Colour is Passion (Colour Catcher)

Member Name: oioiyou

Product:	Colour Catcher
Date:	09/07/09 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: works well and rather inexpensive

Disadvantages: the potential hazard if not placed in a wash bag

Years ago (we won't say how many) when I first moved out of my mothers' house she kept saying over and over again for me to bring her my washing. I'm sure she only meant it to be a nice gesture but it always came across to me as if she thought I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't have a clue but that's not the point!

The first lot of laundry slowly grew into a larger pile of laundry and then I was soon finding that I had nothing to wear. I went to the shops and got all the bits that the shop aisle said I needed. I then spent the next half hour looking through the washing machine manual. I had separated the washing as I always had into darks, whites and reds. Everything went fine and I figured out over the next few months which cycles were right for the clothes.

Every time you get a new washing machine there are differently labelled cycles and to be honest I get confused for a bit. We had a bit of a flood a few months ago which was the washing machines fault! After swearing at it I unplugged everything from it and pushed it out the back door in an attempt to retrieve my clothes from it. I did a bit of looking around and managed to find a rather nice looking Hotpoint at Curry's for £260. The price seems a lot but for a good 6kg washing machine it's a pretty fair price. Delivered to my kitchen an hour late, but they took the old one away and were quite friendly so I'll forgive them this one time.

I took one look at the new washing machine with all the buttons and the 40 page instruction booklet and nearly had a heart attack. I now had about five piles of laundry in the living room and had to get going if I was ever going to be rid of them. I had seem adverts for these colour catcher sheets and thought that might be a good idea in the first few loads just to give me some peace of mind.

I headed off to the shops and found a box of 20 sheets for £2.90. I had initially looked for the Vanish brand sheets but in three different shops they were out of stock. You're meant to place one of the sheets into your washing and as the cycle runs the sheet moves around to grab any colours that may have run from the clothes inside.

After the first load was done and hanging up to dry on the line it was now getting later on in the day and I had an plan of getting more than just one load done so I mixed things up and put the colour catcher to the test. I put a load of whites and darks in together. Admittedly I put two sheets in just to be sure. Thankfully everything went fine so I was now two loads of washing up! Since then I haven't separated any washing. Whatever is dirty gets thrown in, even reds!

My mother was round the other week and she grabbed hold of some of the boys dirty thing s from upstairs. I told her to bung them in the washing machine and for this she gave me quite a dodgy look and started going on that I should separate colours and blah blah blah. My response was something along the lines of "oh, shush you and bung them in there!"

If there's a pair of dark jeans in the wash I will put two sheets in but normally one is just enough. Great thing to have when you have children as most of their clothes are multi-coloured.


Range:

The company has now come out with some colour run sheets that have Oxi stain remover incorporated in them. When we had stained clothes I just add a spoonful of Vanish powder and that seems to do the trick plus we have the Vanish anyway for when I need to soak things. The one with stain remover is only a pound or two more expensive but I've only seen it come in a pack of 10 sheets.

The company sells this product in the US under the name of Shout and I remember years ago when I was still living in the states I used Shout spray on the carpet and shout wipes for any stains on clothes. I had always sworn by Shout products.

Any problems?

Just the one! I bought a new summer dress a couple weeks ago and put it into the wash with a duvet cover and a couple pillow cases. The colour catcher sheet must have gotten tangled inside the duvet cover because when I was hanging everything out to dry I noticed that the green lining of my dress had run and my white floral dress was now light green! I'm not overly pleased as it's a new dress but the colour ran in such a way that it looks as if it's supposed to be that way.

I have recently read on the internet that these sheets can get stuck in the washing machine and with a new one I do not want to spend that amount of money for quite some years if I can help it. One way of tackling this potential problem is to put the sheet inside a washing bag. I have one from when my little one was wearing washable nappies but if you haven't got one they are easily found at your local food shop along the same aisle you'd find rubber gloves and detergent.

I'd definitely recommend these sheets but after reading the above problems I'm going to be putting mine into a mesh washing bag.


© oioiyou 2009

Summary: Worth a wash!