Poor clothes

I usually don’t care about what type of material my clothes are made out of. I buy clothes, I use them and let the machines do the rest. I was not aware that some clothes/cloth are not suitable for machine wash and dry due to some reasons. In our home in the Philippines, we seldom use our washing machine for whatever reason, I don’t really know; I honestly didn’t care about it as long as I see my clothes back in my cabinet– cleaned and ironed. But since I am living independently at the present time (and for three more months), I am responsible for my own stuff; I need to do everything for myself. I can’t just ask someone to cook/buy food for me, to wash my clothes, etcetera etcetera. I unfortunately do not have my own servant; that being the case, I have to do things on my own.

To keep this post short, I won’t tackle the other things anymore for my main purpose is to tell you guys about what I keep on noticing after every laundry sesh. My clothes shrink after washing them. I don’t know if it is just me getting big or it is my clothes that keeps on getting smaller. It is just now that I realized that my clothes are shrinking after seeing some of my new clothes go from small to extra small after the first wash. It all seemed like a midriff/hanging shirt after getting them off the dryer– and it upsets me big time because they were my top picks.

I googled the cause of the shrinking after concluding that it is the machines fault, and not me just gaining weight. After a couple of articles I’ve browsed through, I understand that some clothes are not meant for washing machines and dryers. I immediately went to my cabinet to check the tags/labels inside my shirts. It was (in actual fact) my first time to read what’s written on it for I actually thought they were useless. After looking through the caring instructions of my shirts and dresses, most of them state they should be hand washed and line/air dried. Still depends on the material though. But in general, you have to use cold water instead of hot and if you dry them in the dryer, set the dryer to the appropriate setting based on what your shirt is made out of. They say high heat is what shrinks them usually, so don’t use high heat anymore just cause (you believe) your clothes will dry faster. (Haha, nope) You could also remove clothes that have a tendency to shrink (natural fibbers such as cotton and wool) when they are still slightly damp and just hang them to air dry. It is said that the shrinking (most of the time) is caused by the dryer and not the washing machine.

For everyone’s information:

– Polyester has a tendency to shrink if put in the dryer or hot water. 
– Cotton, if not preshrunk will shrink at least 2-4% the first time it is washed, so never buy to fit tight or it will not fit after it is washed. 
– Any wool items will shrink with agitation, even if it is in delicate! 
– Jeans are mostly made of Cotton – be careful not to buy to tight or too short. Read care tag on each brand, they differ. 
– Always make sure that lights are washed only with lights and dark with dark. Delicate with delicate.
– If you know that a materials will run, wash separately. This is mostly reds and orange colors. However, it can be any dark or bright color. Wash in COLD water. 
– Spandex has a real tendency to shrink, a lot of materials are mixed with spandex now so really check your labels. Always wash spandex in cold water and DO NOT PUT IN DRYER, dry as flat as possible. If possible, hang on a hanger.

by groveton_32 😛

It sucks to know about it because now I have to hand wash some of my apparels. 😛 but I’d rather wash them manually than wear tight clothes. If this happen to be one of your problems as well, I hope this post helps. 🙂