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I know this is a stupid question.I wash all my clothes on the delicate cycle with warm then cold water.Then I put it in the dryer for 70 minutes(heavy dry then normal dry then cool dry) on medium for heat level.Are clothes supposed to shrink the more you wash them?my mom takes her's out of the dryer before they are dry and lets them air dry in her home.See i think this would make the clothes feel hard,and not soft.I would also be worried about the colors fading,doing what she does.Any advice welcomed
What are the washing instructions on the stuff you're washing this way? If you're taking stuff that's supposed to be washed only in cold water and line dried, then warm water plus a lot of time in the dryer could be shrinking them. Or if they say "tumble dry low" which is what most of my clothes say, then the medium heat might be too much for them. 70 min in the dryer sounds like a really long time too--my dryer usually only runs for ~30 min or so unless I've got a bunch of towels or blankets in it.
On your mom's approach--there's no way taking stuff out of the dryer early and letting it air dry the rest of the way is going to cause color fading so I'm not sure where that idea is coming from? I have found that stuff I line dry does tend to not feel as soft, but if you use liquid fabric softener in the wash cycle that would help.
My recommendation (assuming your clothes are allowed to be machine washed and go through the dryer) is to wash everything in cold water, then dry everything on low heat just until it's dry and not any longer than that (and if it really takes 70 minutes to get your clothes dry, then there may be something wrong with your dryer)
I find that drying clothes discolors it and makes the colors fade faster.
I never grew up using a dryer. My mom hand washed our clothes which is totally another story...LOL!
My husband uses a dryer and so do I now. I also find that it makes a big difference in what laudry detergent I use. My husband use to use Tide but I found that Tide would fade the color of my clothes so much faster than Cheer which I like. I believe we get the formula that is called Colorfast or something like that. I'd read the lable.
But whatever laundry detergent you get should be made for a variety of different colors. They even have some made for black colored clothing.
Also, I think the amount of detergent shown on the containers is waaaaay too much for normal soil. We are clean freeks in this country compared to the rest of the world and wash our clothes after a single wearing. Elsewhere that is not the case (argh). Since we're not kids, rolling around in the dirt (except gardeing clothes that is), then a smaller amount of detergent will clean just fine.
I agree with above posts on dryer times and level of heat. Take it easy on your clothes.
I'm new to this forum and by no means an expert but I would like to share a problem I had. For 2 years I had to dry clothes 2-3 times to get them dry. I called Homecare and they came and cleaned my dryer vent out in the attic and now I'm proud to say my clothes dry the first time.
I never run the dryer a full cycle except for whites and jeans. I put all clothes (not underwear) on low heat for about 20 minutes and take them out while they are still pretty damp. I use liquid softener or a fabric sheet and they are always really soft. I hang them up on a thingy that hangs over the top of my doors. I don't have a problem with them shrinking or fading at all!
I have an older (10 years or so) modestly-priced gas dryer that has a less dry/more dry sensor. (I said that to say I don't think this is anything limited to new or expensive dryers.)
I always use the sensor, and I aim it toward the "less dry" setting for almost everything. I also don't dry stuff on "high", but use the "permanent press" setting instead.
Backing up, I wash most everything in warm water/cold rinse (a load of whites each week, with towels, socks, etc. get bleach, hot water, cold rinse) with a dye- and fragrance-free liquid detergent (about half what it calls for) and 1/4 cup vinegar instead of fabric softener (DD has eczema; hence the non-allergenic detergent and vinegar instead of liquid fabric softener.)
No major shrinking here, and most of our stuff is cotton or cotton blends. Shrug...
Does the vinegar work well as a fabric softener? I've been using less softener and some baking soda, which is supposed to do the same. I use vinegar in the whites but never in the colors because I've always heard it helped whiten things. Do you use it with everything? I'd love to eventually get rid of all my less than natural products.
When I was first married and we didn't have a washer and dryer, I went to the laundrymat.
The dryers in a commercial laundrymat almost always caused things to shrink, as they were so very hot because they held 3 wash loads at a time.
Lately if I tell my DH that the dryer is shrinking our clothes, his thought is that it's not the dryer, it's the refridgerator that's making our clothes smaller. LOL. We noticed a lot of our clothes seemed to shrink around the holidays this year.
LOL@ PeggieK - definitely the fridge and freezer that make my clothes smaller...or at least snug (snugger?)
konkreteblond, I use the vinegar on every wash load - darks, lights, jeans, doesn't matter. Someone who's pickier about their laundry might disagree, but I've never had any negative effects from using it. (Okay, my kids hold their noses and complain it smells like vinegar when a load is going, but as long as their clothes don't come out smelling like pickles, they're happy.)
Thanks Terry, I might try using it in every load. Now that I'm thinking about it, I use it when I wash underwear and it's never bothered the color of those, even with hot water. I'm actually getting used to the smell, but wouldn't like it to linger.
My husband developed a rash around his ankles where his stockings came and his doctor gave him some salve. Nothing seemed to work, the itching was driving him nuts. Being from lonesome hill country in Northern Arkansas, I decided to use home remedies. All is stockings were alike, that way he never lost one and ruined a pair, black. I started pouring about 4 'glugs' of regular white vinegar in the wash water while it was filling. Never smelled like vinegar by the time everything was rinsed and dried. I did wash his stockings separate from other clothing as didn't want the 'itch' to transfer to some other things. Within a month his rash was entirely gone and he never had it again (years later). It was just a standard thing to use the vinegar, and the black socks did not ever fade. Doctor said (and I knew) vinegar is a disinfectant.
You really should not use high dryer heat on anything... not only does it shrink natural fibers including rayon which is a cellulose fiber even though nominally 'manmade', it ages elastic (and the stretchiness in most of the other fibers with 'give' in them, I believe), "cooks" some other synthetics like nylon and so changes their properties, AND -- get this -- decreases absorbency of cotton... so the many many people who dry ONLY their towels on high, are not doing themselves any favors in the long term!
Even on "delicate" (my dryer only has two settings), very little of our laundry has to dry more than 30 minutes. I know that most places east of the Rockies do have higher humidity -- but I gotta agree with a few other people here: either you maybe are putting too much in the dryer at once, or have something not working right: like Jeri, a clogged vent, or the lint filter is clogged (possibly not the part you can reach to empty??) or maybe just not making enough heat... although if it's shrinking things, probably not the last option!
As far as air drying giving things a "hard" finish, I do not find it so. I often tumble things (even some that say NOT to machine dry) to take the worst of the wrinkles out, then put on hangers to finish drying. Especially with a dryer sheet? Which you can prolly use through two loads if not using the full time and the extreme heat... Or else line/air dry all the way, and then just tumble with a damp towel to de-wrinkle and "soften" the finish.
As far as vinegar, I believe it helps things rinse cleaner, but I'm not sure the action is from water-softening like a softener or baking soda does (adding sodium). There is no sodium in vinegar and the smell is from acetic acid which evaporates with no residue or odor -- as long as truly dry. Thick waistbands may still smell a little, because a certain amount of water is trapped in them.
[To Ghost lady _ I loved your "four glugs" of vinegar comment. I laffed and laffed. ]Anyhoo...I just want to put in my two bits here about fabric softener. I quit using fab softener a few years ago when I learned that it causes bath towels to lose their water absorbsion ability. I tested the concept. Using my old fab softened towels, I wiped up a puddle of water i poured on top of the drier, and it just kind of pushed the water around on the top of the drier. Then I used a new dry non-softened towel that I had used only vinegar on in the rinse cycle and it just absorbed the water puddle right away. For me, hanging damp clothes outdoors and letting them dry in the wind makes them smell much better than any fabric softener. It's almost like an aphrodesiac to me! Years ago, I remember I had to work in a small room with a man who wore wind dried clothes and I almost fainted. LOL
Koncreteblond,
I'm with you ALL the way. Wash EVERYTHING (except towels) on COLD. Very, very, very little time in the dryer. I start with 30 minutes. Whatever isn't dry by then on low heat gets hung up the rest of the way. And I NEVER, repeat, NEVER, put ANYTHING with spandex or rubber in the dryer. I have about 6-8 sports bras that cost $50 apiece and they look good as the day I first bought them. They have NEVER felt anything but body heat from the gym!
I had to ask my DH not to ever wash my clothes...He FRIES everything on MAXIMUM heat in the dryer for the full 70 minutes!!!! He has strict instructions now, that if he finds I forgot and left my clothes in the washer, I'd rather he put them into a garbage bag on the floor, until I get to them!
Oh yes, I wash everything except whites (towels, undies, socks) on cold. Every few months I'll forget and leave a load of t-shirts in too long and I'm amazed at how HOT a dryer can get, even on a low heat cycle. (hmmm...it always seems to be my husbands..wonder why I never forget mine?)
Birthday's are shrinking my clothes now! I need to make a rule that we get/give presents in spring/summer and then have the cake in the fall.
