You Can Wash Dry Clean Only Clothes, Here’s How

What you’re probably safe to wash at home

Washing at home—either by machine or hand—is not only the more cost-effective option, but the more sustainable one too. Wool, delicates, silk, cotton and cashmere all make the at-home care cut. While many brands list polyester as dry clean only, it’s another fibre that—when handled delicately—can generally be washed at home. The one caveat, “if you are laundering a ‘dry clean only’ item, always perform a water test on an inconspicuous area of the garment. If you see colour bleeding, warping, shrinkage, etc., take it to the dry cleaner,” caution Whiting and Boyd.

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Is dry cleaning bad for clothes?

When it comes to dry cleaning your clothes, the high drying temperatures and chemicals used in the dry–cleaning process can directly damage your garments or slowly decrease their lifespan.

Can you iron suit pants?

Focus on the wrinkles and begin to press them out carefully. Take care to ensure the suits vents are aligned if you are pressing them. To iron trousers, lay them flat on the ironing board, ensuring sure the seams are aligned and the fabric is as smooth as possible.

1: Perc Is Toxic

Ah, the sweet smell of perc! Jupiterimages/Thinkstock

Perc, which we’ve established is the standard dry cleaning solvent, is a nasty piece of work. It does real damage when it leaches into the soil, where it can enter groundwater supplies. And that sweet smell that comes off clothes when they’re fresh from the dry cleaner’s? That’s perc you’re inhaling.

The good news, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, is that most people are at little risk for contamination. And the extremely low level of exposure that dry cleaners’ customers get is relatively harmless. However, in situations where workers are exposed to high levels of perc on a regular basis, danger rises dramatically. While perc hasn’t been shown conclusively to cause cancer in humans, the International Agency of Research on Cancer has designated it a probable human carcinogen. Let’s put it this way — if you have a bottle lying around, don’t drink it.

6: At-home Dry Cleaning Is a Real Option

With at-home dry cleaning, you pre-treat stains and then toss clothes inside a bag with a sheet that releases cleaning chemicals while being tumbled in your dryer. When clothes come out, the chemicals have loosened and absorbed the stains, leaving behind a light fragrance to cover any lingering odors.

But does at-home dry cleaning work as well as the real thing? While home dry cleaning systems can save you money, they’re only first-aid kits for clothes. For the day-to-day problems like the smell of cigarette smoke and little droplets of wine and soup, at-home dry cleaner sheets work great. For more serious emergencies, you’re still better off taking them to your local dry cleaner’s.

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About this article

Co-authored by: Safir Ali Professional Dry Cleaner This article was co-authored by Safir Ali. Safir Ali is the Co-Founder and CEO of Hamper Dry Cleaning and Laundry, a startup in Houston, Texas reinventing the laundry industry. With over six years of experience launching and operating Hamper, Safir specializes in innovative ways to simplify dry cleaning using the experience from his family’s business. Safir holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Texas A&M University. Hamper offers 24/7 on-demand dry cleaning and laundry through delivery and kiosk services. Hamper has been featured on the Houston Rockets, Station Houston, the Houston Business Journal, BBVA, Yahoo Finance, and Innovation Map. This article has been viewed 877,138 times. How helpful is this? Co-authors: 11 Updated: February 21, 2022 Views: 877,138

Article SummaryX

Before you wash a dry clean only garment, make sure it is made from wool, silk, or cotton because other fabrics need to be professionally cleaned. If they are made from those more durable fibers, fill a bucket will cold water and some soap flakes or detergent like woolite. Dip the garment in that water multiple times and rub any soiled areas until they are cleaned. Then, wrap the garment in a towel and squeeze the excess water out of it before you hang it up to dry. Keep reading to learn how to machine wash cotton, linen, and polyesters!

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6 Steps to Clean a Dry Clean Only Comforter

Placing the comforter in the washing machine

Step one is perhaps the most ignorant part. By this, we mean to say is that most people don’t care about it.

Things will be better if you own a big washing machine. A large front-loading washing machine with fewer disturbances (minimum number of clothes) will offer better results. 

Using the right amount of detergent

This is important. 

Using the cleaning agents we offered will certainly be effective. Still, using mild amounts is recommended if you’re willing to keep the insulating properties intact.  

Warm washing, cold rinsing

With comforters, it must get the proper care while cleaning with a washing machine. 

That is why we recommend simply a move-over along with two rinse cycles (not more than that). 

Every particle of the detergent should exit the comforter. Otherwise, there may be issues with the material wholeness. 

Drying a dry clean only comforter

You can always ask this question: can you put a dry clean only comforter in the dryer?

The answer, in general, is yes. And that’s what we will be doing here.

Take a dryer of large capacity and put the comforter in it. Make sure that it doesn’t spend too much time in the dryer. Usually, a couple of hours should be enough.  

You’d want to be as patient as possible with such a delicate task. This will ensure a clean outcome with no possibility of mold growth. 

Including dryer balls

Dryer balls are usually there to maintain the fluffiness. Use 4 to 5 balls in the dryer so that it can help with maintaining the evenness of the comforter. 

A good practice here would be to fluff up the comforter more than 5 times by taking it out of the dryer. This will ensure a proper cleanup along with the right consistency.  

Setting it down

After the previous step, all you need to do is get the comforter out and let it sit outside for some time. 30 minutes to an hour in the sun should be plenty. It’s for the sake of air circulation. 

And that’s it. 

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Why tough stains are dry cleaner territory

“You don’t want them to sit and set over time,” advises Tullio-Pow. Oil-based stains are harder to remove than water-based stains, so get those ones to the cleaner stat.

If you’re looking to cut back on your dry-cleaning bill, Tullio-Pow recommends, “something as simple as wearing a scarf around your neck so that [a] leather collar isn’t coming into contact with the oils in your skin.” Same goes for pieces that you can layer over a camisole that will absorb body oils. “This will make a big difference in garment longevity,” she says.

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