How to Wash Cotton Clothes - Tips and Tricks | Tide (2024)

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How to Wash Cotton Clothes - Tips and Tricks | Tide? ›

Try to use the coldest temperature possible, unless the item is heavily soiled. Generally, cottons can be washed on the regular washing machine cycle. However, if your washing machine has a cottons setting, feel free to opt for that cycle instead. Remove the load promptly from the washer.

Try to use the coldest temperature possible, unless the item is heavily soiled. Generally, cottons can be washed on the regular washing machine cycle. However, if your washing machine has a cottons setting, feel free to opt for that cycle instead. Remove the load promptly from the washer.

The most important thing to pay attention to when washing cotton is that it does not shrink. Especially at higher temperatures you have the risk that this will happen. We therefore advise to wash cotton fabrics the first time at a lower temperature (maximum 40 degrees) and not to put them directly in the dryer.

And if it's 100% cotton, avoid heat as much as possible. This means washing the fabric with cold or lukewarm water. Reshaping your garments and laying them flat to air-dry is ideal. Line drying is okay, but the warmth of direct sunlight could cause shrinkage.

You can use any mild or heavy detergent on cotton clothes. Because cotton can generally tolerate all sorts of detergents. However, it is better to go for mild detergents.

To prevent clothes from fading, wash garments inside out, don't overstuff your washer, and try to use cold water when possible. High temperatures and hot water may cause cotton fibers to shrink.

Heat is the main culprit when it comes to shrinking and warping the lovely natural fibers in your 100% cotton clothing. Instead, use a clothing rack (they come in many sizes and configurations) or hang items outside away from direct sunlight. If you must use the dryer, pick a cycle without heat.

Cotton Garments

Cotton clothes can generally survive being machine-dried, but pay close attention to their size and blend. Those made of 100% cotton may shrink in a dryer so it's better to air-dry them. Heavy items like beddings and towels can be tumble dried at medium to high heat to ease the process.

Cotton shrinks after the first wash due to the chemical tension that was applied to the fabric and yarn during its production. Because of that process, most cotton items will shrink from the heat and steam exposure often used for machine laundering.

Can you reverse cotton shrinkage? ›

How to Unshrink Cotton. If you find yourself with a tiny top in your hands, fully saturate the damaged shirt in water. Holmes then suggests gently stretching your wet shirt out on a flat surface or drying rack to the desired size. "Keep the shirt in place with household weights like heavy jars or cans," Holmes says.

Washing cotton in hot water can cause shrinkage. While cotton fabrics tend to have a maximum shrinkage capacity, heat can cause your cotton items to permanently shrink. Avoid this by using cold water when washing cotton, or alternating between warm and cold washes.

Warm water has good cleaning power without being too aggressive on most everyday fabrics. It's ideal for cotton, linen, polyester, and durable synthetics that are somewhat dirty, but not heavily soiled (for heavily soiled items, we recommend using hot water if the fabric can tolerate it).

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Cotton garments

Heavy cotton items like towels, sweaters or hoodies can be tumble dried at medium to high temperatures. Lighter garments such as t-shirts may benefit from lower temperatures to prevent shrinkage.

Heat is the main culprit when it comes to shrinking and warping the lovely natural fibers in your 100% cotton clothing. Instead, use a clothing rack (they come in many sizes and configurations) or hang items outside away from direct sunlight. If you must use the dryer, pick a cycle without heat.

When raw cotton is spun into thread, the fibers are stretched, which creates a tension needed to weave the fibers into cotton fabric. However, once cotton fabric is heated - say, tumbling in a dryer - the fibers lose that tension, which causes cotton's slight shrinking after a first wash.