RINSE!!!!!
(No fewer than the number of exclamation points in that single word sentence).
Why?
Soap’s one job is to latch onto dirt. Then, when you rinse, the soap takes the dirt with it.
If you don’t rinse clothes enough, leaving some soap left in the fibers, guess what else sticks around on the cloth?
The dirt you were trying to clean.
Have you ever tried washing your hands with just a small trickle of water? It takes forever to get the soap suds off.
Imagine just giving up and leaving your hands partially soapy, then drying them off. What would the residue on your hands feel like?
It would feel sticky, tacky. You’d also know instinctively that your hands are still dirty—even though it’s soap left on your hands. And that tacky, soapy residue on your hands would attract more dirt and make them disgusting.
And so the one key laundry tip that will make your clothing feel better, last longer and stain less at problem spots like the armpits and neck, is to rinse them…. A lot. As much as possible.
That’s it. The End.
> Publish Blog Post <
For those of you who want a little more here is my specific laundry routine
- On dress shirts, use a stain-treatment stick or spray only if needed on the neck/armpits. I’ve used Laundress products before, they’re fine but expensive. I’ve used this crunchy Buncha Farmers stain stick before, and it works well though is annoying to rub into the spots. I’ve been a Spray-n-Wash fan for many years as well. TBH just putting a little of whatever detergent you use on the collar and rubbing it will be just as effective as any of those other things. (My detergent recommendation below)
- Use a realistic amount of detergent. Follow the guidelines from your detergent maker for the size of your load. Too much soap is not helpful because it just takes more rinses to wash completely out.
- Run the load on permanent press on cold water, but with the max agitation possible. On my Samsung washing machine, there’s a “soil level” feature. I put that all the way up, meaning it agitates more. In the old days you rubbed clothing against a washboard. The way a washing machine works is by rubbing the clothes against themselves and the outside of the drum. Obviously shirts will break down over time as their fibers are cleaned in this way from normal wear-and-tear. Permanent press cycles are designed to agitate a little gentler; but you still want the machine to thoroughly wash your stuff.
- Set it to the max rinse cycles possible.
Then do a second “rinse and spin” cycle depending how many that is. My previous LG washer only let me specify “extra rinse” on a load, which I think meant it would rinse the clothes 3x during the wash cycle. That was not enough for my shirts, let alone towels or sheets. So I would always do a rinse-and-spin cycle after the load was finished with the extra rinse option on that load, too. My current Samsung lets me pick how many rinse cycles I want to do, up to 5. I decided 5x rinses was probably enough, though I wish it would let me choose 8. I used a Swedish machine in a hotel room once that had an 8x rinse button. Man those shirts came out feeling clean. - I hang-dry most “nicer” things I wear—button-up dress shirts, chinos, nicer polo shirts and tees. I also hang dry pants including chinos and jeans because I don’t like the finish that a dryer leaves on pants and jeans.
What detergent do I use?
I’m a Tide adherent, which I used to joke was because I like to support local business (the mega corporation P&G, which is based in Cincinnati where I live). I specifically prefer the “free and gentle” or similar products, which have no scents and no dyes. There are too many scents in our world. Stop adding scents to everything. I’ve come to associate laundry that comes out of the washer smelling like nothing as the cleanest, most refreshing smell.
When we had kids we started using All, which on certain crunchy “toxic chemicals” lists is the best detergent for its lack of chemicals deemed harsh by the hippies running those websites (just kidding… sort of. I have not done the research on all that stuff so I figure the closer we get just to soap in our washing detergent, and further away from detergent with tons of chemical additives with questionable long-term health consequences, the better. Please don’t email me about this comment).
For things I use the machine dryer for, what cycle do I recommend you use?
For clothes I’m not worried about—cheapo things like American Eagle jeans or J.Crew t-shirts or gym shorts or pajama pants or even my socks—but also things like towels or sheets, I have only one method of drying: Do a timed load at the lowest heat setting.
Fibers like cotton get damaged by heat. That reduces their life and makes them fray sooner, which is important on things like sheets.
So the lowest heat setting, for like an hour is my default, and that’s usually long enough to get things dry. For towels or certain bulky things, they’ll sometimes need an extra 20 minutes.
One last random tip about hang-drying and lament
15 years ago my brother bought this magical 2-pack of wide-shouldered hangers made by Tide that he still has and I’ve used before that are perfect for hanging knits to dry. They don’t exist anymore, and based on my searching it appears they have kind of a cult following. The main reason they’re great is that they’re a wide shoulder, so they don’t create the dimple in the shoulder on your knits. But the fact that they’re also perforated was great, too.
The closest that I could find that’s similar are these from Amazon. And specifically in the reviews people mention those old Tide hangers. If you can get something like this, they’re the best.
I hope this post is helpful! Let me know if you have additional laundry best practices in the comments below!
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