Jeans are very practical to wear and always fashionable; they are equally comfortable and relevant for everyday activities and going to work. The maximum period for wearing high-quality denim clothing is up to two years. The item will last as long as possible and will not lose its aesthetic properties if you read the important rules before washing your jeans. This article provides useful recommendations to help extend the life of your favorite clothes.
Preparatory stage
Before moving directly to hand or machine washing, it is important to properly prepare your denim clothing. And the very first thing is to read the information on the label to find out what care the clothing manufacturer recommends. In particular, the temperature for washing and ironing, whether the use of bleach, machine drying, etc. is acceptable.
The pants are then checked for small items in the pockets. All contents (candy wrappers, keys, business cards, etc.) must be removed, all pockets zipped and the item turned inside out.
To preserve the color of the product as much as possible, you need to choose the right detergent. For hand washing, laundry soap is best suited. It is especially important to follow all the rules when cleaning black jeans, as they quickly lose their color saturation. When choosing a powder, it is recommended to give preference to products for colored clothes or jeans. A liquid product is best. It should not contain enzymes, phosphates and other dangerous components that can lead to loss of color.
The best remedy
To wash jeans, you can use regular washing powder labeled “automatic”. However, it is better to give preference to liquid detergent compositions.
There are several reasons for this:
- gels remove stains more effectively;
- they dissolve better in cool water;
- Liquid concentrates are rinsed out faster from thick fabric.
Considering that the duration of the jeans washing cycle is minimal, gel capsules are the best choice. To make the product soft, you can use fabric conditioner.
How to wash by hand?
We have already mentioned that the ideal product for hand washing jeans is laundry soap. You should take warm water into the bath and dilute a small amount of soap in it to obtain a slightly white, transparent solution. Then the pants need to be soaked for 30 minutes.
Advice! When soaked in a powder solution, buttons and jewelry often lose their shine, become dull, or become stained.
At this stage it is important:
- do not use temperatures above 40 degrees;
- do not pour powder directly onto the product;
- keep jeans in water for more than an hour;
- Do not use bleach (it can cause the item to fade).
After soaking, using a clothes brush and laundry soap, you need to get rid of any remaining dirt. The soap is applied to the brush, and then the tool is moved along the direction of the threads. This method will make it easier to get rid of contaminants. All movements must be careful. The pants should be treated on both sides and then rinsed in the shower. After this, the product should be shaken, giving it the desired shape, and hung for further drying.
Advice! It will be easier to maintain the shape of your jeans if you let the product dry on its own after washing. You should not twist the clothes with your hands; just hang the item over the bathtub and wait until the water drains from the legs.
At what temperature
Denim fabric is made up of cotton fibers. If you expose them to high temperatures, they will shrink. The hotter the water, the greater the degree of shrinkage .
At what degrees should jeans be washed? To avoid becoming the owner of small pants that have shrunk 1-2 sizes, you need to wash them at a temperature of 30-40 degrees. If you make it lower, you will not be able to get rid of stubborn dirt.
Also, you should not allow significant fluctuations in the temperature of the water when soaking. It must remain within the specified range.
Checking if your jeans are fading
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for jeans to get washed out within the first few washes. This nuance must be taken into account. It is advisable to soak and clean jeans separately or with items that are closest in color and nature of the fabric.
It's worse when jeans stain your skin. This is unpleasant, in addition, sometimes it causes irritation of the epidermis. Therefore, before wearing for the first time, you need to wash your jeans. This especially applies to cheap jeans. This procedure will protect the skin from exposure to paint, as well as dust that may have accumulated or remained in the canvas from production. Checking whether jeans are fading is not difficult. It is necessary to wet the match and pass it over the dry material. If the base becomes stained, it means the item is shedding.
Causes of shedding
Denim products may fade in the following cases:
- Use of low-quality dyes.
- The use of synthetic fibers in fabric composition. This is often the problem with inexpensive products from mass market brands.
- Violation of technological processes.
You might think that only cheap and low-quality items leave color marks on their owners. Actually this is not true. Expensive branded jeans, even designer items, can be dyed. This is caused by the specifics of the fabric itself and the use of dyes of natural origin.
When examining the fabric, it becomes clear that the rich color is characteristic only of the front side of the denim, that is, only the warp is colored, not the weft. It is thanks to the structure that jeans will “age” beautifully and fade in those places where they bear the maximum load.
The twisted warp thread does not absorb dye well and gradually releases it when washed and worn. The product takes on a spectacular worn look, and excess paint is slowly washed out of it. So we can say that the shedding of jeans is, to one degree or another, determined by the technology of their manufacture.
Machine washable
When washing by hand is not possible, a machine will come to the rescue. You can safely get rid of dirt using the “hand wash” or “delicate” mode. Some new brands have a denim feature.
After preparation, the turned-out pants should be placed in a drum. As with hand washing, it is advisable to wash jeans separately from other items. Pre-soaking with laundry soap or pre-wash mode will improve the result. However, the latter should be used sparingly, only when the item is heavily soiled.
It is better to choose a liquid detergent for washing jeans in an automatic machine that does not contain aggressive components that can lead to color loss. This gel penetrates better into the fabric structure, between tightly woven fibers, and is washed out more easily than powder.
The optimal temperature is 40 degrees. Cold water is worse at removing dirt, hot water damages the color and structure of cotton threads, so jeans shrink.
Advice! Denim items will not fade and will retain the brightness of the shade if you use vinegar when washing in an automatic machine. It should be poured into the conditioner compartment. If there is a measuring container for loading into the drum, that's even better. Pour vinegar into it and let it wash along with your jeans.
To protect the texture of the fabric, as well as buttons and decor, it is recommended to wash jeans in a special mesh bag or pillowcase. Another option is to wash with other dark cotton items, which will reduce the friction of the jeans against the walls of the drum.
You should squeeze at medium speed to avoid shrinkage and strong jams. Then immediately hang it up.
Do I need to wash new ones immediately after purchase?
There are several arguments for and against washing jeans after purchase.
The main argument in favor is that new pants are always painted and sometimes quite heavily . This applies not only to cheap, but also to expensive branded items.
A light wash without using detergents will remove excess pigment and prevent it from transferring to the skin of your feet or other things.
Also, with the help of the first wash, you will be able to get rid of the unpleasant odor that may be present on the new product. Wash jeans after purchase for hygienic purposes. It is possible that other people tried them on before purchasing the pants.
The main argument against washing is the fact that the color of the product may become less saturated . To avoid this problem and fix the dye, it is recommended to add 9% vinegar to the water (3 tablespoons per 10 liters of water).
Sometimes they refuse to do laundry because they want to put on a new item as quickly as possible. However, hygiene rules should not be neglected. Moreover, the washing and drying process will take no more than 10-12 hours.
How to dry
After blotting with a towel to remove excess moisture, or squeezing at medium speed in an automatic machine, you need to hang the jeans to dry. The use of a drying drum is also acceptable.
It is important to follow a number of rules in order to maintain the shape and color of the product, as well as to make ironing easier:
- It is prohibited to use the “hot drying” mode;
- Drying with an iron is extremely harmful to fabric;
- You shouldn’t throw your pants over a rope; it’s best to use a hanger-clip for trousers or attach your jeans to the rope with clothespins;
- It is highly not recommended to dry denim clothes in direct sunlight or near a heating device;
- Before wearing, the product must dry completely, otherwise the trouser legs will stretch at the knees, and the defect will be extremely difficult to correct.
Advice! To prevent pocket marks from appearing on the fabric, use fabric pads. If you insert them into the middle of the pockets, it will be easier to avoid harmful effects on the fabric.
Drying Features
There are several nuances that you need to pay attention to when drying jeans:
They are hung upside down.- The product should be secured to the belt. This position will avoid deformation of the fabric and allow the pockets to dry faster.
- Do not dry jeans near heat sources, such as a radiator.
This will cause them to shrink. For the same reason, jeans are not dried with a hot stream of air. - Pants should not be hung in direct sunlight. Ultraviolet light promotes their fading. White fabric may turn yellow.
How long does it usually take for jeans to dry? If they were washed in a washing machine with a spin cycle, the water will completely evaporate in 3-4 hours. After hand washing, this process may take 1-2 days.
It is best to dry your pants naturally , in a room with low humidity. You can learn about ways to dry jeans after washing here.
Note to housewives
When dried properly, jeans straighten out under their own weight and do not require ironing. Denim is a very dense fabric that is wrinkle resistant. If you still need to iron, do it while the jeans are slightly damp - this will make it easier for the fabric to straighten out. Ironing from the inside out is preferred.
Black jeans will lose their color less if they are first left in water and vinegar. The acid will set the dye in the middle of the fibers. Dark blue and black jeans will fade less if you subsequently wash them in slightly salted or acidified water.
It is better to wash denim clothes with embroidery and rhinestones by hand. When cleaning by machine, be sure to not only turn your pants inside out, but also place them in a special bag (pillowcase). In this case, the most gentle mode is set, for example, “Wool”: it is better to hang very damp, wet jeans than to lose all the decor, and even clog the filters of the machine with it.
It is not recommended to dry clean jeans. Chemicals negatively affect the fabric, as a result of which the item quickly loses its appearance.
By following the above recommendations, it will not be difficult to clean the dirt from your favorite jeans. Good denim can withstand both hand and machine washing. For cheaper samples, you just need to choose a more gentle mode. It is recommended to pay attention to the selection of detergents and not to overdo the spin cycle, and your clothes will look like they came from a store for a long time.
Things to remember
- Wash the item in cold or warm water no higher than 60C. Hot water washes away color pigments.
- Soak very dirty clothes in a weak solution of vinegar or salt to set the dye.
- Dry the items from the reverse side in the shade . Direct sunlight causes cotton fabric to fade.
- Iron from the wrong side.
- Choose cleaning products in liquid form . This way, traces of powder stains will not remain on your clothes.
- First dilute the washing powder in water , and then use a brush to clean the dirt.
- jeans with decorations (rhinestones, rivets, embroidery) without soaking.
