I wash before wearing...should I dry clean before wearing?

[MartyM]

Hey y'all!

I generally wash all new (and used or vintage) washable clothing before I wear it. Does it follow that we should be having all the dry clean only pieces cleaned before wearing for the same reasons (hygiene, shrinkage, dye-setting)?

I would have never dreamed of it, but this question was brought up with a group of ladies I hang with, and I wondered what the board would have to say.

Would you take your brand new clothes directly from the store to the dry cleaners for cleaning before you wore it the first time?

 

[JennyWren]

Vintage? Yes

New? I never have.

 

[MartyM]

Vintage? Yes

New? I never have.

Same here. I just wondered what folks' feelings were about that.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Vintage stuff, I would wash/clean I have never washed brand new clothes. Maybe I should wash new stuff.

Several years ago I thought I had something BAD wrong with me one night, I noticed I was turning blue. I freaked out enough to show my parents and were freaking out too.





After a little while, my mom realized that I had been wearing a brand new/unwashed blue top all day.

I didn't really learn a lesson, I still wear brand new stuff without washing it.

 

[Christine]

For dry cleanables, no. I would though on a used item.

Dry cleaning doesn't technically "sterilize" the clothes. It used chemicals that hopefully have 'removal' property to them for dirt. In that process it also deposits chemicals into the clothing that stay and buildup. For that reason, I try to dry clean as little as possible. Those chemicals are just as harsh as any of the "new clothes" chemicals that the manufacturer has put in the fabric. Dry cleaning and hygiene issues--not sure about it doing much good on that. Gross, isn't it? My first job in life was working at a dry cleaner and I'm not convinced the clothes are "clean" after dry cleaning. Well, they are clean but in a different way.

 

[snapppyd]

Vintage stuff, I would wash/clean I have never washed brand new clothes. Maybe I should wash new stuff.

Several years ago I thought I had something BAD wrong with me one night, I noticed I was turning blue. I freaked out enough to show my parents and were freaking out too.



After a little while, my mom realized that I had been wearing a brand new/unwashed blue top all day.

I didn't really learn a lesson, I still wear brand new stuff without washing it.

You had Smurf-itis!

 

[Shelby5514]

No, I would not take new clothes to the dry cleaner before wearing but I do wash 90% of all new clothes. About the only thing I don't wash before wearing would be socks and anything that needs dry cleaning.

I too had a case of Smurfitis. Recently I was in NYC and bought a blue/purple scarf at one of the booths at Times Square, I wore it all day and when I returned back to the hotel I noticed that my neck was dark blue! Thank God I wore a black t-shirt that day and not the white one I had planned to wear!

 

[I Love Pluto]

I have washed & dry cleaned items before wearing for my entire life. Everything - underwear & socks included. I have no idea why - I just did.

(The socks were because once I got a serious rash from wearing a new pair without washing them first.)

I recently was tested for allergic substances due to another issue. I am allergic to one of the chemicals used in new clothing to give them that new crisp look!

So - if you habitually wash clothes that are new - perhaps you have this allergy also without realizing it. I am in my sixties. It took all of these years for me to learn something that simple!

 

[Pigeon]

I rarely wash anything before I wear it. I don't buy used clothing, just new.

I buy almost nothing that needs dry cleaning, but it would never occur to me to have something cleaned before I wore it.

 

[DebbieB]

I usually wash clothes before I wear them. They usually have a "smell" from the store plus they get wrinkled in the bag. If something was dry clean only, I would not.

 

[Buckeye Princess]

I avoid dry cleaning like the plaque. In general I hand wash many items that say dry clean only and have never had a problem. If it is something like pure silk then I take it to an organic dry cleaner and generally those items are one time wear type things.

 

[Imzadi]

I don't buy used clothing. I have never washed new clothing before wearing. Neither have my parents nor their ancestors. The majority lived to ripe old ages. And the ones that died sooner, I don't think it was because of not washing their clothes.

You are aware that skin of the human body is designed to take a lot of rubbing and abrading against it? Otherwise cavemen would have died out when they crawled on the ground or covered themselves up with unwashed animal cloths. Then there was the whole Medieval & Renaissance era when they didn't bathe for months and the clothes were also unwashed for just as long.

Unless you truly have an allergic reaction to the sizing & finishes put on new clothes, I don't see the need for washing. Plenty of other germs & dirt around to come into contact with your body. It's a wasted expense: wasted electricity, wasted clean water, and puts extra chemicals into the oceans during an extra wash.

 

[Imzadi]

I avoid dry cleaning like the plaque. In general I hand wash many items that say dry clean only and have never had a problem. If it is something like pure silk then I take it to an organic dry cleaner and generally those items are one time wear type things.

I have started to do textile designs on silk. In talking to many professional silk artists, it is incredible how many just toss their new, unpainted silks into a washing machine with HOT water to "scour" them. A technical term for removing the sizing on the fabrics, so it will accept dyes & paints better.

Other silk artists steam their finished, dyed/painted silk scarves for 3-5 hours to set the colors. Silk is actually quite strong. The Chinese, Japanese & Indians were wearing silk for everyday wear for CENTURIES, long before dry cleaning was invented. Silk is not a one time wear item.

It was turned into a Dry Clean only item as cheap imported manufacturers didn't use dyes that were colorfast - properly affixed to the silk so they wouldn't bleed off during the wash.

If you dip an inside corner of your silk item into water and use a Q-tip or paper towel to try to scrub off the dye, if a significant amount does NOT come off, (there may be a little excess dye from the original dye bath,) then it is probably safe to handwash or machine wash - gentle cycle in cool water. Hang to dry. Iron while still damp.

If you handwash, you can even use SHAMPOO! Silk is a protein fiber. So is hair. Shampoo works wonderfully on silk as it is designed to nourish the protein in our hair. (Don't put shampoo in the washing machine. Creates too much suds. ) A rinse afterwards with a little hair conditioner, then rinsed out, will restore the luster and make the silk incredibly soft.

Just don't use chlorine bleach. Because silk is a protein fiber, bleach will destroy the silk fiber.