Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.
Let’s face it. Doing laundry is a boring chore. Plus, few things are as disgusting as laundry mishaps. From the disgusting sight of red lines on your one-kind white shirt to the ungodly point of snags that makes you gross out. You know what? We’ve all been there. Laundry problems aren’t aliens at all.
Don’t fret. Be it the detergents, your washer, or some laundry error, the majority of laundry problems can be corrected. If you are interested in preserving the quality and extending the life of your luxurious wear, here are 5 common laundry mishaps and how you can correct them.
Let’s roll
1. Mystery Holes in Clothes
An all too common laundry mishap is the mystery holes in shirts. And there is more than a single reason for this. Incorrect use of bleach is one of the reasons. Using too much bleach or pouring bleach directly on clothes can also make holes appear. Avoid adding bleach directly to clothes. Dilute bleach thoroughly with wash water before putting your clothes.
Unfastened zippers, hooks, and belt buckles that readily snag can also lead to a hole in your garment. As your machine spins, clothes get entangled. Scrubbing against unfastened zippers can damage your clothes. The same goes with a loose metal screw from your machine part.
To prevent damage to your fabric, fasten all zippers, belts, buckles, and hooks on your clothes before putting them inside your washer. Also, make sure your washer’s parts are intact.
The spin cycle speed of your washer is another hole-inducing factor. You want to look out for it. Every fabric has a tolerable spin cycle speed. Spinning your cotton clothes above 600 RPM will tear it. Stick with the recommended spin speed for each type of fabric to avoid surprises. You can check your washer’s manual for this information.
2. Dye Bleeding Makes Us Nuts
If dye bleeding makes you nuts, you are not alone. The annoying bleeding coverage of an offending garment will give anyone a headache. Nonetheless, the color bleeds can be prevented and even removed from your fabrics.
To prevent color bleeding, separate bright-colored cloth from light one and wash separately. If you don’t want to take risk with your luxurious investment, you can consider using some luxury dry cleaning services to play it safer. Because, at times, color bleeds due to unstable dyes can not be reversed.
Make sure to follow your fabric care instructions when washing bright-colored garments. You can also test fabric for colorfastness before washing. That should help you determine how unstable the dye is. You can then wash one by one the first few times until the excess dye washes off.
Also, the use of bleach and the temperature of the water can be the reason for the color loss. Using cool water and oxygen bleach instead of chlorine on bright-colored fabric can save you this mishap. As mentioned above, applying undiluted bleach directly on clothes can also cause irreversible color bleeds. Do not pour undiluted bleach directly on the cloth. It’s tantamount to dye bleedings.
3. Detergent Residue on Clothes
Washer overloading and undissolved powder detergent are two of the most common factors for this laundry problem. When you overload your washing machine, the circulation of water is restricted as there are too many clothes that prevent easy spin.
Detergent residue appears as streaks of powder. It is particularly noticeable in dark colored clothes. Detergent residue on clothes isn’t just damaging. It can as well lead to skin complications when you put on the clothing.
You need to ensure your washing machine is not overloaded in the first place. Make sure you add detergent to water first. Allow complete dissolution before putting on your clothes.
Hard water can react with powder detergents to form a residue. You can avoid this by opting for liquid Laundry detergents. Else, you will need to add water softeners to hard water when you are using powder detergents.
If you notice any form of detergent residue on your fabric after washing, try to rinse the clothes thoroughly before drying.
4. Shrinkage After Washing
Shrinkage of clothes can be partly due to the fabric’s material. The reason can also be your style of laundry. Check out for this at the point of purchase, or check the clothes label before you wash. To prevent shrinkage, your best bet is to hand wash and air-dry clothes that are likely to shrink.
The most common reason for shrinkage remains too much heat and agitation from the washer. If your fabric shrinks for these reasons, keep the agitation in your washer cycles to the minimum. Slow agitation for both wash and rinse reduces the possibility of shrinkage.
Remove clothes from the washer while they are still slightly damp. You can then stretch and allow them to dry in their original shape. Hot water and the high heat of some washers can also make a wool fabric shrink irreversibly.
To undo the shrinking, you will need to soak the fabric with a liquid fabric softener. Leave up to an hour to allow the clothes to soften and return to shape. Pull out the sweater from the solution without rinsing or wringing the garment. Remove excess water by towel drying and air drying without direct sunlight. Repeat the process as needed until your garment retakes its shape.
5. Shedding and Peeling
Synthetic fabrics have the natural tendency to shed and pill. Pilling is common in sweaters, collars, socks, and other portions of wear that are subject to abrasion. Rather than break up like natural fiber, abrasion makes synthetic fibers ball up and cling to the cloth surface.
Pilling is a laundry problem in synthetic material that’s not preventable. Hand washing and turning your fabric inside out is the ideal approach you can use to reduce pilling.
If you want to use a washing machine, add fabric softener to the washer and avoid using the machine dryer altogether. Always air dry on a line or flat surface.
Conclusion
Laundry is a boring chore. Having to deal with laundry mishaps is even more boring. The good thing is that the majority of laundry problems are preventable and correctable using some subtle ways.
Ever tried any of the above techniques, yet the problem persists? The real problem may be your washing machine. It’s time to make the maintenance call.
