What do the Symbols on my Laundry Mean?
Isn’t it so exciting!!! The holidays are around the corner, and you’re about to get so many new clothes. The gifts are open, and all these brand-new items are begging to be worn, but first, they must be washed. The confusion has already begun.
How Do I Wash My New Clothes?
Most importantly, check the tag on the item. It’s full of all those weird, confusing symbols the manufacturer provides us to be “helpful”, but none of us know what they mean. Thanks to our good friends at Reader’s Digest, they have created this *actually* helpful chart for us to break down what each symbol means.
What laundry symbols mean:
Machine wash symbols are either dots or numbers inside a basket. They both represent the temperature. Making sure the right water temperature is selected is super important. If an item is washed at an incorrect temperature, it may shrink or bleed color onto other items.
- One dot or 30° is cold
- Two dots or 40° is warm
- Three Dots or 50° is hot
Wash instructions are a little easier to understand. It still uses a basket
- A X through the basket: Do not wash.
- A hand in the basket: Hand wash.
- A twist with an X: Do not wring out.
The symbol for bleach is a triangle
- Triangle: Bleach as needed
- X through the triangle: not bleach
- Triangle with lines in it: Non-chlorine bleach only
Ironing instructions tie back into the dot method.
- Ironer with one dot: Cool iron
- Ironer with two dots: Warm iron
- Ironer with three dots: Hot iron
- Ironer with an X through it: Do not iron
- Ironer with the dots coming out of the bottom: Steam as needed
- Ironer with dots coming out of the bottom and an X through it: Do not steam
The dryer gets a little more complicated using circles and squares but still ties back to the dot system from earlier. Lines and squares are used to go into more detail on dryer settings
- Circle with one dot: Cool heat
- Circle with two dots: Medium heat
- Circle with three dots: High heat
- Circle inside a square: Tumble dry
- Circle inside a square with an X through it: Do not dry
- Circle inside a square with one line underneath: permanent press
- Circle inside a square with two lines underneath: Gentle cycle
- Square with two diagonal lines: Dry in shade
- Square with one horizontal line inside: Dry flat
- Square with three vertical lines: Drip dry
- Square that looks like an envelope: Line dry
The easiest of all: dry cleaning
- Circle: Dry clean
- Circle with X: Do not dry clean
When used correctly, these strange symbols will help your laundry last as long as possible.