L
aundry options are not limited to machine wash and dry cleaning only. The option of hand washing is often times ignored or neglected because who wouldn’t want to save time and energy by throwing in all the dirty clothing into the washer? But, hand washing clothes is an amazing way to rescue your clothes from stretching out or getting ruined and most importantly, save you from a trip to the laundryman. Most of our clothes are delicate pieces that have hand washing as the only laundry option so, if you love your pieces and you want to own them a little longer, hand washing them is just the best option you’ve got to pull it off.
Hand washing clothes can preserve your clothes and help them last long giving you the opportunity to get out stains without ruining your clothes and to treat each piece of clothing individually based on their unique wash needs. Machine washing are not always best for our clothes but, they come in handy in saving time and energy but they can snag our dresses and favorite pieces but just about anything can be hand washed and for your delicate pieces hand washing is highly advised.
While hand washing might look so easy to pull off, a lot must be put into consideration to correctly wash our dresses.
Read care labels
Your clothes care label comes with details on how well to clean your clothes and the best cleaning methods that works well for the fabric. Explore the label as a guide for your hand washing process and be sure to adhere to the wash details provided for each piece and for cloths that requires special temperature or detergent type doing a special and different wash basin is advisable.
Treat stains
This is a very important step towards saving your dresses. Treating stains before washing your dresses provides the opportunity to tackle any stains prior to washing to avoid staining the entire cloth or ruining it. It scraps out the part of trying to scrub away the stain which can increase the chances of wear and tear. You can use a spot remover or stain treatment for this step or you can try out some effective home remedy for stains like using baking soda and water paste.
Choose the right detergent
Pick out your detergents right. Choosing a type of detergent should be dependent on your fabric type. There are different detergent types ranging from biological to non-bio options, liquids, powder or tablets with bleach and bleach free variants. Selecting the right detergent for your cloths will guarantee and maintain the quality of your clothes. Also, knowing how much dose a single wash should take is important as well. Too much can result in wasting the detergent or succeeding in ruining your clothes with detergent marks and too little may not give you a clean wash. Be sure to check out the detergent dosing instruction before apportioning for a wash. Also, the quantity of clothes for laundry and how dirty the clothes are, are determining factors too.
Liquid laundry detergent handles the work nicely for most clothes. But for delicate pieces like wool, cashmere or silk, choose non-scented detergents and types free from chemical add-ins.
Fill up your wash basin with water and add detergent
Fill up water in a clean basin or tub. For regular standard fabrics, room temperature water is proper but ensure to be sure which temperature wash is great for your fabric since fabrics like silk or wool should be washed in cold water. So be sure what temperature wash best suits your fabric to avoid shrinkage or color bleed. Add in your laundry detergent and mix around to move the detergent till it mixes up perfectly into the water.
Sort out your clothes
Sort out and wash light and dark colored clothes separately. You can either wash up the light and dark clothes in different wash basins. Alternatively, you can wash the light colored fabrics first, and the darker colors afterwards. You can wash up each fabric one at a time to avoid transfers of color. For dyed or colored fabrics, you can run a separate wash basin for them.
Wash
After sorting out your clothes soak in a batch into your basin of water mixed with detergent and submerge totally. With your hands whirl your clothes through the water to activate the detergent. Water discoloration may occur to show the dirt from your clothes is expelled or it could be little quantity of dye from some fabric. Continue swishing and most time, gently rub your palm over each fabric holding it up but do not scrub too hard or twist to avoid damage on fabric which could be ripping or stretching. Instead pay attention to underarms and under pants areas.
Soaking in clothes
For deep cleaning, while submerging clothes into wash basin, you can knead them to apply pressure and remove dirt in the process and while at it, avoid wringing and twisting. Once you are done with the kneading, you can let your clothes soak for 15 to 30 minutes and no longer just soak it long enough to allow the detergent to work. Soaking up your clothes for too long can cause shrinkage.
Rinse
Submerge your washed clothes into a basin full of clean water and swish around and then pull them in and out of the water to help remove the soap still on them. Drain the water and repeat the process till your rinse water is clear and your clothes free of suds.
Draining
Gently squeeze out excess water by folding or pressing clothes with your hands. Do not twist or wring to avoid stretches or you can lift up the clothes from the water and hold so the excess water can drip off into the wash basin. Also, you can place your damp clothes on a towel and roll them up together to absorb the excess water.
Drying
Place your damp clothes flat on a clean surface or on drying racks to avoid ruining their shapes in a good open space with air and sunlight. Flip your clothes over periodically to completely dry on both sides.
Hand washing is a useful adult skill to explore which can come in handy either in cases of a broken washer or to clean a delicate piece of fabric. Whichever it is, explore it from time to time with these easy steps to help clean your fabric like a pro and increase lifespan of your favorite pieces.