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I never hand wash!

Niefern

I guess I am the laziest person, but I never, ever hand wash any garment. Any clothes I have I put into the washing machine. When I go shopping, if I see any piece that is hand-wash only, then I just don't buy it. Of course this means I never buy cashmere or pure wool, at the most (rarely) I buy blends of wool that can be machine washed. The thing is that I am surprised that these delicate items are still sold nowadays, when so many people is too busy/stressed or simply uninterested in home chores. Maybe it is simply that other people is not as lazy as I am. Or maybe people take these delicate clothes to dry-cleaning all the time? Just wondering ... what do you do?

General

25 replies

Latest reply was from unfrumped

cobaltblue

Veteran

For a second I thought you meant that you never wash your hands. Whew! I'm too in love with wool, silk, etc. to eschew handwash-only garments. I line-dry everything, too. I guess laundry just doesn't bother me. Vaccuuming, on the other hand, I hate.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

I do buy a few things that are hand wash only and I do wash them that way. There are a couple of things I have that say hand wash but I will do them in my machine in cold on gentle with Woolite and then just lay flat to dry.

deb

Veteran

I am with you. If it cannot go into the washing machine, I do not want it. I will say, though, that I wash things all of the time that say dry clean only. I rarely have problems.

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

... you could use alcohol sanitizer if your hands are not visibly soiled.

I rarely hand wash either. I just throw the article into a pillow case and knot it and hope for the best.

Anonymous

I hand wash undies as a part of my bedtime routine. They can soak while I'm hanging up my clothes or putting things in the hamper and laying out the next day's outfit. Then a quick rinse and hang to dry in the shower. They are dry by morning.
I also use lingerie mesh bags and the hand wash cycle on the machine, then lay the garments on a rack or the dryer. Hardly anything goes to the cleaners.

Thistle

Veteran

I buy very few things that are dry clean only. The dry cleaning chemicals react poorly with my skin.

As for hand wash, I ALWAYS hand wash my bras. Always. While I am getting ready for bed, I pop them in the sink on cold with a special product I bought from the lingerie shop. I rinse them out after I am ready for bed and air dry them. They are dry by morning. I do this because bras are SO expensive but an absolute MUST for my body shape. I want them to last as long as possible, and this works for me.

Most other things I pop in a mesh bag and put in the washer on the hand wash cycle. Yup, purposely bought a washer with a hand wash cycle.

Isabel

Veteran

I never buy dry clean anymore, for several reasons. I will dry clean my wool coats once a year, though, in order to store over the summer and avoid moth holes.

I used to hand wash every wool and cashmere sweater and all my scarves ( I have a lot ) in May and store them until Sept. That was before kids. I buy machine washable wool or cashmere and if it is not, I wash it on the ultra delicate cycle in the washer in mesh bags and then I dry flat

carolbee

Veteran

I handwash new bras for a while, I also handwash some new items if they are black or red as these always seem to run. I never buy anything that says dry clean only, but often put items labelled handwash in the machine. Never had nay major problems.

Caro in Oz

Veteran

What Joy said - I enjoy the process.

Anonymous

I have a new cashmere sweater that I haven't washed yet but I do hand wash a couple of tops and wash lots in the machine on 'ultra' delicate. I have a dry rack that I lay these items on, usually a Sunday afternoon and they are dry by Monday...I kind of like it too

Hil

(website)

Veteran

If it says handwash, then I just assume that it means the handwash cycle on my machine - surely they don't actually expect me to use my hands and a basin of water???

Having said that, I don't own any seriously delicate items.

Freckles

Veteran

I handwash and have a washer with amazing cycles so I do a lot in the machine too. The only thing that I dryclean are blazers and one knit sweater that is rayon and has a special finish on it. I may try handwashing that soon though.
I would never have anything to wear in the winter if I drycleaned everything that had a care label demanding it. I wear wool constantly in the winter.

kkards

Veteran

i dry clean almost everything because i don't iron. for delicates, i use a mesh bag, wash on delicate and hang dry. every once in a while, i'll buy something that says don't dry clean, and i usually regret it.

Diana

Veteran

I hand wash all the time. I have too many wool and silk items anyway. It's not very hard - you're not supposed to agitate, wring, or abuse those things anyway, so I just let them soak mostly anyway, which does not require much work.

I almost never dry clean though. Just my wool coats, and not as often as I should. I don't like the chemicals or the expense, plus I don't think clothes get very clean w/ dry cleaning. I do buy dry clean only items if I know that I can hand wash them. I know enough about fabrics and fabric composition that I've never had a disaster.

Raisin

Veteran

I wash all my hand wash and dry clean items on the gentle or silk cycle on my machine. It's basically like the machine is hand washing them for me. I usually just wash with no detergent or if it's all silk then a bit of shampoo. I always lay them flat to dry though. I'm super lazy too, but I find it's not too bad. I usually just make a separate pile of all my delicate items at do them all together once a week. So far my machine hasn't ruined any items!

Kristin L

Veteran

For most of my hand washing, I put it in a garment bag and wash it on delicate. And for my dry cleaning, I use woolite dryer cleaning or dryel. I try to avoid most dry-clean only garments and if I wear them, I try to be extra careful so I don't spill anything on them.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I hand wash EVERYTHING that goes into the washing machine - in the washing machine. I have a hand wash setting, which is the only setting that I use.

MsMary

Veteran

I have been washing my delicates in the washing machine on the "hand wash" cycle, but since I just dropped several hundred dollars on new bras, I will be hand-washing them to protect my investment!

Mellllls

Veteran

i don't really mind hand-washing to be honest. BUT, i own a lot of clothes and could for a much longer period time between laundrying for that reason. i don't do all my hand-washing at once either and i don't mind that it may take me a very long time to get to the hand-washing. my guest bathroom is essentially a hand-washing station when we don't have guests

Tina.b

Veteran

I enjoy the process of hand washing, so I will happily do my delicates that way. But I loathe ironing so I end up sending all my blouses, trousers, and anything that says dry clean only to the dry cleaners. I can never achieve that same perfect result when I iron myself. And I love that my dry cleaners will do free repairs on anything that requires it.

stitchywitch

(website)

I don't hand wash. My laundry is in a second floor closet, so I don't have room for items to hang (except a few in the bathroom.) I don't mind the soaking, but I can't stand the process of getting out the water, especially with sweaters. I do have a hand wash cycle in the washing machine I use sometimes, but in general I don't buy anything that has to be hand washed. I think a lot of times when gaments say dry clean only, what they mean is that the fabrics weren't pretreated with water, so they will shrink the first time. Clothes from ann taylor are really bad about that (they wash fine after the initial shrinking, so I think that's the issue!) so I don't shop there. I definitely don't dryclean anything but coats - I just don't ever remember to go to the cleaner's!

Niefern

It seems I am quite careless about all this, I usually put all clothes together into the washing machine, without regard to colours or fabrics, though I always use cold water on the washing machine. I have had the occasional mishap happen. There are very few things that I wash separate or with similar colours. I only have a couple of jackets that are dry-cleaning only, and I do not mind to take these to the dry clearner once or twice a year. But as I said, I do not buy wool sweaters as I do not want to hand-wash, and as these would need to be washed weekly, I do not want to go to the dry-cleaners that often! I line dry most clothes outside, except small things that I hang in one of the bathrooms. My husband has 3 nice wool sweaters and he patiently hand washes those with Woolite, I have jokingly told him I would sell them on eBay!

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

Wow - it is SO easy to handwash with a washing machine, though!!!

Use the "soak" setting and add woolite or Eucalan Wool Wash. After 20 minutes of soaking (no agitation!) spin dry. The items come out damp but drip-free. Hang or lay flat to dry.

What could be easier?

Niefern

Mamapicklejuice, I had always thought that spinning wool in a washing machine was a big no-no ... have I always been wrong about this?

unfrumped

Veteran

I'm partly with you. I do buy cashmere and hand wash it. I dry-clean wool jackets and trousers.

I learned a lot about fabrics and blends from my mother, who sewed beautifully and was determined not to hand-wash, dry clean or iron, so I've learned that a lot of "hand-wash" items can go though the washer and sometimes even a touch of very low temp drying, so I do that as much as possible.

I avoid ironing like the plague, though I do own an iron for desperate situations.