[John M]

So usually when I wash my clothes, I tend to use warm or hot water (warm usually) and dry on high heat. I also usually use Tide unscented. Most of time if ever, I rarely have issues with damage to my clothes or shrinkage. Some of the cheaper shirts I have do pill easily but I attribute that to the quality of cotton used. Is this a bad idea? How do others care for their clothes?

 

[eagle2250]

The wife tells me my clothes are washed in cold or sometimes warm water and dried on low heat. This reduces shrinkage, fading and other unnecessary wear and tear on the clothes! :teacha:

 

[Flanderian]

I wash with Tide with bleach alternative at medium temperature, add Downy Free liquid fabric softner, and tumble dry medium. No problems. Shirts clean, fluffy and smooth.

 

[cosmotoast]

I wash with liquid gain warm water . I never completely dry my clothes . I run through almost a half cycle, pull them out and iron them while still partially damp.

 

[SG_67]

Regular laundry (underwear, undershirts, towels, etc.): hot water with tide on regular cycle.

Shirts (polos, dress/casual): cold water on gentle. Line dry.

I’m still working up to the bucket of hot, sudsy water and plunger as has been championed by Peak & Pine.

 

[Andy]

John M:

I have an entire chapter in my book, The Encyclopedia of Men's Clothes, on Clothes Care! Don't you have a copy? Less than the price of your lunch today.

For most clothes I would recommend cold wash and very limited time drying on Permanent Press and then hang everything up to dry further.

 

[Dcr5468]

If you have a washing machine less than 20 years old, pretreat with naphtha bar any stains and soak a while. New water saving machines don’t work well at all in my experience, especially with cold water/gentle cycle.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vecchio Vespa]

Our house loves Mrs. Meyers’ products, including her laundry soap. Definitely pull things before totally dry and hang before ironing. I’ve also given up on aerosol starch and gone to the big bottle of blue starch you cut with water and then pour into your own spray bottle. It’s way cheaper and better.

 

[Dhaller]

Colored wash (divided into "light" and "dark") is generally cold and tumble dried on low heat.

I actually do hang a fair amount of stuff to dry (merino baselayers, Tori Richard shirts, etc), but I have the setup for it so it's not particularly onerous.

Towels and sheets are hot and dried on high heat. Just nuke that stuff! People keep towels and sheets too long, anyway; I say keep them clean and don't worry about hustling them to the grave. I also use bleach about every third washing, both to disinfect the towels and to clean the washing machine.

We're a scent-free household, so we use Arm & Hammer's unscented "free & clear" liquid detergent; we never use drying sheets.

If colored clothes are just plain filthy (like stuff worn a week camping, caving clothes, a coat your daughter leaves in the rain overnight and then stashes in a drawer so it will mildew... things like that) I just wash it hot and then tumble dry low.

DH

 

[John M]

John M:

I have an entire chapter in my book, The Encyclopedia of Men's Clothes, on Clothes Care! Don't you have a copy? Less than the price of your lunch today.

For most clothes I would recommend cold wash and very limited time drying on Permanent Press and then hang everything up to dry further.

Will be picking up a copy soon.

: )

It was more that I just wanted to find out if people felt Tide was too harsh for most clothes.

For cleaning the washing machine, I use hot water and Affresh.

 

[Howard]

I wash my clothes with Tide pods and wash them in warm water.

 

[215339]

Cold wash, hang dry, shirts inside out. Extra rinse

Oxi clean as a pre-wash to get rid of pit stains, as I'm not a fan of undershirts.

Vinegar as a fabric softener, extra rinse gets rid of the vinegar. Gets rid of stinky pit smell too.

 

[jackmccullough]

Cold wash for everything. I understand that modern HE detergents are formulated to work best in cold water, in addition to which you, of course, save energy.

I always finish with the whites and I add just a little bleach to get the whites white and disinfect the washing machine.

 

[89826]

Cold wash, hang dry, shirts inside out. Extra rinse

Oxi clean as a pre-wash to get rid of pit stains, as I'm not a fan of undershirts.

Vinegar as a fabric softener, extra rinse gets rid of the vinegar. Gets rid of stinky pit smell too.

This is good advice. Overnight soaking is excellent too.

 

[John M]

Thank you to everyone who replied. I actually did not expect this thread to take off.

 

[215339]

Thank you to everyone who replied. I actually did not expect this thread to take off.

Sometimes the simplest question can be the most interesting.