Brutkey

Sini Tuulia
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe

Laundry tips and opinions which were requested:

Using fabric softener will make cotton feel clammy and greasy, and give it a mildewy smell. Fabric conditioning helps with staticky plastic fibres but isn't necessary for natural fibres! Just wash without. Never put it on towels, it stops their absorption powers. You can use a little bit of vinegar instead of fabric softener, it will have a mild smell when wet, dries odourless.

Line drying is less wear on clothes than dryer but live your life if you have no place to dry them!

Bedding needs to be washed super hot occasionally! Towels, too!

If your shirts smell terrible because you've been sweating into them, soak them in the sink with a cup of vinegar in room temperature water, rinse, wash normally. This kills a lot of mildew and helps break apart organic residue.

Liquid laundry detergent is silly! Just get detergent in powder form, you're spared the plastic bottles and no heavy liquids are ferried around.
Soap nuts are great if you're allergic to everything but soap nuts. They're not even nuts and are compostable!

A lot of the washing instructions are LIES. You can literally boil 100% cotton and it's fine! You'd be amazed how much dry clean only is not! Polyester and cotton will be just dandy in 60 Celsius - the manufacturers play it safe because some dyes fade in hotter temps. Cheaply made clothes may shrink, but if it's stinky, take the risk!

Joanna Holman
@joannaholman@aus.social

@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe Another one is do not put printed tshirts (especially ones from custom print places like RedBubble) in a clothes dryer even if the label says you can. The actual shirt will be fine, the printing may not be after a few rounds.


Sini Tuulia
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe

@joannaholman@aus.social Absolutely so, yes! The printing medium is a sort of melted on film which softens in high temperatures and sort of goops off the fibres it is attached to. If the film is very thick it will just crack and wear down in a fairly interesting way, but the thinner films (like on Redbubble) will just flake off.
If you want them to last, wash mild to moderate heat with a delicate spin cycle.