However, the most general way to define if clothes should be hand washed will be found on the care label. I am going to share my tried and tested ways to wash clothes effectively and efficiently by hand. Otherwise, you’ll end up with clothes that will take forever to dry. With all that separating, washing, drying, and folding involved, doing laundry was already a chore before the pandemic. Just try to use padded hangers if you can -- wire hangers might leave creases in your clothes. And hang them somewhere dripping water wouldn't be a problem, like over the bathtub. People are often forced to wash their clothes by hand in rivers and dams. Add cold or lukewarm water to the basin, and thoroughly clean the basin. New clothes with bright colors may have to be washed by themselves for the first few times unless you have something in a … “Agitate the water with your hands to create a soapy solution and let the garments soak for 30 minutes,” Boyd explains. For lingering wrinkles, Propper recommends you have a hand steamer or iron on hand. It also has the nodules that agitate dirt out of your laundry. If you ignore instructions, you could end up with clothes that are faded and stretched out. Thanks! In fact, using too much washing detergent can actually damage your clothes because it can strip away the fibers, and bleach out the color. This multifunctional backpack can keep things dry, wash clothing, remove water from wet clothes, towels, etc., and be used as a shower. Woolite is a home run, along with any other detergents geared toward delicates. Overall, hand washing is a gentler way to clean delicate fabrics or fabrics considered dry clean only, including silk, some synthetics, lace, wool, cashmere, and other knits. Part of HuffPost Home & Living. Presumably, these are clothes that you want to be careful with, so it makes sense to use a gentle detergent. A bar of laundry soap like this one is your best bet, but you can use liquid detergent, too. Washing Clothes With Your Feet. Step 2. We do live in scary times. Inside the bag are small nodules that work to gently release dirt from your clothes. For protein-based stains, use a Surfactant-based stain remover or detergent. “Embellished items, bathing suits, bras, and delicate underwear should also be hand washed,” says Lindsey Boyd, co-founder of The Laundress. To brighten faded whites, boil lemons that are cut up, add to your laundry in its soaking water and leave it to soak for 20 minutes. You should probably wash your sheets and change up your bedding more often nowadays. You may also want to stock up on stain remover to tackle any pesky spots. To do so, gently swirl the clothes in the water to agitate them, and squeeze individual garments under the water to force excess soap out. They will feel sticky and you’ll find your clothes shedding white powder, which is the remaining detergent as it dries. There are multiple options for this. Scroll through and we'll walk you through it. Items labeled "Dry Clean" can safely be hand-washed, while "Dry Clean Only" items could be damaged by the water. As children, my friends and I used to mix Sunlight Soap and lemon juice, and rub it into our hair and then sit in the sun, sometimes for hours, to naturally bleach our hair. Always run the water into the basin with the detergent agitating the mix to ensure the detergent dissolves properly. Fill a small tub or sink with water at the temperature recommended on the care label.