Washing, cleaning, and maintaining your clothes is not as simple as just throwing them in the washing machine at the end of the week. Some are easy to clean, while others have to be handled with care.
While many fabric types such as cotton, linen, and polyester do not require any special instruction or methods to clean them, fabrics like silk, wool, chiffon, lace, and nylon may require some special attention.
If you are unaware of how to wash delicate clothing items, you must get them washed by professionals at a laundry facility. You can lookup “laundry service near me” to get a full list of all laundry companies in the vicinity. Some even offer pick-up and delivery services, so you can make use of them if you don’t have the time to drop your laundry off.
Laundry services have experienced and qualified personnel who know how to handle each kind of fabric. You can also leave special instructions, if any, on the label, and rest assured that they will be followed to the tee.
However, it still wouldn’t hurt to know how to treat your delicate clothing. So, here are some useful tips for cleaning your most delicate clothing items.
1. Read labels
Almost every type of branded clothing item has a label on the inner side that has some washing instructions. Commonly, these labels are easy to follow and describe how you can take care of the clothing.
However, some labels might be so small and hard to read, and often, these labels do not have any instructions but rather have some laundry symbols denoting the instructions. So, it’s important to know what the laundry symbols mean.
2. You can hand wash your clothes
While machine washing is effective for regular clothes, hand washing is the safest option for delicate fabrics. The single greatest benefit of hand-washing the clothes is that it allows you to control the amount of pressure exerted on the cloth, and regulate water temperature manually, making it much safer for your delicate fabric.
It might take longer to hand wash the delicates, but it will ensure that they are intact. However, if you are hand-washing your clothes and using any kind of detergent, you must always wear gloves as the detergent can make your hands rough and dry.
3. Treat stains as soon as possible
If you are wearing a woolen sweater or a silk dress and spill something on it, you must treat it immediately and with utmost care. Generally, people prefer to rub the stained area with water or tissue paper; that works well for cotton clothes but not for other delicate fabrics.
You must take a wet tissue paper and dab it on the stained area instead of rubbing it. If you rub wet tissue on a delicate fabric, it might harm the fabric.
In addition, the quicker you treat the stain, the more easily it will wash off.
4. Soak the stain for a few minutes
After treating a stain, you must let the clothing soak some time and not rush it to the washer immediately. Letting the fabric sit will allow the stain remover to settle into the fabric for better cleaning as it might even remove most of the stain without washing. If you think that the stubborn stain won’t come off easily, you can add some detergent to boost the stain remover.
5. Do not hang them to dry
You can simply hang other types of fabrics out to dry, but if you try this with fabrics like silk or wool, it might cause damage to the fabric. Such soft fabrics do not function well in heat, and when you hang them, they might stretch permanently, ruining the fit.
You must dry them out on a counter by laying down a towel placing the clothes on top. This will help prevent any wrinkles from forming while also not stretching the clothes or ruining the fit.
Furthermore, ensure that such clothes are kept away from direct sunlight as it might cause the color of delicate fabrics to fade.
6. Use your washing machine in the lowest setting
If you cannot wash delicates with your hands and only wish to use the washing machine, you must set it on the lowest setting possible. The less tumbling and friction these clothes encounter, the longer they will last.
If all these instructions seem cumbersome to you, then it is best to give your clothes to professionals for cleaning. Look up ‘laundry service near me’ and opt for a laundromat that provides drop-off services. Laundry services have experienced professionals who know the best ways to clean even the most delicate pieces of clothing.
