When washing clothing of different material types, it can be overwhelming to understand the different laundry symbols for proper garment care. After spending time and money picking out your perfect wardrobe, you want to make your best items of clothing last for as long as possible. That’s why we recommend taking the time to understand laundry symbols so that you don’t damage any clothing in the wash.
Today we’re going to go through some of the most common laundry symbols for washing and drying. We’ll also help you to discover how to read laundry symbols for bleaching, ironing, and washing at different temperatures to help keep your clothing in perfect condition for as long as possible.
Laundry Symbols for Washing
When you pick up a new item of clothing for the first time, you’ll see a series of symbols that we’ll share today in this laundry symbol guide. The washing laundry symbols indicate whether the clothing item is able to go into the washing machine or whether you need to hand wash it. These symbols all appear like a bucket of water, with different additions based on the instructions. It can be easy to get these ones mixed up, so it’s important you decipher them to avoid putting your clothing in on the wrong settings with your laundry detergent.
Machine wash normal is the most common symbol, and then for machine wash permanent, you’ll find another line is added underneath the bucket. For delicate items, you’ll see two lines underneath. Finally, you have hand wash, which has a picture of a hand entering the water. There’s also the option of do not wash with a cross through the water. If for some reason you can’t see the washing instructions on your garment, be cautious and go for a cooler and more delicate cycle. Consider a laundry softener into your routine as well to help enhance the softness of your fabrics.
Laundry Symbols for Drying
Now that you’ve washed your clothes, it’s onto the drying cycle. The most common methods of drying include air drying, tumble drying, and line drying. You are probably very familiar with line drying and air drying, but it’s tumble drying that requires the most precautions. When looking at how to read laundry symbols, you’ll find that the line dry symbol shows a little line across the box, with an option for shade as well.
Tumble drying is indicated with a box with a circle in it. The heat level is indicated with one dot for low heat, two for medium heat, or three for high heat. This is the thing you need to be most aware of, as too much heat can destroy your clothes. If an item of clothing can’t be tumble dried, you’ll find the cross through the symbol again.
There’s also one circle that is completely black, which is tumble drying with no heat. Some unique symbols you might find are drip dry and dry flat, which are often used for more delicate items.
The use of bleach on clothing is indicated by a triangle shape. The empty triangle means bleach can be used on the item, whereas lines across the triangle recommend only a non-chlorine beach. Finally, it’s very common to find clothing with a crossed-out sign to indicate no bleach is allowed, as this could cause major damage to your clothing and change the shade of the item.
Don’t ever use bleach on an item that has the no bleach symbol, as you never know what your clothing will look like after you’ve used it. You’ll find a lot of clothes don’t recommend bleach, as it’s such a strong chemical to put on any type of material.
Laundry Symbols for Ironing
Once you’ve washed and dried your clothing, ironing is the next stage. The little iron symbol indicates that any temperature of iron can be used. One dot is for low temperature, two dots in the iron suggest medium temperature, and three dots are for high temperature. No steam allowed will be indicated with a cross underneath the iron where the steam is coming out, and do not iron is a large cross through the iron. Always go steady with the heat on your iron to avoid damage to more delicate items of clothing.
Laundry Symbols for Different Washing Temperatures
The temperature you wash your clothing will have a huge impact on the likelihood of shrinkage. As far as temperature, one dot indicates a cold wash, whereas two dots show the item can be washed warm. A series of five dots in the bucket means a hot wash is okay for this type of item.
More robust fabrics will be likely to withstand higher temperatures, but items such as silk or satin will need a cooler wash to preserve their shape and quality. The lower temperature will still be suitable for any type of material, so it’s generally the safest option if you aren’t sure what setting to use.
Laundry Symbols for Using a Washing Machine
You are probably well aware that your washing machine has a variety of different settings, which can offer you the tools to wash any type of clothing item. Machine wash normal is the typical setting, but one line underneath the bucket symbol indicates permanent press is okay. Two lines show that you need a delicate wash so that you don’t do major damage to the fabric. When you are uncertain about what type of setting to use, go with the cautious approach and choose a delicate wash where possible.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are dozens of different symbols and potential combinations for washing your clothing and materials when looking at how to read laundry symbols. We recommend always studying each item of clothing when you first wear it with this laundry symbol guide so that you know which of the settings you can use on your washing machine, tumble drying machine, and iron. You’ll find that many items of clothing have similar symbols, allowing you to group together items to save time on your washing process. This will make your laundry routines more effective and quicker in the long run while still offering your clothing the protection it needs to give you years of use.