How to wash pure woolen items. How to wash wool and woolen items, basic rules

Woolen items were, are and will be at the peak of popularity; they look beautiful, protect from the cold, and provide comfort when worn. How to care for such products, how to wash woolen items by hand or in a machine? Advice from the wisest!

Washing wool items

To wash woolen items, you should take into account the water temperature, choose a quality product and care for wool products manually. Washing wool items in a washing machine is not recommended, although there are many rules for cleaning this material.

What should you keep in mind before choosing a detergent?

1. Wool cannot be washed with detergents containing alkali; you must carefully read their composition on the packaging.
2. To wash woolen items, you can use hair shampoo, fabric conditioner, and home-made softener.

How to properly wash woolen items by hand and in a machine?

There are several stages of washing wool fabrics. How to do this correctly and safely?

Preparatory stage

First you need to divide things into light and dark, and also put particularly dirty items separately. If there is large dirt, it must be removed with a brush; it is advisable to sew up the loops on the clothes so that they do not stretch.

The right step would be to remove fittings, buttons, and clasps that could damage the product. To make sure whether an item is shedding or not, you need to take a thread from a woolen item and dip it in soapy water, and then look at the result.

If the thread leaves an imprint on the white fabric, it means that you need to fix the color, add table vinegar when washing woolen items, in a ratio of 3 tbsp. l. on a bucket of water.

How to wash wool without shrinking?

This is a responsible step that requires maximum attention and compliance with well-known rules. In order for the products to retain their original shape, you need to remember about the temperature regime: at what temperature should you wash wool?

To prevent your items from “running” and fading, you need to wash them in water no higher than 30 degrees; it is not recommended to change the temperature when rinsing, and in order for the items to stretch well, problem areas should be washed separately before general washing.

Washing wool should not last more than 40-50 minutes so that woolen products do not lose their original shape. Such items should only be washed inside out, avoiding large fasteners or buttons.

Rinsing woolen items

It is important not only how to wash wool items, you need to know how to rinse such items. How well you do this depends on the attractiveness of woolen products and their further lifespan.

1. You need to rinse the wool in a large amount of water, gradually reducing the temperature.
2. Use softening agents to prevent the wool from itching and the fibers from sticking together.
3. To prevent things from shedding, you need to add a spoonful of wine vinegar or ammonia to the water.

How to spin when washing wool by hand?

If you need to wash a woolen jacket or other item, you need to remember:

• wool products cannot be twisted, you just need to squeeze out the water a little;
• Excess moisture can be removed with a terry towel, but just do not stretch the product.

Drying woolen items

Drying of such products is carried out only on flat surfaces; items should not be hung on a rope in order to avoid stretching. Squeezing and twisting are also not recommended.

Woolen items can absorb odors, so drying them in the kitchen is not recommended. After complete drying, you can iron the product by turning it inside out in advance.

If a wool product has shrunk a little, then during the ironing process you can moisten it and pull it in different directions to the desired size. If you don’t know how to wash woolen items without shrinking, or you don’t want to take risks, then entrust this work to professionals.

Is it possible to wash woolen items in a machine?

Washing wool in a washing machine is possible if the product label allows this type of care for woolen items. Before washing wool in a washing machine, you need to select the appropriate mode that meets the characteristics of the product.

Before washing woolen items in a washing machine, you need to cut off all the buttons and remove the metal fasteners so that they do not damage the material. Things need to be turned inside out, and to avoid shrinkage of the material, soak for a few minutes in cold water.

Select the mode in the washing machine – “wool” without spinning; it is not recommended to use a product with synthetic additives, soap or coarse powder. Here's how to wash 100% wool in the washing machine!

How to wash woolen items by hand using traditional methods?

You can use the above methods or test “grandmother’s folk recipes” from your own experience. Here's how to wash wool using dry mustard:

• you need to take a glass of dry mustard powder, dilute it with water at room temperature, add hot water to infuse the product;
• then strain through a thick cloth and soak woolen items in this solution;
• and to make woolen items soft, you need to rinse the items with the composition in a ratio of 1 tsp. ammonia per 10 liters of water.

How to wash a woolen jacket in bean broth in order to remove all dirt and return the product to its original shape?

1. First you need to boil 1 kg of white beans in 5 liters of water until half cooked.
2. Leave for 30-40 minutes until room temperature, strain until full.
3. After soaking the items in the broth, lightly squeeze and rinse in plenty of water until the item is clean.

Another way to wash woolen items is to make them smooth, pleasant to the touch and clean. For this purpose, you can use a decoction of potatoes, a process similar to washing woolen products with beans.

To ensure that there is no smell left from the potatoes, you still need to additionally rinse things with fresh conditioner, or a soda-salt solution, a pinch of salt and soda per liter of water.

How to wash white woolen items?

If you wash white woolen items frequently, they may turn yellow. How to return them to their original appearance and update things? There are several ways to wash a white woolen jacket:

1. dilute 1 kg of chalk in 3 liters of water;
2. immerse the product in the solution for 20 minutes;
3. rinse with plenty of water;
4. squeeze lightly and dry on a flat surface.

Another assistant in bleaching woolen items is hydrogen peroxide; to wash white woolen items, you need to use a solution in a ratio of 1 tsp. peroxide per 1 liter of water, soak in this composition and wash thoroughly.

Rinse with plenty of water; you can add a conditioner with a fresh scent to overcome the specific notes of the medication.

Expert advice: how to wash woolen items easily and easily?

In this matter, it is important to observe several factors: at what temperature to wash the wool and how to wring it out correctly. The water should only be at room temperature, and when rinsing it is better to use cold water.

It is prohibited to wring out woolen items by hand; they must be placed on a terry towel, rolled into a tube and squeezed out excess liquid, laid out on a flat surface and dried.

Woolen items should be stored in small piles in the closet; larger and heavier items should be placed downwards, but it is not recommended to hang them on hangers so that the items do not lose their shape.

It is not recommended to soak woolen items before washing, only in cases where there is serious contamination. When washing by hand, woolen items should not be rubbed or twisted; excess liquid should be removed with light movements during spinning.

Use coarse powder only in a well-dissolved form so that the grains do not pack into the fibers. Rinse until the detergent is completely washed away. To make the wool soft to the touch, you can use various methods of cleaning products using peroxide or glycerin, in the ratio of half a spoon per 5 liters of water.

Now you know how to wash wool in a washing machine and by hand, what detergent to use for this purpose, or maybe you should give preference to traditional methods?

Take care of your products and wear them with comfort and pleasure!

In the wardrobe of any modern person, both adults and children, there is sure to be at least one woolen item. As a rule, these are clothes from the category of favorites, because they are warm and cozy, they are comfortable to wear and are always in fashion. But sooner or later there is a need to wash it. How to do this so as not to spoil the material and keep the thing “in service”? Let's try to answer this question by summarizing the experience of housewives and the recommendations of specialists.

Washing woolen products is a labor-intensive and somewhat risky process, since wool is a delicate material and requires special attention. Under unfavorable conditions, woolen fabric can become deformed, shrink and stretch.

Important! Since water does not have a very good effect on wool fibers, in order not to spoil your favorite clothes, the entire washing process should take no more than 45 minutes.

What does she “not like”?

Woolen items require special care, so fans of clothing made from this natural material should know what not to do with them. So, people don’t like wool products:

By the way, Wool “doesn’t like” wet cleaning, so try to wash such clothes as rarely as possible. To refresh your favorite sweater, sometimes it is enough to ventilate it well, and local dirt can be cleaned with a solution of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide without exposing the entire fabric to moisture.

How to properly wash a woolen item?

Preparation

1. First of all, inspect the item for stains so that you know what places to pay attention to when processing.
2. Clothing made from mohair or angora should be combed before washing to remove surface dirt.
3. Study the label on the clothing, where the manufacturer indicates the permitted means and effects, so as not to cause harm to your favorite clothes.
4. To ensure that the front side of the item is less exposed to negative influences when washing, turn the garment inside out.

Important! Do not forget that woolen items should be washed separately from others, as lint easily sticks to other items and these wool particles are then very difficult to remove.

Machine washable

The bravest housewives prefer to wash woolen items in a washing machine. If there is no prohibitory sign on the label, then this is completely acceptable.. Once the product has been properly prepared for processing, proceed as follows:

After the wash cycle is complete, remove the item, leave it for a while to drain off excess water, and send it to dry.

At what temperature?

You can wash woolen clothes only in lukewarm water at about 25–30 degrees. Increasing the temperature to 40 degrees or its changes during the washing process lead to deformation of wool fibers, as a result, the item stretches or shrinks.

Important! Washing in hot water is allowed only if it is necessary to shrink the item. However, you should resort to this method only as a last resort, after other, more gentle measures have been tried: ironing through a damp cloth or stretching a slightly damp product with your hands.

What products are suitable?

When you are going to wash your favorite sweater or hat, stop using powder products– they are difficult to rinse and can damage the structure of the fabric. There are special liquids or gels for washing woolen items that contain lanolin. This substance envelops the fabric fibers and protects them from breakage and deformation.

In addition, you can use home remedies, which we will discuss below. They do not spoil wool fibers, while carefully cleaning items from dirt. Experienced housewives advise using regular shampoo to wash products made from mohair and angora wool.

Important! Do not add a lot of detergent to the water, as the soap solution is difficult to rinse out of loose wool.

It is allowed to use a small amount of industrial conditioner and bleach, which are designed specifically for woolen fabrics, or “homemade” analogues of such products.

How to wash by hand?

Hand washing is less aggressive than machine washing, therefore it is more preferable for woolen items. If you follow just a few simple rules, you can wash your favorite clothes without harming them:

• adhere to the recommended water temperature no higher than 30 degrees;
• the difference in water temperature during washing and rinsing is unacceptable;
• When washing, use special liquid detergents for wool products;
• do not rub or twist things, as wool fibers are easily damaged; only active rinsing and light squeezing are allowed.

Important! Since wool is a porous material and absorbs a lot of water, when washing such items, pour more water into the container than for washing regular textiles.

Differences in washing light and dark wool

Before washing, sort woolen items: white and dark items should be washed separately from each other.

Light-colored items made from natural wool may turn yellow over time; in this case, gentle bleaching of the item is required. Since wool is a delicate material, most industrial bleaches can damage it, so for bleaching it is better to use improvised means that you always have in the house:

• hydrogen peroxide, diluted in the proportion of 1 tbsp. a spoonful of the product per 1 liter of warm water, can be used for briefly soaking yellowed items, then the clothes should be washed and rinsed well;
• Crushed chalk will also help to whiten the product, 1 kg of which should be diluted in 3 liters of warm water, hold the woolen item in this solution, periodically stirring the solution, rinse and wash.

When machine washing, it is allowed to use industrial bleaches designed specifically for woolen fabrics.

For woolen items of dark shades, dry mustard is sometimes used: 1 glass of powder is poured with cold water, infused, filtered, the infusion is poured into a basin of water, where your favorite sweater is washed. As a conditioner, you can use ammonia, previously diluted in water at the rate of 1 teaspoon per liter of water, which softens wool very well.

Important! To prevent the color from washing out of woolen items, add 1-2 tbsp to the water. spoons of table vinegar. This method is also good for colored items to prevent shedding.

In order to determine whether the fabric is shedding or not, moisten a small area of ​​it with hot water and press a white cloth against it for a short time: if the white surface is stained, then adding vinegar when washing this item should become a rule, otherwise you risk “discoloring” your favorite clothes.

Drying rules

The process of drying woolen items requires an equally delicate approach:

It is unacceptable to dry woolen clothes on hangers, since in this position they will probably stretch out in the area of ​​the shoulders and sleeves.

Important! Woolen items should be dried in a well-ventilated area at room temperature. Do not allow the item to be in close proximity to heating appliances or expose the item to direct sunlight.

If you follow all the above instructions, you will be able to maintain the decent appearance of your favorite clothes for a long time.

Woolen items are loved by many. Items made from natural or mixed wool can definitely be found in every wardrobe. They are loved for the beauty and comfort they give. But not everyone knows how to wash woolen items so that they do not lose their appearance and shape. Hence there is a whole heap of damaged clothes in almost every home. Something has stretched out, something has hopelessly collapsed... Such troubles can be avoided. The main thing is to know how to approach the wool.

At what temperature and how to wash wool?

So how to find a common language with woolen products? The first thing that any owner of such clothing thinks about is how to keep the shape of your favorite sweater after washing? What should I do to prevent the product from shrinking, stretching, or matting? In fact, you can do a lot of things. But all these rules are quite simple and easy to follow.

Paradoxically, it is better not to wash wool. Or rather, do this as rarely as possible - only when necessary to remove specific dirt or stains. In other cases, it is recommended to hang the item of clothing periodically (2-3 times a year) on the street or balcony for ventilation. Streams of fresh air are often enough to refresh the product and get rid of foreign odors.

But if washing is inevitable, you need to prepare for it first theoretically: learn a lot of subtleties. There are three main and most important ones that have the greatest impact on the shape of washed products:

• temperature and its invariability;
• drum speed for machine washing (friction and spin for manual washing);
• proper drying.

So, temperature. For demanding wool, it should not exceed 30-35 degrees, otherwise the product will inevitably shrink or stretch. But for high-quality washing of woolen items, following this rule alone is not enough. It is equally important that soaking, washing and rinsing take place at the same temperature. Yes, the value of 10 degrees does not exceed 35. But if you wash the item with warm water and then rinse it with cool water, the shrinkage will be much more obvious. Sometimes it’s not even shrinkage, but local deformation (only of the cuffs or just the armpits), and after this it can be problematic to restore the shape of the products.

Mechanical impact (friction, spin) is another primary evil for woolen products. At the same time, they risk not only sitting down or stretching, but also significantly matting or becoming covered in pellets. So no spinning when washing woolen clothes! A minimum of rubbing and washing, a minimum value of the drum speed of the machine - these are important subtleties on the way to the longevity of knitted items.

Such clothes also need to be dried properly. Errors during drying, the main one of which is line drying, also lead to deformation of knitted items, which stretch under their own weight.

Products for hand and machine washing of wool

It is clear that products made from this material cannot be washed with anything: the capricious material is susceptible to the negative effects of unsuitable detergents. Woolen items can become rough, prickly, lose their original luster, get stains in the form of streaks of unwashed powder, and become matted.

If you plan to wash the item by hand, then rubbing the item with a piece of laundry soap is completely wrong. And it will be difficult to rinse out such foam, and the rubbed areas will fall off.

A more gentle option may be suitable here - shavings from baby soap. But first you need to make sure that the product is completely dissolved in the water, and then beat it well with your hands. This delicate thick foam can carefully and efficiently wash a knitted product. Another alternative is to use hair shampoo. After all, wool is also hair, but of animal origin. Therefore, natural shine and softness after such a product will be guaranteed.

For machine washing, there are special powders designed for wool. They must have a designation - intended for washing woolen products. However, liquid products are more delicate and effective. They are already in a dissolved state, wash well, soften the fibers, preventing matting and pilling, and are easily washed out.

Washing even with the most delicate wool detergent will not help make your favorite clothes truly soft if the water is hard. Therefore, the use of special softeners for hard water when washing woolen items is mandatory.

For bleaching, if the need arises, chlorine-containing substances cannot be used - they will destroy the delicate texture.

To bleach wool items, use regular table vinegar. It will not only make things whiter, but also soften the fibers and give them shine. Hydrogen peroxide is also suitable for these purposes.

How to wash and dry correctly?

Well, now – the basic “truths” of washing, as well as subsequent drying of wool. What and how to do - right?

• Excessive contact of the product with water should be avoided. Soaking and washing should not exceed an hour in total, otherwise the fibers will swell and lose elasticity. As a result, the canvas will stretch hopelessly.
• For this reason, woolen items should be washed in a washing machine, choosing only delicate modes, and spinning should be turned off completely.
• No aggressive effects are allowed during hand washing! The process should be reduced to delicate “mixing” of the product in a basin with a soap solution. Pressing, rubbing, twisting, crushing with force is the same as killing an expensive, beautiful thing. Loss of shape and pilling are guaranteed.
• Hand washing will require a lot of water because the fibers absorb it a lot.
• You need to rinse such things several times until the water becomes completely clear. Otherwise, there is a risk of not only making the clothes hard and creaking, but also giving them unsightly stains. In addition, many people are allergic to detergent residue on clothes.
• Clothes made from wool should not be wrung out. Therefore, after washing, things should be placed in a basin to allow the water to drain naturally.
• The next step is to carefully wrap the sweater several times alternately in large terry towels to allow them to absorb any remaining moisture.
• Such products need to be dried by carefully laying them out on a horizontal surface, ideally with air circulation from below (this can be a home dryer on which a terry towel is placed).
• High temperatures and dry air are two more enemies of wool. From them it very quickly becomes brittle and collapses. Therefore, drying on radiators or heaters is absolutely contraindicated: the temperature in tandem with dry air will do its destructive work quickly.
• Hanging on ropes or even hangers will also ruin a woolen item. Having absorbed a lot of water, it will stretch out catastrophically during drying.

Even if your clothes definitely don’t fade, you need to wash light and dark ones separately. Lint from one product can stick to the surface of another and ruin the entire painting. Correcting such an incident can be difficult.

What to do if a woolen item shrinks after washing?

Unfortunately, no one is immune from such a nuisance. Perhaps the owner “shrinked” the blouse out of ignorance, perhaps she missed something in the process of caring for the clothes. But now she faces a problem: how to stretch the woolen item back? There are ways to solve this issue, but their effectiveness will depend on the degree of shrinkage of the wool, its composition, knitting pattern, and other factors. Therefore, it is difficult to give a 100% guarantee.

So, you can try the following “recipes”.

• If the wool contains synthetics, you can stretch such shrunken clothes by soaking them for one and a half to two hours in a solution of cold water with hydrogen peroxide (about 2 tablespoons for every 10 liters of water). After removing excess water, the product must be laid out on a hard horizontal surface with a terry towel underneath. From time to time it is necessary to stretch the shrunken item, giving it the required shape.
• A 100% wool sweater that has shrunk after improper washing can be revived by laying it out damp on an ironing board with a terry towel that will not fade. Next, you need to iron the item through a white cloth or gauze, gently stretching it in the right places.
• You can use table vinegar for this purpose - you need to soak a sponge with it and treat the surface of the blouse, then lay the product on a flat surface, stretching it to the desired size, and leave it to dry.
• If you wash a woolen item with shampoo and then fix it on a horizontal surface in the desired condition with pins until it dries completely, you can also return the jumper to its lost size.
• Washing in the following solution can help: 5 liters of water, 3 tablespoons of ammonia, a spoonful of turpentine. The process is the same: soak the item for a couple of hours in this composition, rinse, fix, dry.

Caring for woolen clothing is a painstaking process that requires certain knowledge. But now that they have been received, it will be much easier to cope with the characteristics of the wool. This means that things made from it will faithfully serve their owners for the allotted time, without upsetting surprises such as shrinkage or stalling.

It would seem that these days, when any washing machine has many special modes, the question of “how to properly wash woolen items” should be taken off the agenda. But alas, even the most modern unit over time turns your favorite wool sweater or dress into an unpresentable rag, if you do not know the most basic rules for washing woolen items.

Fortunately, there are not too many of these nuances, and they are easy to remember if you apply them regularly. Well, let's get started!

The main thing to remember is that woolen products do not like intense exposure and high temperatures, this quickly renders them unusable. It is best to wash woolen items by hand, using a machine only in cases where there is no time to wash by hand.

Important: Before washing (or even at the purchasing stage), carefully study the information on the product label - usually all the nuances that will need to be observed are indicated there so as not to spoil the item.

Woolen clothes should be washed separately from all other items, always taking into account the color. Good wool fabric does not fade, but during the washing process it forms a lot of lint, which easily sticks to other clothes, and then it will have to be cleaned. By the way, these fluffs can clog the filter in the washing machine, so it needs to be cleaned regularly after washing woolen items.

When washing wool items, do not allow sudden changes in water temperature - this can damage the fabric. Also, such clothes “do not like” too hot and too cold water; it would be optimal to wash all woolen items at a temperature of 30-35 degrees.

What products are best to use?

Special detergents for washing woolen items are not a trick of manufacturers or an invention of marketers interested in high sales. It is these gels and powders that will help you keep the fabric in its original form, return softness to the products and make them fluffy, while eliminating static electricity. Therefore, definitely choose special products for hand and machine washing of woolen clothes, without wasting money on “folk recipes”.

For example, regular soap contains alkalis that damage wool fibers. For the same reason, such clothes cannot be washed with the addition of dishwashing detergent (you can also find such a “recipe” on the Internet). Shampoo or hair conditioner will be very difficult to rinse out, although they will not cause much harm. Laundry soap will also not disturb the structure of the fabric, but white items after such washing will become dirty yellow.

There are also proven folk remedies that can replace special powders for wool, but you will have to tinker with them:

1. Mix a glass of dry mustard with a small amount of water, add hot water and leave for 2-3 hours. Then the mixture must be filtered through cheesecloth several times and you can use it for washing. The main thing is to rinse well and dry the washed item properly.
2. A unique, but quite effective remedy can be obtained by boiling a kilogram of beans in 5 liters of water until half cooked. Cool the broth, filter and wash woolen items in it.
3. You can make a potato decoction in the same way. Boil a kilogram of potatoes in 10 liters of water, cool and strain.

Washing in a washing machine

Washing woolen items in a washing machine is not difficult, but it also requires a little preparation.

This is exactly the case when you cannot wash clothes with potato broth or mustard powder, since folk remedies can ruin the unit. Therefore, you will have to purchase in reserve a special powder or gel for washing woolen products marked “for automatic washing machines.”

Important: Hand washing powder produces too much foam, which is also absolutely not suitable for an automatic washing machine.

In addition to the powder, you need to choose the right washing mode. Modern machines usually have a separate mode for washing woolen items. If yours doesn’t have this, choose a “delicate wash” and a water temperature of no higher than 35 degrees. Spinning and drying will have to be turned off, otherwise things will be hopelessly damaged.

Before putting items in the car, turn them inside out. This is especially important if there are fasteners - this way they will not damage the fabric. After this, soak the items in lukewarm water - the washing machine is filled with cold water, and we already know that temperature changes are undesirable for woolen items. Very carefully put the clothes into the drum, select the desired mode - you can wash them!

Handwash

Pour water into a basin (at what temperature to wash woolen items was already mentioned above), add detergent and stir it thoroughly. Turn the products inside out and place them in water.

Heavily soiled areas of the fabric can be rubbed, but carefully, without using sponges or brushes. For the same purpose, you can pre-soak woolen items in water for about 40 minutes, then change the solution and continue washing.

Rinse washed clothes thoroughly in the same cool water at least 3-5 times. Remember that you cannot twist such things - just squeeze them lightly to remove excess liquid. Small items can be rinsed directly under running tap water.

During the final rinse, you can add conditioner or glycerin to the water (1 teaspoon per 5 liters of water) to make things softer, not itchy when worn, and not accumulate static electricity.

Note: The optimal time for washing woolen products is no more than 20-30 minutes.

How to remove stains from wool clothes

Most often, greasy marks or dirt appear on things in those places where the clothes come into contact with the skin. Since you won’t be able to intensively rub collars or cuffs while washing, sprinkle the dirty areas with talc or tooth powder (preferably odorless, so as not to smell “minty freshness” throughout the entire office) for 3-5 hours. After this, the powder must be shaken off and the item washed in the usual way.

To remove chocolate stains, wash stained clothing in a concentrated salt solution. Don't forget about thorough rinsing and conditioning, otherwise the item will itch! By the way, salt can also remove sweat stains from wool fabric.

Warm glycerin will help remove stains left by tea, coffee or milk. It must be applied to the stained area, wait 10 minutes and carefully wash the treated area of ​​​​fabric with soap.

A blood stain on clothing should be wetted with cool water, then the item should be placed in a warm soapy solution and the fabric should be rubbed gently. Such stains are difficult to wash off; you may have to change the soapy water a couple of times. After the stain has been washed, rinse the clothes in cool water with a small amount of vinegar added.

The neck of a woolen sweater or dress can easily be stained with lipstick. If you have such a problem, take a clean white cloth (colored ones can fade and ruin your clothes), wet it with regular alcohol and wipe the stained area until all traces of lipstick are removed. Next, wash the item as usual.

Stains from berries or wine can also be removed with regular salt. Only this time, do not dissolve it in water, but wet it a little and pour it directly onto the stained area. Wet salt will absorb dirty marks, and after half an hour all that remains is to remove the powder from the item and wash it.

There are also more daring ways to deal with stains on woolen clothes - for example, it is often recommended to moisten greasy stains with gasoline and then iron them, etc. But if you do not want to spoil your favorite item, there is no need to experiment. Just buy any good stain remover from the store and use it according to the instructions. Just make sure that this product is suitable for woolen items or delicate fabrics - from responsible manufacturers such information is indicated on the stain remover packaging.

Drying rules

Now let's talk about how to dry woolen items after washing, because this is perhaps the main secret to preserving the appearance of such products. Once you dry a woolen item incorrectly, it will only be useful to you as bedding for a pet, as it will lose its shape, stretch out, or shrink.

To prevent this from happening, follow these steps:

1. Gently wring out the product without twisting it. A terry towel can absorb excess water.
2. Lay down a light-colored fabric that does not fade and place the washed item on it.
3. Wait until the product dries naturally. Cuffs and sleeves can sometimes be carefully stretched to the sides while drying, since woolen fabric tends to shrink when drying.

Remember that such items cannot be dried on a clothesline. Firstly, a mark will definitely remain on the clothing, and secondly, under the influence of gravity, the item can stretch in length. The same applies to hangers - if you hang a sweater or dress on them, the product will become noticeably longer, and large and ugly “bubbles” will form on the shoulders.

To prevent woolen clothes from shrinking, dry them away from heaters and direct sunlight. Also, there should be no foreign odors in the room - wet wool readily absorbs all aromas.

If a woolen item shrinks after washing, try soaking it again in cool water for 10 minutes, laying it on a horizontal surface and drying it as described above, stretching the item to the sides from time to time. For the same purpose, a woolen hat can be placed on a glass jar or a special form.

To prevent wool clothes from fading during washing, pour a couple of teaspoons of vinegar into the water. And to preserve the color - a few drops of ammonia.

Before washing dark items, it is a good idea to check the fabric for color fastness. Cut a small thread somewhere on the inside, immerse it in hot soapy water for a couple of minutes, and then wrap it in a piece of white cloth. Are there any traces left? This means that the product will definitely fade when washed, so you will have to wash it separately from other clothes and add color preserving agents to the water.

White woolen items fade over time or acquire a yellowish tint. To prevent this from happening, use special powders and gels for washing white wool items. Well, if you have already received a thing that is not at all snow-white, then ordinary hydrogen peroxide can restore its beauty. Mix it with water (8 parts water to 1 part peroxide) and soak the wool item you want to bleach in the solution. After a few hours, you can wash the item as usual, dry it and evaluate the result.

Expensive items of clothing often come with small pieces of fabric. Most housewives throw them away, although it is on such a scrap that you can easily test any folk recipe for washing or a new product from the store. This way you will immediately get an idea of ​​how the fabric will “behave” and make sure that a beautiful woolen item will not become a dull rag after the next experiment.

We hope that you have no questions about how to wash woolen items in a washing machine and by hand. This is not such a difficult process, and even our grandmothers successfully coped with it in the absence of washing machines and magic detergents. So there is no reason to refuse woolen clothes - with proper care, such products will please the eye for a long time and warm their owner even in the coldest weather.

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Natural wool is very capricious, and sometimes a favorite sweater or jacket turns out to be hopelessly damaged after washing. How to make wool correctly and can it be done at home?

Is it possible to wash wool?

The peculiarity of natural wool compared to cotton or artificial materials is that it does not need frequent washing. Typically, woolen items get dirty a little, and small dirt can be removed from them without washing. It is enough to wait until the dirt dries and then brush it off.

The main disadvantage of such products is that they quickly become saturated with foreign odors. But in this case, you can refresh things by hanging them in the air. But still, you can’t do without washing, and therefore wool is washed, but following certain recommendations. It is important to choose the right cleaning agent, select the water temperature and set the mode on the machine, if not possible.

How to wash woolen items

Before you start washing such a delicate material, you need to study the label on the product and not deviate from the manufacturer’s recommendations.

What means are suitable

Before washing wool, especially capricious white woolen items, you should choose the right powder. It is not recommended to wash products in ordinary powders with phosphates. You can use baby powders or special wool products. It is best to use gels that are gentle on the fabric and do not damage the fiber structure.
Especially delicate items can be washed in hair shampoo - mild baby shampoo will do just fine. Washing wool with washing soap is not recommended.

At what temperature should I wash?

To prevent the fibers from shrinking, it is important to choose the right water temperature. Do not wash at temperatures above +40 degrees. It is advisable to take lukewarm water about +30 degrees.

If you immerse a woolen product in hot water, it will inevitably shrink.

How to wash wool in a washing machine

If the tag does not say that it is prohibited, the product can be safely loaded into the washing machine. For example, items made from worn camel wool are perfectly machine washable. But, before loading a blanket or blanket into the drum, things need to be soaked for an hour in a weak detergent solution. Before putting it in the machine, you need to rinse the laundry thoroughly and then let the water drain.

The water temperature when washing in the machine is set to +30 degrees.

Soft, very fine wool is best dry cleaned. If the label says that machine washing is allowed, then you need to select the delicate mode and set the water temperature to +30 degrees.

Sheep wool should be turned inside out before loading into the bin. When washing such material, a softener is added to the washing tray. Be sure to turn off the spin cycle so that things don’t stretch, and set the water temperature to +30 degrees.

Important! Do not load more than 2 kg of pure wool laundry into the tank. The problem is that the fiber becomes very heavy and you can overload the machine.

How to wash woolen items by hand

Delicate threads such as cashmere, angora, mohair and alpaca are washed only by hand. In this case, the water temperature should not exceed +30 degrees. It is advisable to use only liquid gels specifically designed for washing woolen materials.

If you want your laundry to smell nice, you can add a few drops of essential oil to the water.

When washing by hand, do not soak the laundry for a long time. It is enough to immerse things in water for only 10 minutes. It is important to ensure that the water temperature is the same at all stages of washing, otherwise things will lose their shape.

An excellent alternative to chemical detergents is mustard. 15 g of mustard powder is diluted per liter of water, and the laundry is washed in this solution. The remaining sediment is another load of laundry.

An excellent detergent for clean wool is soapwort rhizomes. The plant extract can be purchased at a herbal pharmacy. The day before washing, the roots are poured with boiling water. Then the infusion is filtered, diluted with cool water and washed in it.

When washing by hand, it is very important not to overuse synthetic detergents, since it is very difficult to rinse them completely out of pure wool fibers.

Washing wool by hand step by step:

1. Dissolve a capful of detergent gel in a bowl of warm water. The gel can be replaced with regular hair shampoo.
2. Immerse the product in a soap solution for 10 minutes.
3. Gently fingering the item, wash it with your fingers in a soapy solution, slightly washing out particularly dirty areas.
4. Rinse the product in water at the same temperature in the bathroom. It is advisable to rinse with plenty of water.

How to dry woolen items correctly

After rinsing, under no circumstances should the laundry be wrung out, much less twisted. Things need to be placed in an empty basin and wait until the water drains from them. Small items can be wrung out by wrapping them in a terry towel and pressing gently.

Lay out a large terry towel or sheet on a horizontal surface (table or floor). The item is carefully laid out on top of them, smoothing out all the folds and creases. You need to make sure that there are no distortions or folds, otherwise the item will dry out and lose its shape.

Do not dry wool near heating devices, much less use a hair dryer for drying.

How to iron woolen items correctly

If the iron has a “Wool” mode, the ironing process will be as easy as possible. You will also need white cotton fabric.

Iron woolen items only from the inside out and only through slightly damp fabric, otherwise the wool will shrink. During ironing, you must ensure that the material does not stretch, otherwise the jacket or sweater will become deformed.

It is generally not recommended to iron embossed woolen items. You can simply steam a fairly thick sweater using the “Steam” function on the iron.

Terry items can be ironed the old-fashioned way using a terry towel and a rolling pin. To do this, place a towel evenly under the item, cover it with a second towel on top and iron it with a rolling pin, as if rolling out dough.

During the ironing process, it is important not to deform the structure of the fabric or knitwear.

You can refresh woolen items without washing, if the scale of contamination allows this.

For example, a woolen coat is hung on a hanger and sprinkled with washing powder. Then the fabric is wiped with a slightly damp sponge, and the remaining detergent is removed with a clothes brush. All that remains is to dry the coat.

If paint stains appear on the material, it can be removed safely with household gasoline. It is important to buy highly purified household gasoline at a hardware store, since regular car fuel is not suitable for such purposes.

If traces of juice or berries appear on the wool, you can wash them off by first sprinkling them with salt and then treating them with a soap solution.

Traces of lipstick on clean wool are wiped off with medical alcohol, and scorch marks are removed well with fresh onion juice.

If your clothes begin to smell unpleasantly from sweat, then it is enough to wipe the sweat-soaked areas with a solution of table vinegar. To prepare the solution, use 1 tsp. Dissolve vinegar in 100 ml of water. Lemon juice also helps get rid of sweat odor.

And finally, if you want your woolen items to smell nice after washing, then place them on your closet shelves with paper napkins soaked in a few drops of lavender oil. This will not only give your laundry a pleasant aroma, but will also reliably protect it from moths.