Are You Washing Your Clothes All Wrong?
Here’s the cold hard truth about doing laundry, you may be washing your clothes all wrong because you never read the label. Pretty much every article of clothing comes with…
Woman staring at the laundry in the washing machine and holding her nose
Here's the cold hard truth about doing laundry, you may be washing your clothes all wrong because you never read the label. Pretty much every article of clothing comes with instructions that spell out the best way to launder them. The problem is, most of don't read them and assume that they can be tossed in the drum and crank the temp to hot.
As it turns out, most of were taught by our parents how to do laundry, but if you never had mom's clothes washing tips, then you might not know that you're doing it wrong.
Full disclosure, when I was first married in the mid 90's I threw in one of my wife's "delicates" into machine along with my dirty clothes. I always assumed the hotter the water, the cleaner the laundry, after all, you don't shower in cold water, you do dishes in hot water, why not clothes?
Let's just say that was the last time I washed any of my wife's finer things because her little silk black blouse was never the same again after the hot water washing. It was an expensive lesson, because I had to find an exact replacement for it to make her happy.
The upside was that I was removed from doing any of the family's laundry and was told to focus only on mine from then on out.
Here's the cold hard truth on water temps for washing clothes
1. "Consumer Reports" says that today's detergents use enzymes that work best in cold water. Again, if you read the label your clothing item with give you washing instructions.
2. Protein stains, from things like milk, can get "cooked" into the fabric if you wash them with heat. Nobody wants "cooked in" stains that never go away.
3. Cold water is also great for anything delicate. Clothes with lace and silk can shrink and dark colors can fade or bleed if the water's too hot. Ever see a dark shirt fade to gray? Probably because the water was too hot.
4. Plus, heating water eats up energy. Almost all the power your washer uses goes to warming things up so cold cycles save you money.
But hot water still has its place. Things like grease stains, and sweaty sheets can take the heat. And if you like to rock nylon or polyester clothes, those are better in hot water.
When in doubt, check the label or you might ruin a nice article of clothing that you or someone really loves. Sorry hon!
