Sick and tired of shrinking my clothes...

[BD2003]

Ok, someone needs to explain this whole laundry thing to me, because I keep focking my wash up, and my mother apparently has had no idea how to wash laundry for at least my own 22 years of life...

Wtf is it exactly that makes the clothes shrink? She tells me its cause the water was too hot. So I ask her if hot water makes things shrink, why dont we wash everything in bone cold water? Not a clue. So if it is the hot water that makes it shrink, wtf..why DONT we wash everything with freezing cold water?

Then a friend of mine says its the drier that shrinks clothes. So if the dryer will inevitably shrink your clothes, why the hell does anyone use them?

I know its kind of pathetic for a 22 year old to not know how to do the laundry, but apparently I havent had the best teacher...

 

[loup garou]

Both hot water and the drier wil shrink your clothes. You do realize that most washers have a setting for water temperature, right? And you can set your drier for tumble dry instead of heated dry? Oh, and you could also air dry your clothes and *GASP* iron them!!! Or fsck all that and get everything drycleaned..

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Kinda pathetic? You've turned it into rocket science :Q Read the labels, seperate white and colors and wash stains in cold because hot sets the stain. Most cotton can be tumbled dry, just use the delicates cycle and don't overdry....geeesh

 

[rgwalt]

I wash all my clothes other than underware and socks in cold water. Underware and socks get washed in hot water. As far as the dryer goes, your clothes won't shrink in the dryer unless you over-dry them (that is leave them in longer than it takes for the water to evaporate).

Ryan

 

[BD2003]

I do read the labels, and thats whats fvcking me up. I throw all the whites in one load, press the whites button, and voila, shrinked shirts. Go figure.

And oddly enough, I've never seen a drier with "tumble dry". All the ones around here are low heat or high heat.

But youre telling me I have to sit by the damn dryer and keep checking that they dont over dry? I always just threw em in, turned it on, and came back in an hour. Sigh...

Keep the condescending remarks coming. I'm going to be keeping a list of your names, and I'm going to make sure that each and every one of you get talked down to next time youre confused about something. :|

And for the record, I'm clueless about this because for most of my life women have been washing my clothes for me, like theyre supposed to.

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: rgwalt
I wash all my clothes other than underware and socks in cold water. Underware and socks get washed in hot water. As far as the dryer goes, your clothes won't shrink in the dryer unless you over-dry them (that is leave them in longer than it takes for the water to evaporate).

Ryan

You've been involved in computers too long. It's underwear.

Anyway, did you ever consider that maybe your clothes are the same size, but you've gotten bigger?

 

[StattlichPassat]

See, the washers and dryers don't give you a wide variety of options, so you get 'shrunk' or 'still wet' out of the dryer. It really sucks and there's nothing I can do about it. I shrink mine all the time unfortunately.

 

[BD2003]

Anyway, did you ever consider that maybe your clothes are the same size, but you've gotten bigger?

I bought the shirts last week. Unless I managed to get 30 pounds heavier, yet somehow fool myself that I dont look any fatter, and fool myself into thinking the scale is lying to me.....

 

[Scipionix]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Ok, someone needs to explain this whole laundry thing to me, because I keep focking my wash up, and my mother apparently has had no idea how to wash laundry for at least my own 22 years of life...

Wtf is it exactly that makes the clothes shrink? She tells me its cause the water was too hot. So I ask her if hot water makes things shrink, why dont we wash everything in bone cold water? Not a clue. So if it is the hot water that makes it shrink, wtf..why DONT we wash everything with freezing cold water?

Then a friend of mine says its the drier that shrinks clothes. So if the dryer will inevitably shrink your clothes, why the hell does anyone use them?

I know its kind of pathetic for a 22 year old to not know how to do the laundry, but apparently I havent had the best teacher...

Cotton inevitably shrinks unless you use cold washes and line drying. Fortunately it stops shrinking at some point. It doesn't shrink all that much, so if you account for shrinkage when buying clothes it's not a big dea. Wool, on the other hand, just keeps on shrinking.

 

[rgwalt]

Originally posted by: pulse8

Originally posted by: rgwalt
I wash all my clothes other than underware and socks in cold water. Underware and socks get washed in hot water. As far as the dryer goes, your clothes won't shrink in the dryer unless you over-dry them (that is leave them in longer than it takes for the water to evaporate).

Ryan

You've been involved in computers too long. It's underwear.

Anyway, did you ever consider that maybe your clothes are the same size, but you've gotten bigger?

I was wondering if I spelled that wrong... Ah well, time to get back to work on Haynes v 2.3.1c

Ryan

 

[Amused]

What I've learned:

Cotton Ts and Polos shrink in the drier, even on low heat. So I buy one size bigger polos and Ts. XL works fine. Sometimes XXL for Ts if they seem thin. The same for sweat shirts and sweat pants.

Jeans no longer shrink as much as they used to, so I can buy them to fit, and they still fit after washing in warm and drying with low heat. Same with khakis.

Everything else I have cleaned. I had a cleaner once launder (as opposed to dry clean, as they should have) a fine lambswool sweater. They shrunk it to extra, extra small... and bought it.

For cotton sweaters, I never dry them. I lay them out on a net, reshape them, and allow them to air dry.

I've learned that the drier shrinks clothes, not the washer. Or, at least, I've never had anything shrink in the washer. But for me, all the dramatic shrinkage I've experianced has happened in the drier (and in cold pools ).

Finally, I've learned with casual clothes such as polos and Ts to anticipate and expect shrinkage, and not try to avoid it or minimize it. Why? Because one day that damn shirt is going to end up in the drier no matter what I do. I might as well figure that into the equation.

 

[iotone]

i hate having my t-shirts shrink, and my family had no clue how to keep them from shrinking, so i had to find this out myself... i usually wash them in cold water and hang dry them... back at home (being that i'm filipino) we had a clothesline in the back, so i would just use good ol' sunlight to dry my shirts, and they never really shrank...

you just gotta watch out cuz hangin' clothes out to dry can cause your clothes to fade over time (well, quicker than normal i guess??)...

my 2cents on it anyways...

 

[RossMAN]

My t-shirts always shrink which is fscking annoying, so here's what I do:

1) From now on buy shirts which are 1x larger than you are, if you wear a Large buy an X-Large.
2) Wash with warm & cold water or cold water only.
3) Use tumble dry (if available) or better yet dry your clothes outside in the fresh air (almost impossible here since it rains 9 months out of the year).

 

[Therapist928]

Hot water shrinks clothes. Why would anyone use hot water? Because it's easier to dissolve the detergent and is much better for getting out stains and dirt.

Cold water doesn't do as good of a job in cleaning, but of course doesn't shrink clothes as much. Also, colors tend not to bleed as much when in cold water.

On most machines a button marked "whites" means hot water, since whites don't have color to bleed, whereas a button marked "bright colors" or something similar means cold water, to cut down on color bleeding.

Finally - a definitive answer to all of BD2003's questions. It only took 13 replies!

 

[ProviaFan]

I just buy clothes a size larger than I want, to account for the inevitable shrinking that's going to occur.

 

[rahvin]

As has already been pointed out, unless the garment says it's preshrunk (like most levi's are these days) it will shrink if it's made from a natural fiber. Period. Account for shrinkage when you buy the clothes man, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

 

[Fausto]

Here's what works for me:

1. Separate laundry by colors: whites, lights (khaki and similar) and darks. Never, ever allow anything red to sneak into your whites...you will be sorry unless you like pink.

2. Wash everything but whites in cold water. I set the whites to wash in warm and rinse in cold. Use bleach with whites.

3. Toss everything in the dryer (other than sweaters and stuff that needs to be laid out flat) for 15-20min on LOW. You don't really want to dry everything, just fluff up shirts and slacks a bit so they don't dry wrinkled.

4. Dig through the dryer and pull out everything you don't want to shrink (for me, this is polo shirts, button-downs, slacks and jeans). Hang this stuff up to dry and restart the dryer on med to dry the rest of your stuff. My t-shirts, boxers and such have been washed a zillion times and I know they won't shrink.

This is kind of a PITA, but it's better than having to squash into a somewhat shrunken pair of jeans.

Fausto

 

[Rivergater]

i had this same exact problem but then i found out that my clothes weren't the problem, i was getting fat.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Therapist928
Hot water shrinks clothes. Why would anyone use hot water? Because it's easier to dissolve the detergent and is much better for getting out stains and dirt.

Cold water doesn't do as good of a job in cleaning, but of course doesn't shrink clothes as much. Also, colors tend not to bleed as much when in cold water.

On most machines a button marked "whites" means hot water, since whites don't have color to bleed, whereas a button marked "bright colors" or something similar means cold water, to cut down on color bleeding.

Finally - a definitive answer to all of BD2003's questions. It only took 13 replies!

I'll repeat what I said before: In the 20 odd years I've been doing my own laundry, I have never noticed any significant shrinking of my clothes due to washing in hot water alone. The drier has always been the culprit.

 

[Madcowz]

When I left for college I had to start doing my own laundry *gasp*, and I remember my first few loads were a complete mess. I put my most expensive merino wool sweaters in the washer and dryer only to find them come out 5 sizes smaller... and while some of colored t-shirts were getting bleach stains all over the place, others were losing their color quickly... Now how do I prevent this? I now know not to put wool in the dryer, but I don't know how to prevent color loss or bleach stains. I use regular detergent although I assume there's some bleach in it. Any particular detergent recommendations?

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Just follow the labels.

drying shrinks more than washing.

 

[db]

When you buy clothes, buy them according to how you want to clean your clothes. If you want to keep the specialized loads to a minimum, you need to buy clothes accordingly (either don't buy or buy larger sizes).

Jeans will shrink in length; any shrinkage elsewhere will stretch back to fit you.
All cottom shrinks--buy accordingly.
If you buy wool, you will have to deal with cleaning it (dry clean, or cold & delicate in a laundry wash bag and air dry on a rack (do extra spin)) .

If cotton fits you perfectly before it's washed, once you wash it you're screwed.