How to wash common items
Item-by-item care pages: the settings to use, what each item can share a load with, and the mistakes that actually ruin things.
Every page below follows the same rules as our laundry checker: conservative recommendations, plain-English reasons, and the garment's care label always wins.
How to wash baby clothes
Wash baby clothes in cold or warm water on a normal or delicate cycle with a gentle, fragrance-free detergent, skip fabric softener entirely, and dry on low heat. Always wash new baby clothes before first wear — they carry finishing chemicals from manufacturing that have no business against new skin.
How to wash bath mats
Shake the mat out, wash it in warm water on a normal cycle — with towels is fine — and hang it to dry. The one rule that matters most: if the mat has a rubber or latex backing, it never goes in the dryer. Heat is what turns that backing into the crumbs you find in the lint trap.
How to wash bath towels
Wash towels as their own load in warm water (hot for whites) on a normal cycle, use no fabric softener, and dry them completely on medium heat. Towels are the one everyday item where warmer water is genuinely worth it — they sit damp, touch skin daily, and rinse clean better in warmth.
How to wash blankets
Wash a blanket as its own load — cold or warm water, delicate or normal cycle depending on sturdiness — and dry it on low heat or a line. Blankets need the whole drum to wash properly; a blanket crammed in with clothes neither washes well nor lets the clothes wash.
How to wash bras
Fasten the hooks, put the bra in a mesh laundry bag, wash it in cold water on the delicate cycle, and air dry it — never the dryer. Hand washing is gentler still and is the right call for underwire, molded-cup, and expensive bras.
How to wash delicates
Wash delicates together as a small cold load on the delicate cycle, each snag-prone piece in its own mesh bag, with a gentle detergent — and air dry everything. For the truly fragile end (silk, wool, beaded or sequined pieces, anything labeled hand wash), a five-minute sink wash is safer than any machine cycle.
How to wash hoodies
Zip the zipper fully, turn the hoodie inside out, wash it in cold water on a normal cycle with similar mid-weight items, and dry it on low heat or a hanger. Cold water keeps the color; low heat keeps the fit — fleece-backed cotton shrinks noticeably in a hot dryer.
How to wash jeans
Turn jeans inside out, wash them in cold water on a normal cycle with similar colors, and hang them to dry. Cold water slows the indigo dye loss that makes denim fade, and skipping the dryer prevents shrinking and keeps the fit.
How to wash kitchen towels
Wash kitchen towels and dishcloths as their own load in hot water (color permitting) on a normal cycle, with no fabric softener, and dry them fully. Kitchen textiles collect food soil and grease and spend their lives damp — they earn the hottest wash of anything in the house.
How to wash microfiber cloths
Wash microfiber cloths only with other microfiber (or alone), in cold or warm water on a normal cycle, with plain detergent — no fabric softener, no bleach — and air dry. Microfiber works because millions of split synthetic fibers grab dust and water; anything that coats or melts those fibers permanently blunts the cloth.
How to wash pet bedding
Remove as much pet hair as you can first (shake outside, lint roller, or a stiff brush), then wash pet bedding by itself — never with human laundry — in warm water on a normal cycle with no fabric softener, and air dry or tumble low. Run a rinse or drum-clean cycle afterward to flush the hair the wash left behind.
How to wash sheets
Wash sheets as their own load on a normal cycle — warm water is a good default for cotton, cold to warm for polyester and microfiber — and tumble dry on low to medium heat. A sheet set plus pillowcases is already a respectable load; it doesn't need company.
How to wash socks
Wash socks in cold or warm water on a normal cycle — they can join almost any everyday load of a similar color — and tumble dry cotton socks on medium, athletic socks on low. A mesh laundry bag solves the two real sock problems at once: lost singles and pairs hiding inside fitted sheets.
How to wash underwear
Wash cotton underwear in warm water on a normal cycle — it's one of the few clothing categories where warmth is a sensible hygiene default — and tumble dry on low to medium. Synthetic and lace underwear are stricter: cold water, delicate cycle, and low or no dryer heat, because their elastic and fine fabric are heat-sensitive.
How to wash workout clothes
Turn workout clothes inside out, wash them in cold water on a delicate or normal cycle with other synthetics, skip fabric softener entirely, and hang them to dry. The stretch and the sweat-wicking that make activewear work are both destroyed by the same two things: heat and softener.