Hygiene - Cold wash, No bleach bedding

dragonette

Mine go through at 60 or 90, depending on how long since it had a boil wash. I have chemical sensitivities so the thought of so much bleach makes me a lil queasy tbh. It really shouldn't be needed at all

Kim_kim

I have white Egyptian cotton bedding & white towels.

I wash them all at 60 degrees.

charlies-aunt

I have white cotton bedding too - I use 90 wash cycle with a scoop of D*Z and white vinegar instead of fabric conditioner and always try to try outside whenever practicable.


I think that the low temperature and 'dry clean only' warning and clothing are a way for the manufacturers to avoid paying compensation - if the item shrinks/spoils you have no come back as you didn't follow the (daft) washing instructions


But take no notice of me as I am a renegade in laundry matters as I happily bung just about everything - including "dry clean only" stuff into my machine! But tbh they always seem to wash fine!

maryb

Basically anything that comes into contact with either end of the digestive tract gets washed on 60 degrees here. So obviously sheets towels and Knicks. But it also includes tea towels which indirectly contact your mouth through drying up crockery. I established that as a rule so my Dds would know how to sort laundry. They buy expensive bras which can't be hot washed and Marks and Sparks white tee shirts shrink so it's a more useful rule than undies and whites go in a hot wash

pollypenny

Machines give 90 or 100 degrees for cotton whites, yet garment, bedding and tea-towel labels state something much lower, 40 or 30! Annoying.

Ironing labels are also too low. I like a hot, heavy iron to get things as smooth as I can.

suki1964

All the bedding I have bought over the past few years have 40oC washing instructions, which I have promptly ignored and washed as usual at 60. Same with towels, tea towels and undies

40 may be envoiremently friendly but it doesnt kill germs. 30oC washes can even cause germs to breed.

Those of us old enough to remember the times before machines had cool, quick, Eco etc washes will also remember there weren't all these other products sold to brighten and kill germs. A slosh of dettol in the sheets when someone had been poorly was as much as it got as the rigorous hot water washes put paid to everything else

peachyprice

pollypenny wrote: »

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Ironing labels are also too low. I like a hot, heavy iron to get things as smooth as I can.

Oh definitely, everthing is ironned on max unless it's the kind of fabric that will melt.

As for bedding, 60c wash with surf, no need for bleach at all now since the children have grown up and nobody poops or pees the bed.

coffeehound

charlies-aunt wrote: »

I think that the low temperature and 'dry clean only' warning and clothing are a way for the manufacturers to avoid paying compensation - if the item shrinks/spoils you have no come back as you didn't follow the (daft) washing instructions

Agreed. With cheaper clothes and bedlinen, the stitching often shrinks and puckers the seams so perhaps the cold wash reduces this? I find the worst thing for ruining clothes though is tumble drying on high temperature – goodbye elastic..

Shrimply

It's all very interesting, especially the advice to just ignore the instructions on the label. I fully agree that a lot of it may just be manufacturers covering their backs. But any guides I find online about Egyptian cotton do seem to suggest that they need to be gently washed.

pigpen wrote: »

Mine gets washed at 40'C, spoon of wash powder .. biological so it has the enzyme eating properties.. and fabric conditioner and put on the line.. I can't bleach it, its red, and I wouldnt anyway.

If you have germ issues.. iron it, or wash at 60'C .. why else would you want to use anything else? Do you bleach your undies? They have more cooties than your bed sheets!

Obviously I have more fun in my bed than you do :rotfl: But seriously I wear my underwear for a day, my bedding comes into contact with my body, and my partners for much longer than that. And quite often my underwear ends up in the same wash as the bedding, so yes.

Another point to note, for anyone that's interested in that oxygen bleach is colour-safe. So this isn't really a huge issue.

The whole temperature thing is a bit interesting, 60C probably isn't enough to kill everything anyway, so it seems a bit daft using this over 40C for that argument. Actually I think from the bit of reading I've done that the majority of germs are washed away rather than killed. So I guess it depends how clean your machine is, if you are using some sort of bleach product, or a high temperature wash, fairly regularly, for any single wash most of the germs are probably removed regardless of the temperature or additives.

Mojisola

Shrimply wrote: »

I've just picked up some cheap Egyptian cotton bedding from Argos. It was cheap so if I destroy it it isn't the end of the world, and I'm not expecting it to be super good quality.

charlies-aunt wrote: »

I think that the low temperature and 'dry clean only' warning and clothing are a way for the manufacturers to avoid paying compensation - if the item shrinks/spoils you have no come back as you didn't follow the (daft) washing instructions

I think the instructions are to avoid shrinking - measure a sheet and wash it at the temperature you would normally use for sheets and see what happens.