• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Hand washing

AlienSoul

Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
What kind of cleaning agent does one use when hand washing?
Is regular laundry soap ok or should I use something gentler?
I have heard that for sweaters one should use baby shampoo.  Is this true?

Also if anyone has any hints on actual washing instructions I would be glad to hear them.

Thanks,
Josh
 

VMan

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Messages
4,996
Reaction score
34
What kind of cleaning agent does one use when hand washing?
Is regular laundry soap ok or should I use something gentler?
I have heard that for sweaters one should use baby shampoo.  Is this true?

Also if anyone has any hints on actual washing instructions I would be glad to hear them.

Thanks,
Josh
I thought this was going to be a thread about how to wash your hands.

For sweaters, I use Woolite soap. Very gentle. This can also be used for delicate shirts.

Regular laundry soap can be used for most shirts, or you might prefer to use Woolite. Either is fine.

There are also several detergents on the market designed for dark colors, to prevent excessive fading. You might want to try these.

Usually when I hand-wash a garment, I'll fill a large bucket with warm (80 degree) water, and add the soap. Gently swirl the garment in the water, and gently rub areas that accumulate the most dirt (cuffs, collar, armpits). I often will let the item soak for another 5 minutes or so, then remove and rinse in cold water.

Several items can be washed using the same bucket of water. Just be careful of colors. I'll wash a white shirt first, then a blue shirt, and then last I'll do a red shirt, for instance.
 

FIHTies

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
2,950
Reaction score
6
I thought this was going to be a thread about how to wash your hands. For sweaters, I use Woolite soap. Â Very gentle. Â This can also be used for delicate shirts. Regular laundry soap can be used for most shirts, or you might prefer to use Woolite. Â Either is fine. There are also several detergents on the market designed for dark colors, to prevent excessive fading. Â You might want to try these. Usually when I hand-wash a garment, I'll fill a large bucket with warm (80 degree) water, and add the soap. Â Gently swirl the garment in the water, and gently rub areas that accumulate the most dirt (cuffs, collar, armpits). Â I often will let the item soak for another 5 minutes or so, then remove and rinse in cold water. Several items can be washed using the same bucket of water. Â Just be careful of colors. Â I'll wash a white shirt first, then a blue shirt, and then last I'll do a red shirt, for instance.
Careful with the woolite as it has a tendency to make colors run. JJF <----- who also thought this was about washing your hands, and wondered first why you would use laundry soap
cry.gif
 

AlienSoul

Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Sorry I should have made it a little clearer
Now that I re-read it I see where you could get a little confused.
 

hermes

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2003
Messages
1,019
Reaction score
1
use woolite or zero or any hand washable detergent
regular detergent will likely will be too harsh on the delicate items

baby shampoo does work well with fine knits and things like cashmere

if you're washing in cold water, make sure you use a cold water detergent for handwashables or gentle cycle machine use given most regular detergents are only activated by the minimum temperature of warm water

i used to wash a lot of things by hand and then one day, when i was lazy i suppose, i turned to the gentle cycle of my new washing machine and i can recommend that as an alternative - i put everything from cashmere sweaters to my zimmerli underwear into the gentle wash cycle and not one problem to date
 

Carlo

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2003
Messages
1,021
Reaction score
5
Well, y'all are gonna think I am nuts... Oh wait, y'all already figured that out a long time ago.

Jill and I spend a lot of time talking about topics like this (exciting household) and a while back I was generally bitching because my silk sweaters (love'm under a sportcoat' would get stiff after washing.

I use shampoo for the cleaning and get this... in the rinse water I've started to use a bit of conditioner to restore the lustre and natural oils. The stuff that works best? Mane and Tail - you can get that at Wal Mart.

I once found that using that stuff on my spoiled rotten horses left my hands baby soft and wellllll... it works on human hair, sheep hair and goat hair.

Any time you find yourself wondering &quot;Has anyone ever been weird enough to try X&quot;?? to fix a laundry issue holler at me, I probably have.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,179
Messages
10,579,203
Members
223,894
Latest member
cliftonnwalker
Top