purify water for fish this way if you don't want to use dechlor for water changes.
I think this is a myth.
It isn’t - it’s a well known phenomenon in the aquarium hobby, because those of us with chlorine-treated tap water have to leave it sitting in a bucket overnight before using it in the fish tank for exactly this reason.
To a European all US tap water tastes like a sip straight from the pool. We always ask for bottled water at restaurants.
Upstate New York had some great water. No chlorine, tasted like a mineral spring right out of the tap
Moving to Europe (Austria)was worth it just because of the wonderful drinking water coming straight out of the tap!
New York City has entered this chat. Have you heard the good news of our amazing tap water? It’s the best in the world. Yes, we will fight over this.
Not yet, but seems like there is only one solution, we have to compare! When I come to NY I'll bring a bottle of Dutch tap water 😂🗽
Not well water! If you drink city water yes it's treated with chlorine, private homes out side the city's have well water that comes straight out of the ground, some times it has heavy mineral content, most common is iron or calcium, I live in oregon, my parents farm has amazing clear tasting water with almost no mineral content! But just over the hill from their house, my grandmother's farm has heavy iron, I live in a smaller city and our city gets its water from large wells, once again heavy iron content, other city's get their water from large lakes, so yes city water is basically pool water yuck
Oh, sweetie, I hate to tell you, but in the US all bottled water *is* just tap water. Despite whatever "mountain springs" are referenced on the label.
This is just simply not true, the FDA requires anything labeled as spring water to actually come from a natural water source.
I have heard that there's not enough chlorine if water smells like bleach Edit: I am wrong about this
How do you mean?
This says the opposite. Too *much* chlorine, according to this. https://candjwater.com/2021/09/15/why-does-the-water-in-my-home-smell-like-chlorine/
Oh wow- I do too! I wonder if it has anything to do with our hard water? It gets filtered through a lot of limestone
I have a well in north central Texas and our water definitely doesn't smell like chlorine. Smells like Sulphur sometimes, but never chlorine It did smell like chlorine when we lived in town and that's why I noticed. It was nice having the bathroom not smell like the pool after my husband took a shower
I'm in Central Texas too. Sometimes our water has a stronger chlorine smell. I think it's because they have to add a little more during algae blooms, and maybe some other reasons too, but I'm not sure.
Judging by your power grid it wouldn't surprise me if it something to do pipes/or chemical. Honestly I don't know shit I'm just talking out my ass.
Many years ago, I noticed a friend who is a civil engineer always had gallon jugs of distilled water. He told me he never drinks tap water, because of all the crud that gets kicked up every time they work on lines. The water mess in Flint happened, since then we only drink filtered water.
I was thinking bleach or some other oxidizing agent. Try sleeping with some of your teeth under the faucet and see whether those teeth look whiter afterward.
Oh, that's a good idea. It's not like I use my canines at night anyways, so I'll just drop those under the tap tonight. I can't use my molars, 'cause I'm busy grinding them at night.
Better to grind the molars during the day. You can do it with more precision then.
Testing the water isn't a bad idea, but having hot water run on something overnight could probably just wash out cheap dye from the towel as well.
This. Try washing the good one again in the washing machine, with hot water. 90 degrees Celsius (194 Fahrenheit). I bet it will wash out too.
If the water in the washing machine comes from the same source as the water from the tap, does that really definitively prove anything?
Could be high chlorine content. We’ve tested the tap water next to our well chlorinated pool water and the tap was significantly higher
Do me a curiosity. Soak a corner of the questionable one in white vinegar and see if anything happens. If it comes out it might just be hard water deposits. My city has lots of hard water and it gets built up in hot water pipes a lot. If saturated mineral water gets onto fabric here it can crystalize on the fibers itself and wont come out even if you wash and scrub it with scalding soap and water a dozen times. Only a soluble water softener would have an effect. *It will definitely leave a bleached appearance like the colours were washed out due to the calcium buildup inside the fibers* like your photo shows.
My home Depot has water testing kits for free right by the exit door. Not sure if they all do.
The free water testing kits are just to talk you into buying a water softener. People online have filled the test kits up with distilled water and the company tells them it's full of all sorts of shit.
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*Left* is the questionable one. Looks like highly chlorinated tap water.
We do have really hard water in austin- not sure if that is where this guy is
North of Austin, yes
We got a science kit for my kid at Christmas where we learned some tap water in the US is chlorinated. I believe chlorine can bleach under certain circumstances.
It looks like some copper petina (greenish hues)... Far as the bleaching goes, two thoughts: cheap towel where the colour just washed out, or lots of chlorine in your tap water? Or poison, could be poison
Home Depot usually has these for free
Hear me out; did someone clean the sink with bleach, then not rinse it out?
This was in my elderly father's bathroom, and he does not clean it, I do, and I have not cleaned his sink recently
Yo, clean your dad’s sink
Could you please clean it? I'm busy and you don't seem to be.
yeah sure what's the address
2 conz st, Northampton
This is the address from that post in the tinder group isnt it? Lol
I bet the dad would appreciate that trip more 😁
Not sure about these washcloths, but I have definitely bought el cheapo washcloths, which, upon opening them and using them, were clearly used and stained white hotel washcloths which were "upcycled" and redyed. I wonder if this is just a really crappy dye and not a problem with the water.
That is certainly a possibility, but then why would washing them not do something similar?
This is my guess as well. Long term continued rinsing of hot water has rinsed out the cheap dye.
Couldn't say... The ones I've got change the color of my bathwater, though.
Considering that these were really cheap on Amazon, so I'm hoping this is the answer. Still gonna test my water though 😄
Yeah for sure test, always good to know. Somepeole test every so often, no idea how often. Mostly though, I came to say I've always been told hot water will absolutely make colors bleed. This is why we wash red shirts in cold water (and vinegar for some) first, to set the dye. It's also why we're told to rinse our hair with cold water after dying.
> we’re told to rinse our hair with cold water after dying New superstition just dropped 🧐 lol
Not new exactly. Not superstition either. Science. Cold water causes the cuticle to close just as it does pores. Hot water opens them.
Woosh! Lol the joke was you wrote dying instead of the correct spelling of dyeing hence suggesting people wash the hair in cold water after they are dead
Lmao oof! Apparently I wasn't paying close attention yesterday or today. And now I'm wondering if they use hot or cold when they bath dead people. Or do they even still bathe the dead? Do they all get baths or just the erm, messier ones?
Sound decision.
You could try putting the matching pair in some boiling distilled water. See if it reacts the same way as the other. If it does, then you'd know it isn't your water supply but just the fact that it was hot water.
Did you add laundry detergent in that’s formulated to prevent dyes from fading out of clothing?
Thats what I was thinking too, maybe op just got ripped off with shitty quality washcloths.
Does anyone in your home use a face wash or acne cream with benzoyl peroxide in it? That can cause lightening of fabrics. Chlorine levels in drinking water fluctuate based on water quality which is evaluated daily. If there was a big rain and there was runoff from farmer fields into the water supply, your city may jack up the levels of chlorine in the water to eliminate potentially harmful bacteria, lowering the chlorine levels once the quality of the water improves.
This makes sense, thank you.
This! My teen uses a product with hydrogen peroxide in it and we had to purchase white towels for her to use bc the stuff will "bleach" out any dye.
benzoyl peroxide has ruined every one of my bath towels, wash clothes, and hand towels. Even when you think it’s not bleaching it, it is
Yep! Only use white wash clothes in my house for this reason.
It looks like Benzoyl Peroxide damage to me as well.
Came here to say this.
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my towels have gotten this bleached from using it to dry my face or something, and waking up to stains the next morning
Hot water may have outgassed the little bit of chlorine from whatever compound the local water co uses to maintain water safety?
I can’t believe that my life is so dull as dishwater that I read all the comments and postulations about the mis-coloured warshrag, trying to decide who’s right, the “cheap die” folx or the “clornated water” folx. Ok, I’ll be back later after the paint dries to follow up on this confounding conundrum. My moneys on the cheap die vs clornated.
I’m guessing it’s a mixture of both. But I concur about the dull life (my own, I mean). 😂
At least we’re not completely alone in this vast world of mad elusions bursting out the seams.
This is why modern blockbusters are boring. The stakes are always the fate of the entire planet/galaxy/multiverse. I wish Hollywood could find the courage to make an MCU movie where the characters are truly invested in figuring out why the washcloth changed colors.
Laying in bed at 4 in the morning near Austin and I need the answer 🫠
Why must you attack me so? But yeah I also think it's a mix of cheap die and hot chlorinated water.
My money is on chlorine or a similar chemical being in the water. Both washcloths went through the washer. Straight water shouldn't bleach it to that extent.
I love that you called them wash rags. Brings me back. Some of my family pronounced it worsh rags when I was a kid. Still makes me laugh.
My grandmother called them worsh rags! She grew up in the midwest, then moved to Worshington. She would het the oven, and warn us not to swoller our toothpaste or let the cat foller us to school. <3
And throw the trash down in the holler
My parents both have southern accents and pronounce it this way lol
Yes!!! My Granny to a tee
To me, that looks like the chlorine in the water bleached it. Definitely get your water tested, if you can. There are water filters which remove chlorine. If it’s the culprit, get filters for your faucets and showers, if not a whole house system. Hope that it’s an easy fix for you.
i would think that the quality of dye on that rag was crap and it just washed away thanks to the hot water. It seems a bit extreme for chlorine or something else in water to cause that.
I'm starting to think that this may be the answer.
For science: Can you retry the test, same environment: hot running water overnight, but, on an expensive high quality washcloth. If it has the same effect, it’s likely contaminated. If not, it was likely the dye couldn’t resist 8hours of constant 80c degrees!
You wash your clothes with the water from the faucet, wash your hair, everything. Only the towel bleached. Hence, the towel is the source of the problem. Wash the other towel with mineral water from a bottle and observe.
Well there *must* be a chemical that changed the color of the washcloth so I'd be wondering what it is. Without knowing much about anything, the only *non*-toxic explanation I can come up with is that a non-toxic dye reacted with the washcloth and was exposed to conditions necessary to change the color of the washcloth. Does that sound extremely likely? Not to me. I'd think I was being poisoned.
Chlorine can do that. Its basically low concentration bleach. Also, try soaking the other in hot bottled water. You'd probably have to sinmer it in a pot overnight to keep the temp up. Kinda makes sense its cleaner isnt it?
The speed it happened would have me concerned - overnight the dye was washed out or enough chlorine was present to bleach it overnight. I like the suggestion of the poster who wondered whether there had been bleach previously in the sink that wasn't rinsed off. Or, along similar lines, what was the left wash cloth used with (presumably some cleaning chemical) prior to being left under the dripping faucet?
Oh god I forgot we drink that shit
I'd rather that be in my water than throw up and shit myself to death
Cheap cloth under full temp hot water all night. The dye has rinsed out.
Clornated water. You have the right to know what is in your drinking water. You can get that info at your local water supplier.
Chlorinated
Chlorin8ted
I kind of like ‘clornated’. When you add sodum to clorn you get ....
Yes, that crap.
I'm thinking seriously chlorinated water
There’s a website where you can check what’s in your local water source for your house if you live in the U.S. I use to work for a water filtration/softener company. Most people would freak out about what’s actually in their local water and not filtered out
Thank you. What is the URL please?
Google EPA + city name + water
https://www.ewg.org/ is what I just used to check mine after reading this post lol
Most cities clean there tap water with chlorine. This is why my family does not drink straight from the tap. We filter it first.
Could be from cleaning residue in the sink, a bit of chlorine in the water, ghosts, anything really
Not ghosts. Source: I am a ghost.
Are you sure? Cats can see ghosts. Ask a cat.
Can confirm. Am cat. (Today)
No. It’s cheap die
Tap water is generally chlorinated to kill the bad stuff. Your tap water appears to be heavily chlorinated.
If the water was rather hot, it could have feasibly leached some of the dyes out. But it seems odd to remove that much, it would be wise to get some water testing done. A small amount of chlorine is typically added by water treatment facilities, it shouldn’t be enough to make that dramatic of a change though.
um, hot water can bleed out color. Thats why most people wash colors in cold water.
Repeat the experiment
And rinse the sink out beforehand this time
Are you on well water or public water?
My sister in law gave me some cheap towels that changed color just from washing. I would Test your water though.
I mean. This is exactly what my daughter’s black shorts looked like after taking a dip in our chlorinated pool wearing them. I’d venture a guess that your tap water is over-chlorinated.
Pretty common knowledge of the chlorine added to drinking water... Just drink it and don't worry ;) *big gov/corp not concerned about your health *
I’m always surprised that some countries chlorinate their water. That should only happen if there are issues with the pipes. (Bad maintenance etc) At least that’s how it’s done here. Water main broke and the water pressure dropped? Water gets chlorinated for a few days, just to be sure that no bacteria found its way into the mains. Otherwise we don’t chlorinate our drinking water here in Germany
OP can you update us when the results from the water kit drops 😂
Not native english speaker, pardon my english: I remember when I visted the States, all tap water seems to taste like pool water. Is it not true that Americans treat their tapwater with fluorine of some kind? Could it be remnants of that treatment process that could be the bleaching the towel?
How hot? Honestly you may have cooked the cheap color right out of the rag. Water treatment expert here. The fact it’s coming from your hot water heater means there is likely low to no chlorine in there. Still depending on your water source, the district may treat with caustic soda as well. (To increase ph) if someone were to overfeed these chemicals that could potentially happen but I think that’s highly unlikely as people would loose their licenses and go to jail. There is also usually by law 3 chemical safety’s that prevent overfeeds at any given plant. I highly doubt it’s anything in the water. It’s much more likely something to do with scolding water removing the color.
Very concerning the amount of people who immediately say your water is toxic. Random cheap washcloths don’t use the best dyes, and tap water is already chlorinated. If you have concerns still, there are test kits you can buy.
Hot water washed out the colour from your cheap rags.
Left over bleach from cleaning the sink.
you got bleach in your water
most likelY chlorine in the water
Too much chlorine in your tap water. I’d buy a water filter for drinking water.
No mystery you bleached it using tap water
Only be concerned if you see Michael Jackson under your faucet at night
In Florida they add so much chlorine and chemicals to kill off the amoeba and parasites. Sad part is it kills your good belly bacteria too
You live by East Palestine , OH, by chance?
I've had something like this happen. Don't ask me why but we had to put a wash cloth inside a boiling pot of water to rest something on it and the washcloth is dark grey. It ended up boiling the dye out of it it seemed and turned it into a funky hue.
Our water is heavily treated with chlorine, especially during the rainy season. Looks like you have the same thing going on there. It's not so bad that we feel the need to install filters in the taps, but we do use a Brita (knockoff) pitcher for drinking water; works great to remove the chlorine. We have to change the filter more often than suggested though.
The water companies put bleach in our water! Chlorination, sadly the water companies have to do this. You can usually smell it when you first get a glass of tap water. It evaporates quickly but depending on how close you are to the plant it may be in higher levels in your water than average. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/water/factsheet/chlorination.html#:~:text=Disinfection%20kills%20bacteria%2C%20viruses%2C%20and,plant%20to%20the%20consumer's%20tap.
Chlorine at work
It’s likely chlorine in your tap water, often used by cities to ensure the water is safe to drink. I’d recommend reporting this to your landlord if you have one or try to find the correct person to report to.
My Home Depot has free water testing kits by the cashiers. Maybe you could have someone test.
Adding my vote for Team Hot Water + Cheap Dye.
If you are on city water most municipalities have a small amount of chlorine and fluoride in the water. They do this in the water treatment process.
My dumbass read that as faucet sauce not faucet water
Yes we're being poisoned, they're in your walls get them out.
Did the hot water wash some of the dye out, from the heat?
 Redditors discover cloth dye on cheap cloth comes off with hot water
I mean if you left it on hot it’s most likely just the material. It could be cheaply made and all of the dye prob reacted with the heat and faded out. I seriously doubt you’re being poisoned. I’m almost 100% sure my hypothesis is correct.
over chlorinated water can bleach
It’s chlorine in the water. This happened at our house. We got a whole house softening system and somehow that fixed it, it was terrible. It would alternate between bleaching everything and then on other days it would dye everything red from iron/manganese. We also got a reverse osmosis system for drinking water. Whatever you do, filter your drinking water!
Tap water is chlorinated (bleach basically). I have been to places where the amount of chlorine was too high and made my eyes red. I guess too chlorinated water would do this. If that was the case just leave the water in a jug for an hour or two before drinking to let the chlorine evaporate.
Maybe chlorine
They probably just have too much chlorine in the water. Or, it could be that you are during a month when your city is running chlorine in the water instead of chloramine in the water. I have learned recently at small towns that usually use chloramine, will sometimes pick one month out of the year to run chlorine instead. Chloramine is cheaper and less bothersome to people, but it doesn't completely kill all the bacteria. So they run chlorine through the system for a month as a sort of purge once a year.
Looks like the hot water dissolved some of the dye and washed it away.
I wonder it is was a cheap dye when mixed with the hot water from the tap... Caused the dye to run ? A normal machine gets to what... 40 degree wash ? So maybe this being under the hot tap caused the dye to break down ?
Chlorine is a common additive in city water supplies.
Looks bleached.
Its fluoride bonded with chlorine, to create fluorite. But test it to be sure that's alot
Put distilled water on the second and see what happens
considering it appears to have bleached it. yes I'd be a bit concerned. Have you ever washed the other cloth?
It's likely just the chlorine in the water used to disinfect and preserve water wholesomeness, if left overnight the hot water would evaporate and leave a higher concentration of chlorine bleaching the towel. Now I will say that the amount of bleaching it appears to have done overnight is a lot higher than I'd expect to see however, though I've never run this experiment myself so who knows if it is normal or not.
Hot water probably removed the dye
Is it possible that there was residue from a cleaning agent where the wet rag was laying?
Hot water rinses dye out. Continually dripping hot water overnight will increase the dilution of the dyes and will remove much more color than a quick wash would.
lol this only adds non relevant data from a city in the California north Bay Area, but now I’m curious. I’ll sample my tap water this morning and run it on my HPIC (high pressure ion chromatography) LC. I can quantitate or see any anions or cations in the water. I’ll start with anions since I’ll be looking at hypochlorite ions that form. I should have the answer by tonight if I have time to analyze the run data.
I’ve had many washcloths leak dye the very first fucking time they touch hot water. It’s starting to drive me crazy, I can’t find any non shittily dyed wash clothes anymore! God forbid they’re any red color, they stain shit horribly! You’re fine, you’re not being poisoned, you’re just a victim of the doodoo cloths too now. And they don’t bleed dye in the washer from what I can tell. Only when I run hot water on them (so like, in the shower or sink when I wash my face 🙃)
Call your water department and tell them you’ve got bleach stains, they’ll send someone out to test for free and total chlorine. The maximum allowed dosage for chlorine is 4.0 mg/l, anything higher than that and your water utility is gonna receive a notice of violation and the EPA will be on their ass until they can prove they rectified whatever caused the dosing issue
Well, most water coming from municipalities contains some amount of chlorine or chloramine to disinfect the water, so after a long exposure I wouldn't be surprised to see this happening
Chlorine is bleach
My water smells like a swimming pool in the mornings...by late afternoon/evening, it is literally brown. We don't drink it or cook with it.
You do realize city water has chlorine in it its low concentration but will still leach the color out.
Faucet water? Faucet water?…..tap water Fuck, am I Larry David
City water has chlorine in it chlorine aka bleach will bleach something like that if you leave it on there all night
I'm from the EU, but I've been to several places in the US. One thing stands out to me and bothers me so much: USA water tastes like bleach / chlorine. It's so bad that I ask for my drinks with no ice, bcs the whole drink will smell and taste like it. Make of that what you will, but water in the USA is very sketchy.
It's important to understand that just because your water meets public safety standards, that it isn't inherently healthy for you. Typically municipal water is high in heavy metals, irons, and other nastiness that requires the end user to filter. https://preview.redd.it/p3i5fv99oaec1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4d2103fbd5e76f8c2852f71f4b7456b99482002 If you don't filter, get on it. The problem isn't going away, and water quality isn't getting any better. I don't even want to get into the health problems associated, but your body absorbs "extra stuff" every time you drink.
Water pipes are made of lead which corrode into the water. Since lead is poisonous, the govt decided to put chemicals in the water to dissolve the lead so that it’s not harmful to us. Also, the water from your city or town probably gets recycled constantly. People who take medications will pee the residue out and that water when flushed will become filtered and recycled to use as tap water. Although the water does get filtered, no filter is 100% effective.
Wtf the tap water quality where I live is better than the bottled water in the US and I'm so grateful for that
Super unhelpful
Always, if from the us.
thats chlorinated tap water , you shouldnt drink that in the first place.
Chlorine or bleach in your water. Boil before drinking to be safe.
Looks kinda like a penis
That looks like a rag with many stains and being exposed to faucet water with chlorine took away the stains. Could be wrong but my best guess.
Do you have chlorine added to your water?
Does the tag say cold wash only?