Tips for Caring Cotton Fabrics
Cotton clothes are made of natural plant fibers And are 100% washable. First step is to always check the care label attached to the fabric. Some clothes have dry cleaning only tag, pay attention to them if you don’t notice and end up tossing those clothes into a washing machine, you could completely spoil the material.
How to wash cotton clothes?
- Find stains if any before wash
Examine for any stains before you wash the fabric and use a stain removal solution to get rid of the stain before you wash the material. If you know what caused the stain, you can use various stain removal techniques depending on the stain to remove it the right way
- Detergent and Fabric softener
Pick the right detergent depending on how soiled your fabric is, if its lightly soiled you can use a mild detergent or any normal detergent is safe to use. If it is heavily soiled, its preferable to pick a heavy-duty detergent.
Using fabric softener will make your clothes softer and prevent the clothing from wrinkles. Note that the use of fabric softeners is optional.
If you are handing over to any professional laundry service, they can exactly tell you which detergent and fabric softener they will be using depending on the type and quality of fabric.
- Water temperature
Warm water is used for cotton clothes to remove bacteria, preferably for bedding and under garments etc. While cold water is used to prevent wrinkles, preferred for shirts, sarees etc. Overall you can go for either light warm or cold as per your needs
- Wash cycle:
Choose the gentle cycle, which typically lasts from 10- 45mins.
- Drying time:
Do not over dry the cotton fabrics, as it causes fabrics to shrink from high temperature. Select a low drying temperature & even if you are ironing post the wash make sure to use lower temperature as cotton clothes general don’t need high temperatures to red rid of the wrinkles
Should cotton be dry cleaned?
If you have dark cotton jeans, or blazers that you want to keep from fading, dry cleaning is a good option. A professional Dry cleaner will know how to handle the fabric properly.
