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I recently bought some of the new Marine Corps camouflage BDUs.

Good stuff.  But I noticed when reading the care directions that they need to be washed with detergents that contain "no optical brighteners".  I asked myself, "self, what the heck is an optical brightener?"

Now I know, and soon you will too.

Optical brighteners are a dye found in most modern detergents.  It is a UV-sensitive dye that absorbs ultraviolet light and glows blue when it does so.

This prevents whites and other lighter colors from turning yellow and brown with age.  While it's great for lighter colors, it has a very deleterious effect on blacks and on the infrared treatment of the new generation of camouflage fabrics.  Ever wonder why your blacks turn that weird grayish-blue color after awhile?  You got it, it's the optical brighteners.  If you wear black T-shirts all the time, like I do, you end up buying new ones every year.

In my investigations (yes, I actually went and researched this) the US Army has very helpfully provided a list of detergents that don't contain the dreaded optical brighteners.   Here they are - it's a pretty short list:

Bold Powder
Cheer Liquid (all versions)
Cheer Powder (all versions)
All Powder (all versions)
Surf Powder (all versions)
Woolite (all versions)

Woolite is very expensive, but the rest are about the same as any other detergents.  Use them and keep your blacks black.

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