How To Stop Clothes Wrinkling In The Washing Machine (best tips)
When your clothes get put in the washing machine, there are times when they’ll look wrinkly and creasy. Unfortunately, wearing garments like that does not exactly make us look nice, which is why we also iron our clothing.
Do you want to spend less time and energy on ironing your clothes? Let’s find out the ways to reduce the wrinkling that happens while you wash them.
Tips to stop clothes from wrinkling in the washer
Separate your clothes thoroughly
It’s tempting to just load all your dirty clothes inside the washer and hope for the best.
However, in doing so, not only are you risking wrinkling to appear on your garments but will also damage them in the long run.
Before running the washer, separate your clothes into categories. Make sure that they’re sorted by colour, such as white, light-coloured, and dark-coloured items. This lessens the risk of colour bleed.
To reduce the creasing, separate your delicates from your normal wear. It is extremely important to not put heavy and rough clothes with your light and smooth clothing. This is because the heavy items will put pressure on your light clothes, which will result in extreme wrinkling.
Load your machine with the right volume of clothes
Never overload your washer. Not only will this make it less efficient in cleaning your clothes, it’ll also makes it tough to remove stains and wrinkles from your garments in the process.
Each washer has its own weight capacity. If you’ve already forgotten yours, look at your manual or search for your machine’s model online.
Most residential washers have a capacity of kilograms, but it’s always best that you’re sure about your machine’s exact capacity to avoid damaging it.
Use a lower temperature
High temperatures can clean your clothes much better and faster. Especially when there are stains on your fabrics, it can be easy to choose the hottest water temp there is in your machine to get it over and done with.
Unfortunately, high temperatures shrink your clothes and cause them to crease.
Make sure to be careful when choosing the temp on your machine to lessen the chance of ruining your clothing. In most cases, using warm water is enough to clean your garments without having to worry about wrinkles.
SEE ALSO: What Temperature Is Considered A “Hot Wash”?
Choose the appropriate wash cycle setting
Using the right spin speed and wash cycle setting is crucial to reduce the wrinkles on your clothes.
By now, you may already have an idea as to which of your clothes crease easily. If you already do, put them in one load and use the gentle or delicate setting on your machine.
Of course, always check your garments’ care labels and see the recommendations on how to clean them. Otherwise, you may be surprised when your silk shirt is so much smaller than what you remember it to be before washing it.
Use the right amount of detergent
Putting too little detergent on your laundry will not clean your clothes. However, putting too much can damage your garments and wrinkle them as a result.
Make sure to follow the recommended amount of detergent to use, which you can often find on its packaging.
Although this can be a trial and error for your first few loads, you will eventually get the right amount of detergent that cleans your clothes and keep them fresh and smooth.
Add fabric conditioner
Fabric conditioners or softeners can definitely help in lessening the wrinkles that appear on your clothing.
This is possible as the conditioners have chemicals that affect the fabrics of your clothes in a way that smoothens and fluffs them out[1]. As a result, any creasing that’s left on your garments is significantly reduced.
However, if you don’t like using fabric conditioners as they’re not exactly environmentally friendly, there are some alternatives, like white vinegar and dryer balls.
White vinegar is one of the multi-purpose products we can find in our homes. But did you know that they also fluff out your clothing when you add half a cup of it to your washer? Also, they do not contain the irritants that fabric conditioners may have, especially if you have sensitive skin.
Aside from white vinegar, dryer balls can also help smooth out wrinkles when included in the washer. Like the former, they don’t have irritants and can even help clean your clothes further.
SEE ALSO: How To Use White Vinegar In The Washing Machine (and why!)
Remove clothes in the washer once done
Sometimes, we’re so busy with other chores that we often forget our laundry. Like normal humans, we have also left our clothes in the washing machine before.
Unfortunately, this habit can cause clothes to smell and also make them wrinkle and crease. This happens as the fabrics hold their shape and adjust to the position they’re left at.
To prevent this from happening, make sure to remove the garments as soon as they’re done in the washer. If your laundry room is in a different area in your home or if it’s possible that you won’t hear your machine beep, setting a timer on your phone will definitely help.
SEE ALSO: Left Clothes In Washer? Here’s How To Get The Smell Out
Time to dry your clothes? Keep them wrinkle-free by:
Shaking your clothes before putting them inside the machine
Once the garments are done in the washer, it’s time to transfer them to your dryer.
If you notice that there is some tangling on your clothing, make sure to shake them lightly first. This will reduce the wrinkling of the fabrics before you put them in the tumble dryer.
Doing so is simple: just like what you did earlier, hold the uppermost parts of your clothes, then lightly shake them out. Then, place each item individually in your dryer drum.
Not overloading your tumble dryer
Similar to its effect on your washer, overloading your tumble dryer will do your clothes more harm than good.
Each appliance has a maximum capacity for a reason. This is highly applicable for dryers, as overfilling or underfilling them will make the machine less efficient.
In most situations, it’s best to go slightly over half the dryer’s drum when putting your garments in it. Just make sure that there’s still enough space for the clothes to spin and dry evenly.
Using a low heat setting
Using the high heat setting on your dryer can be very effective in removing the moisture from your garments quickly.
Unfortunately, extreme temperatures can have a negative effect on your garments. For some fabrics, high heat can shrink them, which not only causes wrinkling but also damage your clothes.
To prevent this from happening, it’s best to follow the care labels on your garments. In most cases, it’s safer to use the low heat setting on your dryer, or even the air-dry option if your appliance has it.
Using dryer balls
As its name suggests, a dryer ball helps your clothes dry more quickly when placed inside your dryer with the damp laundry.
However, dryer balls are much more than that.
Not only will they reduce the static cling on your clothes, they will also smooth out the wrinkles on your garments too. This happens as the dryer balls bounce inside the dryer drum, giving more space to the fabrics and applying force that reduces creasing in the process.
There are many types of dryer balls, with wool and rubber being the popular ones. If you don’t have them yet, you can use clean tennis balls in the meantime as an alternative.
Removing your clothes immediately once the spin is complete
Like leaving your clothes inside the washer, having your garments in the dryer for a long time while they’re already dry also causes them to wrinkle.
This is exactly why you need to remove them quickly once the spin is complete. Otherwise, all your effort in reducing the wrinkling will just be for naught.
Don’t have time to fold your clothes just yet? Hang your clothing to prevent more wrinkling! You can do this by using hangers and placing your clothes on an indoor drying rack.
- High-quality material: made of rust-proof stainless steel tubes, the clothes rack is particularly durable and weather-resistant, ideal for outdoor and indoor use; additional plastic caps on the feet also promise good stability
- Large capacity – with a fully unfolded size of 147 x 51 x 97 cm (W x H x D), this tumble dryer reaches a drying length of 16 m, ideal for approx. 2 washing machine fillings; on the two dry wings you can dry clothes, bedding or duvets; max. Load capacity of the clothes rack is 20 kg
BONUS TIP: Use a wrinkle-free spray for remaining creases! If you also hate ironing as we do, simply spritzing a bit of wrinkle-free spray smoothens leftover creases that are visible on your clothing.
- All in One: Wrinkle Remover, Static Remover, Odor Eliminator, Fabric Refresher, Ironing Aid
- To use: simply spray fabric, tug and smooth away wrinkles, hang dry
You deserve to wear wrinkle-free clothes!
It’s so frustrating to see wrinkles on your clothes, especially when you want to look crisp and professional.
No, it’s not enough to get clean clothes that smell good after the wash. We all deserve to wear garments that don’t have creases on them, after all the time we spend doing laundry.
Fortunately, the tips we shared above will surely help reduce the wrinkles on your clothing.
By just lessening the amount of clothes you put in the wash or changing the temperature, you’re one step closer to feeling confident and presentable when you’re finally wearing that outfit!
Do you have any questions? Leave a comment below!
Frequently Asked Questions
The main culprit behind the wrinkling of clothes in the washing machine is when you overload your machine. Make sure to only put the right amount of clothes in the washer to reduce creases and wrinkles on your garments.
Yes, fabric softeners can help reduce wrinkles as they smoothen out the fabric and reduce static cling.
The most efficient washing machine setting is normal or regular wash as it cleans your garments without using too much energy. However, not all clothes can be washed during this setting due to differences in fabric and material. Make sure to read your garment’s care labels before using a wash setting to avoid ruining it.
For most everyday clothes made of cotton, linen, and durable fibres, using the normal cycle is enough to clean them out. Just to be sure, read your clothing’s care labels to prevent damage.
Many people like using powder detergents due to their cheap price and effectiveness when removing stains on clothing. At the end of the day, using either powder or liquid detergents will all boil down to your preference.
