Guidelines to wash woolen clothes

Every year winter knocks at our door. Though we have to cover our pretty dresses behind those huge coats, sweaters, jackets we all still love it. We all like to look fashionable and like to dress according to the season. Starting from a newborn to an old one everyone has to cover themselves during winter. Just wearing them is not enough, we must also stay hygienic and wash our clothes during winter. Though not frequently but we should keep ourselves as well as the clothes we wear clean because winter is a prime time to spread infections, viruses, etc. Due to the cold climate, people fall ill easily, so it is necessary to maintain proper hygiene for both the body and the clothes we wear.

 Winter clothes needs extra care because the fabrics are different. For eg, woollen clothes needs some different treatment when comes to washing.

Do we just throw the sweater directly into the washing machine?

Or, we just soak it in a bucket full of surf and water?

Or, do we hand wash it?

These are the questions we generally have.

It is not that easy.

The first thing is can we wash wool in the washing machine??

The answer is yes, we can!! We have a ‘hand wash’ or probably a ‘delicate’ feature in our washing machine, we can use that. Some woolen items such as socks should be hand washed.

When washed wool can shrink, when it’s washed too roughly.

We should actually wash wool:

1. Less frequently
2. We should wash the dark and the light color clothes separately.
3. We should also turn the garment inside out while washing.
4. Should use a gentle detergent.
5. We should also soak the garment in cold water before putting it into the washing machine so that it doesn’t shrink.
6. We should always use a cold water cycle.
7. We also should minimize the agitation in the machine.

When washing a woolen sweater:

We must put the sweater in the washing machine and put the machine in (wool, delicate or hand wash mode), we also should add the detergent on the tray not directly into the drum.

For a semi-automatic machines, we should fill the machine with cold water and mix detergent in it before we put the sweater inside. We should allow the sweater to soak in the detergent water, before agitating.

Then, we drain the water and rinse twice, with little agitation. We should not spin, but squeeze excess water from the sweater gently into the drum.Then, if required we can lay the sweater on a clean dry towel and place a second towel on top. After that we can roll the towels up to squeeze out excess water. Then, we can unroll the towels

and leave the sweater in a flat position to dry.

When should I hand wash woolen clothes?

If there is and fancy decoration on our woollen items one should go for hand washing the clothes because the machine might spoil it. For eg if we wonder about washing socks, scarf then hand washing is the best option. Instead of rubbing we must gently dip it in detergent water and then squeeze the wool.

Does wool shrink?

Yes, wool shrinks under three condition : water, heat and agitation. So, we should soak the woollen clothes in cold water first and then adding a bit of gentle soap. After soaking it for a while for about half an hour we should drain the water and again fill the bucket with clean cold water and then rinse it properly by gently squeezing. We should repeat this process several times by changing the water so that the runs clear.

After that we should remove the excess moisture using a towel. Then, we should dry the sweater flat.

Using a fabric conditioner.

Using a fabric conditioner is a saver for the woollen clothes. Because it doesn’t allow the wool to shrink and gives a glow and a nice fragrance to our clothes.

Why should we not dry woolen clothes under the sun?

The part of the garment that is exposed to the sunlight dries faster than the inner side. The part gets dis-coloured and damaged when continuously exposed to direct sunlight.

Flat dry woolen clothes.

1. First, we should place the woolen garment on a white or a pale-colored towel.
2. Then gently knead the towel to remove creases or folds.
3. The knitted garment might get stretched when dried on hanger due to the weight of the moisture, because of that the garment might lose its shape. So, we should always flat fry knitted sweater.
4. If pins are used to hold the garments we must ensure that they are rustproof.

With that being said, Dhobi G is a go-to help for anything related to laundry. You may browse many more similar tips at https://blog.dhobig.com/. Visit Dhobi G at www.dhobig.com. Make sure to check them out on Facebook as well at https://www.facebook.com/DhobiGOnline/.