Wonderful Tips Collection — Garment Washing

Some friends are very diligent and always wash clothes immediately after soaking. Actually, this approach is not scientific. Generally speaking, before washing, it is best to soak clothes in cold water for a while. This has several benefits:
① It can make dust and sweat attached to the surface of the fabric detach from the clothes and enter the water, which can improve the washing quality and save detergent. It utilizes water penetration to fully expand the fabric before entering the washing liquid, so that dirt in the fabric pores is squeezed out to the surface and is easy to remove.
② Some colorfastness of water-washed dyed fabrics is poor and prone to fading. Pre-soaking can timely detect these problems, facilitating preventive measures during washing. The amount of water for soaking should be sufficient, and soaking time depends on the type, material, age, dirtiness, and colorfastness of the clothes. Generally, down jackets 5–10 minutes, synthetic fiber clothing 15 minutes, fine wool clothing 15–20 minutes, coarse wool clothing 20–30 minutes, blankets and wool sweaters 20 minutes.

Four taboos for water washing clothes
1. Avoid prolonged soaking. Tests show that dirt in clothing fibers effectively penetrates water after about 14 minutes of soaking, making it easiest to clean. Soaking too long makes washing more time-consuming and laborious.
2. Avoid excessive detergent. Detergent only shows its surface activity at a certain concentration. If too concentrated, the decontamination ability weakens.
3. Avoid adding detergent during washing. Adding detergent during washing only dissolves it in already dirty water, losing its effectiveness.
4. Avoid mixing soap and detergent: detergent is alkaline, while soap is generally weakly acidic. Mixing them causes neutralization, which reduces cleaning effectiveness.

Handling of water-washed color transfer
Excessive washing temperature causes color transfer, which should be noted during washing. Once color transfer occurs, quickly lift and rinse the clothes up and down in the original washing liquid, then put them into cold water for washing. If that doesn't work, repeatedly lift and rinse the clothes in hot soap-alkali solution (around 80°C, slightly concentrated), then rinse with warm water. Generally, this removes the color transfer. If white clothes still have marks, use bleaching powder or sodium hypochlorite solution to clean.

Handling of water-washed "flowering"
"Flowering" refers to some areas becoming lighter in color after washing. This is mostly caused by excessive force during washing, uneven operation, uneven brushing, or too high water temperature. Mild "flowering" can be laid flat on a clean, smooth board, brushed twice with slight force, then add a small amount of bleaching powder (half a tablespoon per 5 liters of solution) to hot mild soap solution, and quickly lift and rinse the clothes up and down several times in the soap solution. Severe "flowering" requires re-dyeing.
When washing pure cotton velvet clothing, first cold soak and pre-wash the clothes with a washing machine, then brush heavily soiled parts with soap. Brush gently to avoid local fading or velvet shedding. After brushing, wash with detergent at room temperature for 15 minutes, then rinse with warm and cold water, spin dry and air dry.

Water washing denim clothes
Denim clothes generally become stiff when wet, making washing difficult. For such clothes, first cold soak, then brush with soap. After brushing, machine wash with the washing machine at an optimal temperature of 50°C for 15 minutes, then rinse and air dry.

Water washing down jackets
The down inside down jackets absorbs water containing a large amount of detergent. During drying, the water flows to areas that dry faster, leaving water marks which are deposits of dirty detergent on the surface. To avoid water marks when washing down jackets, first control the amount of detergent, appropriately raise the washing temperature, and ensure thorough rinsing to solve detergent residue problems. Also, soaking in clean water before washing and acid neutralization after washing can help. If the down jacket is of poor quality, multiple repeated washes are needed to clean the dirty down inside before no marks remain.

Water washing cotton and linen fabrics
The common cleaning method is water washing. In hard water areas, due to high water hardness, about 20%-40% of residues combine with calcium salts during washing, greatly increasing detergent consumption. Using correct water washing methods can greatly reduce consumption and improve cleaning quality.
(1) Boiling wash. Boiling wash can remove oil stains and bacteria from clothes. It is simple and easy: just immerse clothes in boiling water to sterilize and remove oil. When work clothes have heavy stains or grease, add some pure kerosene to the boiling pot. Another method: take 8 liters of water in a boiling pot, then add 100 grams of soap, 30 grams of soda (sodium carbonate), 30 grams of silica gel, and 8 milliliters of kerosene, mix well, then put cotton and linen products into the pot for boiling wash.
(2) Bleaching method. Bleaching can clean heavily soiled clothes, kill germs, and disinfect. The method is simple, requiring only bleaching powder or hydrogen peroxide. The steps are: first dissolve 10-15 grams of bleaching powder in 5-8 milliliters of water until it forms a paste, then add 1 liter of water and let it stand until the solution becomes clear, then add 3 kilograms of clothes for bleaching. Using hydrogen peroxide as a bleaching agent prevents damage to the clothes. When using, take 10-15 milliliters of 3% hydrogen peroxide and add it to 2 liters of water. To speed up bleaching, a small amount of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, or ammonia water can be added, keeping the bleaching water temperature around 30 degrees Celsius. If the water temperature is heated to 60-70 degrees, the bleaching time will be shorter.

Washing silk and woolen fabrics
(1) Valuable clothes such as suits and jackets should be dry cleaned using gasoline as the cleaning agent. Washing with soap will damage the clothes, causing changes in style, size, and color.
(2) White woolen fabrics should first be moistened in soap (or neutral detergent) solution before washing. Colored woolen fabrics should not be soaked. The washing water temperature should be controlled between 40-50 degrees Celsius. After soaking, woolen fabrics should be gently wrung out without rubbing forcefully. Rough woolen fabrics can be gently brushed.
(3) After washing woolen fabrics, rinse several times in clean water at about 30 degrees Celsius to remove almost all detergent residues.
(4) To neutralize alkaline residues on woolen fabrics, add 12-25 milliliters of white vinegar to a bucket of water, then soak the woolen fabrics in it, and finally rinse with clean water. Woolen fabrics treated with vinegar solution will be bright as new, soft, and have a good luster.
(5) When washing wool blankets, heat the water to boiling, add 250 milliliters of soap solution and 1 tablespoon (about 11 milliliters) of borax. After fully dissolving, soak the blanket in it. After soaking for 6 hours, rub the dirtiest parts of the blanket with the cleaning solution at 40-45 degrees Celsius. After cleaning the dirtiest parts, rinse twice with warm water, then wash several times with cold water until all soap residues are removed. After drying, iron the blanket through a sheet with an electric iron at a moderate temperature.
(6) The washing method for natural silk fabrics such as silk is the same as for wool blankets. Rayon has low strength and should not be rubbed or beaten with a wooden stick. It can only be soaked in water with detergent for 1-2 hours and then rinsed until all detergent residues are removed. To remove dirt or acid stains on silk fabrics, add 1 gram of ammonia solution mixed with 1 liter of water or 1 gram of sodium carbonate mixed with 1 liter of water to the soaking liquid during the first soak. To keep the silk fabric color bright, add some vinegar to the water during the last rinse, soak the silk fabric for 5 minutes, let the water naturally drain, then dry wrapped in a clean dry sheet. When washing rayon fabrics, keep the temperature around 40 degrees Celsius, and iron at 80-100 degrees Celsius.

Washing woolen clothes
Woolen clothes are mostly suitable for dry cleaning, but when washing with water, the following issues must be noted:
1. When washing woolen clothes with water, the soaking time should not be too long, ideally completed within 5-10 minutes.
2. The washing temperature should not be too high, and clothes should not be soaked in hot water. Generally, the washing temperature is controlled around 40°C to prevent wool fabrics from hardening, shrinking, and losing elasticity.
3. Woolen clothes have poor alkali resistance and cannot use high concentration or concentrated strong alkaline detergents. Generally, low-alkaline or neutral detergents are used. The concentration and amount of alkali solution must be determined according to the quantity and degree of dirt on the woolen clothes.
4. When hand washing, apply even and moderate force to avoid pilling or fuzzing during washing.
5. After washing, especially during the last rinse with clean water, add glacial acetic acid to the water at a concentration of 0.2-0.3% (2-3 milliliters per liter of water), then rinse again. This removes (neutralizes) residual alkali in woolen clothes, restoring softness and luster to the fibers.

Choosing between water washing and dry cleaning for clothes
Laundry methods mainly include water washing and dry cleaning. Whether clothes are washed with water or dry cleaned, the principle is to remove surface dirt without affecting fibers and color. Laundry workers must understand that not all clothes can be dry cleaned, nor can all clothes be water washed. For some clothes that can be both dry cleaned and water washed, the choice should be based on the characteristics of dry cleaning and water washing.
Compared with dry cleaning, water washing has three main advantages:
First, water washing costs less. Water washing uses water as the main raw material and adds some detergent during washing, while dry cleaning uses and consumes dry cleaning agents such as perchloroethylene and petroleum solvents. Comparatively, a ton of water costs only a few yuan, while a kilogram of dry cleaning agent costs several yuan.
Second, water washing has a high cleaning power. In terms of the wetting effect of water itself, it is not as good as dry cleaning agents, but water has a stronger dissolving ability and can dissolve detergents mainly composed of various surfactants. During the washing process, it plays roles such as wetting, emulsifying, and foaming, which have good dirt removal capabilities. Dry cleaning agents can only dissolve a small amount of surfactants.
Third, water washing is the most environmentally friendly. Nowadays, green laundry is advocated, and water washing, recognized as ecological washing, is more environmentally friendly compared to dry cleaning. Whether it is petroleum dry cleaning machines or fully enclosed perchloroethylene dry cleaning machines, they are relatively older dry cleaning machines that reduce some pollution indicators, because both petroleum and perchloroethylene are organic solvents that affect the environment and human health.
The advantage of dry cleaning lies in its ability to clean some garments that cannot be washed with water. This is mainly reflected in that garments after dry cleaning do not shrink, fade, foam, or deform. For some protein fibers and viscose fiber garments, water washing causes severe shrinkage, resulting in a smaller garment shape after washing. Most garment colors are dyed under high temperature conditions using some water-soluble dyes, so water washing easily causes fading. Dry cleaning agents are insoluble in water, so dry cleaning garments are less likely to shrink or fade. Some garments have shaped glue interlinings; if washed with water, because the glue contains some water-soluble resins, washing will cause the garment to delaminate and foam.
In summary, the choice of washing method for garments should be based on the type and nature of the fabric fibers, the characteristics of the garment, and the laundry's own conditions to select an appropriate washing method. The scope of water washing by garment fiber includes: cotton, linen, and synthetic fiber fabrics. For example, cotton fibers are bundle fibers with strong stain adsorption ability and relatively low shrinkage rate, so water washing can be chosen. Down jackets can only be water washed and not dry cleaned; dry cleaning wastes solvent and is not easy to clean. The main reason is that petroleum dry cleaning causes the down to clump and harden. Dry cleaning scope includes viscose fibers (rayon), wool, and silk garments. These types of garments easily shrink severely if water washed; for example, silk garments fade easily with water washing, and artificial leather garments tend to crack and harden with dry cleaning. Plastic items (such as buttons) should be removed from garments before perchloroethylene dry cleaning.
In short, as a qualified laundry worker, one must not only have skilled techniques but also rich work experience to ensure the quality and quantity of garment washing.