This Is How to Hand-Wash Clothes the Right Way, According to Experts
When it comes to doing your laundry, you might head straight to a laundromat, shared facility, or use an in-house washer and dryer. But if you don’t have these services near you or don’t have the luxury of a washing machine in your home (or have delicate clothing), you might have to hand-wash your clothes.
Need some tips on getting the job done? Below, we asked experts to share how to hand-wash clothes (including any care advice, steps to follow, and products to use), as well as how to sanitize and dry them at home.
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What You’ll Need:
Drying rack, hangers, or alternative solution of air-drying clothes
Kitchen sink
Gentle hand soap (or other soap/detergent, see: What Kinds of Soaps or Detergents Should You Use for Which Fibers?)
Water
How to Hand-Wash Clothes (and Air-Dry Them)
Follow the steps below to learn how to hand-wash clothes at home and air-dry them.
Step 1: Clean the sink.
Fully clean the sink you’ll be using to hand-wash your clothes. Laundry expert Patric Richardson (also known as “The Laundry Evangelist”), who’s the author of Laundry Love and founder of the Mona Williams boutique store, says the kitchen sink is the best place to hand-wash clothes because not everyone has a bathtub at home, and the average bathroom sink usually isn’t all that spacious. Most kitchen sinks, he says, are roomy enough to wash a few pieces at once.
Step 2: Sort clothes.
Just like when you’re using a laundry machine, you want to make sure to follow your method of separating clothing by color or type, Richardson suggests. Double-check the care instructions to see that the article of clothing is safe to hand-wash, too!
Step 3: Put clothes in warm water.
Once you have a load ready (make sure it isn’t taking up too much room in your sink), fill up the sink with warm water and make sure your clothes are fully immersed.
Step 4: Use a gentle cleaner.
You should use a gentle or mild cleaner for hand-washing clothes. Richardson actually likes to use a gentle hand soap or shampoo instead of regular laundry detergent since detergent can be close to impossible to hand-rinse out of your clothes. Apply four to five pumps of the hand soap to your kitchen sink load or a very small amount of a laundry detergent. Laundry soap is another option you can use, but never use dish soap.
Step 5: Soak your clothes.
Leave your clothes in the soapy water for around 20 minutes, manipulating them with your hands every three to four minutes without getting too hard or aggressive.
Step 6: Rinse your clothes gently.
Pull the stopper, let the water run out, then replace the stopper and fill the sink as full as you can with cool (not ice cold) water. Swish the clothes around again — you’ll notice the water is relatively clearer.
Step 7: Repeat for a final clean.
Pull the stopper one last time, swish the clothes with your hands, and the water should be clear. Your clothes should be clean and ready to dry! Just make sure to clean your hands and sink (again) once you’re done.
Step 8: Air-dry.
Once your clothes are all fresh and clean, drying them takes very little work. Give them a wring so extra liquid comes out, shake the wrinkles out, and then put them on hangers or a drying rack to dry. It’s best to dry your clothes outside (the sunlight helps kill bacteria), but you can use anything, like chairs or shower curtain rods, inside if you don’t have outdoor space.
How to Sanitize Hand-Washed Clothes
If there’s a sickness coming around and you want to sanitize your clothes in addition to cleaning them, the good news is that the soap you’re using to hand-wash will likely take care of lingering pathogens. The soap you wash your hands with, Richardson explains, contains lipids, which attach to bacteria and viruses. So when you wash, the soap literally takes the germs off the garments and they go down the drain.
However, it’s heat that really does most of the sanitizing action. If you want to harness heat to kill germs on your clothing when hand-washing, you can steam or iron your clothes after you wash them. According to the CDC, heat of 167°F or more is sufficient to kill flu viruses, and many steamers can reach temperatures of 200°F or more.
How Often Should You Wash and Sanitize Your Clothes?
Generally, Richardson isn’t normally a fan of washing your clothes more than you need to. If you’re just hanging out at home, wear your clothes until you absolutely need to wash them — until you spill something or the garment appears truly dirty. Usually clothes that aren’t exposed to outside germs can go without sanitizing for six to seven wearings, Richardson says.
No matter what you’re washing, the important thing is to be realistic. If you’re around someone who is sick, wash your clothes just like you would wash your hands. If you can’t wash the dirty clothes immediately, quarantine them in a hamper until you can.
Which Clothes Should You Hand-Wash, and When?
According to Elizabeth Shields, the operations manager at Super Cleaning Service Louisville, handwashing is ideal not just for clothes made out of delicate fabric, but also for new clothing. That way, she says, “you can observe if the color bleeds.”
Shields also suggests hand-washing anything with a fresh stain to ensure it’s completely removed and doesn’t set in, and anything made of silk, lace, or a fuzzy fabric. You can also easily hand-wash single items that have been left behind in a hamper. Many people hand-wash clothes in the sink or tub if they’re traveling and no laundry facility is available, as well.
What Kinds of Soaps or Detergents Should You Use for Which Fibers?
Richardson prefers a gentle hand soap while Shields likes to use Seventh Generation liquid detergent for all her hand-washing needs, because it’s plant-based and doesn’t dry out her hands.
Nishant Prasad, cofounder at Clean Fanatics, breaks it down by fabric. For animal fibers like wool, silk, and cashmere, he uses a pH-neutral detergent, a gentle soap like baby shampoo, or a detergent specifically for wool. “Alkaline detergents can strip the fabric’s natural oils, leaving them rough or brittle,” he says.
If you’re washing a plant fiber, like linen, cotton, or hemp, go ahead and use a regular mild liquid detergent. Prasad also pretreats stains with a paste made of baking soda and water. Synthetic fabrics (nylon, polyester, and spandex) can be washed with a standard detergent, but be sure not to use any type of fabric softener — it can coat the fibers and alter their breathability.
Further Reading
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