When was the last time you washed any of your clothes by hand? For most of us, it’s probably been a LONG time! Modern washing machines have long since eliminated the need for hand-washing our laundry, for the most part. Many delicate clothing items still require a gentle hand to get clean, and can sustain damage even in the gentlest machine washing cycles. So even these days, knowing how to hand-wash clothing is still a useful skill to have in your arsenal!
And let me assure you, hand-washing is neither as time-consuming or as labor-intensive as you might think.
Here are some tips for safely and effectively washing your delicate clothing items.
You’ll need:
- Gentle detergent
- A container for washing (your bathtub, a bucket, your sink, etc.)
- Clean bath towels
Start by reading the label of the item of clothing you want to wash. Look in particular for any detergent or water temperature recommendations. (If you need a refresher of what those strange laundry symbols mean on clothing labels, head to How To Read The Laundry Symbols On Your Clothing Tags for a free printable cheat sheet!)
If there aren’t any recommendations on the label, your safest bet will be to wash the item in lukewarm water with a mild detergent. (You could use my homemade powdered laundry detergent here, if you use it at home!)
Fill your bathtub, a bucket, or your sink with lukewarm water, then add a small amount of detergent. Mix it up together with a large spoon or a whisk to dissolve the detergent and break up any clumps.
Submerge your garment in the soapy water, and move it around using gentle swishing motions. Avoid wringing, stretching, scrubbing, or twisting!
After a few minutes of swishing, drain your container of water and refill it with cool water for rinsing. Push your garment down into the water several times to rinse it out. Drain the rinse water and repeat, if necessary.
Inspect the label of your garment for drying recommendations. If there are no instructions provided, lay the garment out on a clean, dry bath towel. Flip the item over every once in a while, and change out the towel, if necessary. This process takes a little longer, but it is the gentlest way to dry delicate clothing.
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Regular Dawn dishwashing detergent is great for handwashing clothes. It is gentle on fabrics and fantastic on removing stains.
Shampoo is perfect for any natural fibres like silk or wool. They are similar to your hair so this is the best unless you use a specialty cleaner like Euclan. Bras and many other delicate things can we washed in a washer if they are in a bag to prevent stretching and warping. This also helps you remember with clothes that cannot go in the dryer! A bra ball is best for wires or padding. Sounds weird but they work really well!
This post is fantastic! The only clothes I have that I actually handwash are my bras, but I also have a front-loading washing machine so things like cardigans can go in on a wool cycle without getting damaged. However, I do firmly believe that handwashing clothes is an important skill; even if you don’t have anything that needs handwashed, there are still things like red wine spills on vacation when you need to wash something FAST and don’t have access to a washing machine. I use regular old shampoo for handwashing (usually mostly-full bottles of stuff that disagreed with my… Read more »
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I have machine washed silk, rayon and laces as well as most things that say hand wash or even dry clean in the washer. I keep all sizes of my pillow cases when the sheets ware out. I place the item in the pillow case and fold over the top leaving about a extra 1/4 of the pillow case as to leave room that way the item is not taking the agitation it will be the pillow case. I always use a mild soap and it goes in with a regular load. I have only dry cleaned coats in the… Read more »
You can buy–for fairly cheap–a mesh type folding clothes dryer to dry things flat (including sweaters) that fits over the top of your tub. Try Amazon or Vermont Country Store. You can also get small plastic clips that have a “hanger” top and a clip on the bottom to hang stuff like this indoors or when space is at a premium—I carry them for hotel trips; never know what might need to be dried over the AC or heater! And TIDE makes tiny one-use sink size packages for travel. They come in a plastic case with 4-5 in a pack.
I hand wash at least weekly. Recently arthritis limits it some, so I adjusted a tip I had read. I found a foot tall toilet plunger. Drilled 4 small holes on the black rubber part to reduce suction, and use it to agitate my hand wash. I also use mesh bags in my washing machine. Read the Tide bag tip. Why wouldn’t zipper pillow protectors do the same thing? Probably would not have water circulation in the bug barrier type.
I hand wash a lot. If it is something like a sweater , I always roll up in the towel and press down squeeze gently, then transfer to another towel and repeat if necessary . Then just lay it out on something flat on a clean surface (another towel usually ) It is dry by morning . The damp towels used can hang over the rail to dry,they are not dirty .
I hate hand washing. But,got some delicates that needed hand wash. Accidental buys, you can call. Never thought of drying using the salad spinner.
Good idea. Where I live it takes the handwashables about a week to dry because of the humid climate. I generally put my delicates in a lingerie bag in the washer. I use cold water most of the time in the washer.
I do this too. Actually I use a bag for anything that could get hooked or snagged (sweaters, chiffons, netting, etc.) or can do the hooking or snagging (bras, anything with protruding closures or decoration). Tide makes a wonderful bag that is a solid white fabric with a zipper hidden under a foldover top. Much better than the open-weave net type of bag commonly sold. I have a dozen of the Tide bags in different sizes, some are 4-5 years old and still in perfect condition. They are a little more expensive to buy but they last and nothing can… Read more »