Something I read online quite often that makes me chuckle

[ryner1988]

Hey all,

So I wasn't quite sure which forum to put this in, but was wondering if any of you have seen some of the laundry advice on the internet, which is sometimes just downright amusing to me.

My favorite is the how-tis on ow to wash jeans. Use the delicate cycle, only wash every few months, only wash with other jeans, don't dry, yada yada. Treat them like their your first born child, with the utmost care and gentle handling. What the hell??? They're jeans! Jeans are supposed to be durable, simple, every day items. Since when did we start treating jeans like the suit one might have worn to their wedding or like they're made of the finest material in the world? Am I just missing the point of jeans? LOL

Me personally, I wash jeans with my towels, since most of my towels are dark, and throw them in the dryer on the same heat setting as the towels, which is medium. They come out fine every time. Even on my old dryer, with high heat, my jeans were always fine being washed on warm and dried on high.

Someone shed some light on this for me. Are jeans a staple in the wardrobe, or are they an item meant to be handled with more care than we typically do? Why are online items telling us to wash jeans like we would wash our delicates?

Ryne

 

[cleanteamofny]

Jeans should be dried on low to prevent the dryer from having that old lady blue hair tint on the door and rear bulk head of the dryer.

I would wash Jeans and towels separately if they are washed in a top loader machine. You can get away with murder if it was washed in a front loader!

 

[askolover]

I can remember when I was a teenager my Levi's care tag read "machine wash hot"!  My mother never did, she always washes in warm.  I read somewhere that the blue staining in the dryer come from washing in cold water.  Don't know how true that is, but my dryer isn't stained blue and I always wash in very warm water and dry on hi or med heat.

 

[kb0nes]

For those buying $100+ jeans I can see being a little silly like this. Heck I have known people that would dry clean jeans to try to minimize fading.

I started buying Duluth Trading jeans a few years ago. I do wear them a few times between washings but then they get a hot'ish wash and a hot dry. Finally wore a hole through my oldest pair. They outlast Levi's 3 or 4 to 1 for less then twice the cost, sold! Best jeans I have ever owned.

 

[yogitunes]

yeah, cold washes will tint the dryers drum blue.......

like it or not, denim is designed to fade....that's usually when they fit best.....remember years ago when we would purchase new jeans, and wash 10 or 15 times, one to fade them, and two, the soften the stiff material.....

now they come pre-faded, pre-washed, pre-softened....

for the most part, to keep my black jeans darkest, a cold rinse and spin only, with a bit of woolite, turned inside out......over time, they still fade, and then we break out the Rit Dye....

just note, skinny jeans are just boners xrays.....

can't count how many times we see these sort of stories of proper ways of doing laundry...and wonder...Where the heck are they getting their information!

 

[warmsecondrinse]

I used to work for the Gap.

According to our training jeans were to be washed inside out so that the fading would be more even. Lukewarm water was supposed to cause the least fading. However, if the jeans were stained with something that required hot water to remove, that was fine as a one-time thing. Tumble dry medium to avoid shrinkage.

I remember when shrink-to-fit jeans came out. We were told the ideal method was to put on the raw jeans and take a shower in the hottest water you could tolerate while wearing them.

Yes, Rit Dye is wonderful. Too bad I've no machine to use for that:-(

Skinny jeans and boners.... Yes, isn't it wonderful?

 

[whitetub]

In my previous house, I had a Whirlpool dryer with a white drum, and I used to wash my jeans in cold water, in a Whirlpool Top Loader. When I sold the house, after 10 years of using those machines, the dryer drum was still shiny white.
I have been in the new house for 7 years, using a Samsung dryer, with a white drum.
Front load samsung machine. Using warm water to wash them. And my dryer drum is still shiny white.

What I think stains a dryer drum is the use of Bounce sheets. It coats the drum and exhaust pipe with a sticky film.

I never used any dryer sheets, and my drum is still white.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

LOL!!!!

Washing jeans on delicate cycle? LOL! No thank you. I prefer to use the normal cycle with cold water. Even better, I'd use heavy-duty with cold water on the speed queens, including their latest perfect wash system. I've used my dryer's normal cycle just fine. It makes me laugh when people wash everything including jeans on delicate because they think it would "be too rough". Jeans are sturdy fabrics that can tolerate the most intense normal cottons cycle. If anything, jeans don't get cleaned on delicate.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

washing jeans

I'm sorry, but jeans are sturdy cottons that can handle tough caked on and ground in dirt. Gentle cycle is for delicate clothes like blouses. I use the normal/casual cycle with accelawash is designed for cotton, linen, towels, shirts, sheets, jeans, mixed loads on my Kenmore elite. Same for the cotton/normal on my lg at my mom's. Both are front loading machines made by lg with their matching dryers. My dryer has a jeans/khakis setting with medium heat and so does the normal cycle. The dryer does get plenty hot.

 

[ozzie908]

I still cannot get my head round using cold water to wash dirty clothing in.........?

 

[gelaundry4ever]

maybe...

Color content is all I can think, along with a detergent that works in all temps. But no, I will not wash jeans on delicate. They're too resistant. They won't move. I'll stick with the trusty normal cycle and just change temperature accordingly depending on color. Jeans are meant to be washed aggressively as they can tolerate.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

#9

Jeans go on regular cycle for me as well. Now everything is on "hot" in the Huebsh FL's I use. I haven't had anything shrink or fade yet. Of course that may well be because today's "hot" is the "warm" of yesteryear.

There's a thread here somewhere about water temps needing to be at least 80F to dissolve skin oil. There are detergents that can dissolve skin and other oils at lower temps but many/most detergents do not have this ability. I have a vague recollection of reading/hearing somewhere that detergents that dissolve oils in cold water have a comparatively larger carbon footprint due to the complexity involved with production.

The preceding paragraph is strictly IIRC. If I'm wrong please correct me.

 

[foraloysius]

When I get a new pair of jeans, I soak them in water with vinegar for 24 hours. After that they get washed in hot water, at least 140 degrees F. After that I'm pretty sure they don't give off much dye anymore. Never had problems with shrinking, jeans can take hot water.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

laundering jeans

Have you noticed some people use the gentle cycle on everything, including jeans? I'm sure grandmothers would do that all the time because they think they'd be destroyed by the washer. I beg to differ. If anything, they won't move through the water because of the weight and durable texture. I'd use the most intense wash action. It's delicates that need tlc when washing, not jeans. How else would get ground-in caked-on dirt out of them?

 

[DADoES]

 
One of my HE washers has a Jeans cycle.  Cold water, deep fill, delicate agitation.  It's presumably aimed for women's fashion jeans.  The matching dryer has choices of Work Jeans and Fashion Jeans.

 

[appnut]

My 2011 Duet has jeans cycle. Delicate tumble pattern. Warm water wash. Higher water level. After initial fill it does a pattern of tumble briefly and 30 second pause for 2 minutes. then does the wash. At end of wash phase it adds cold water for 2 minutes and then drain. There are interim spins between each fill. Max spin speed is medium. Can opt. for heavy soil. With the 2 minutes of cold water fill at the end of wash, it's a great wrinkle-free/perm press cycle.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

washing jeans

I am amused! Who washes jeans on delicates? The last time I checked, I could've sworn that jeans were to be washed on the normal cycle which is for sweaty, dirty, everyday items like cottons, t-shirts, linen, towels, sheets, and of course jeans.

 

[tolivac]

Remember when you bought new jeans-you washed them at least a few times on the hottest and most violent cycle the washer had-everyone likes tender new jeans instead of ones stiff as a board!

 

[warmsecondrinse]

I used to work at The Gap.

IIRC, to break in jeans they should be turned inside out, buttoned up, and washed in warm water for the longest cycle. Increasing temps would increase both color fade and shrinkage. Tumble dry low to avoid further shrinkage.

For 501 Shrink-to-Fit jeans the instructions were to put them on, button everything up, and stand in the shower for a half hour in the hottest water you could stand.

Washing all jeans & chinos inside-out and buttoned up would ensure both fabric wear and color fade would be more even.

This is what I remember from the ..... 80's.