Launder Men's Shirts with TLC

Washing men's shirts can be a number one pain in the washing machine if they are recalcitrant to clean out their own pockets!

How many times have you completed a wash only to find that when you get the clothes out to be hung out to dry or put into a dryer, that there are white flecks from a tissue all over everything in the wash? 

If you are anything like the 'washer-person' in this household you can hear the groan all the way out to the back fence. 

If you are washing a load of men's shirts and he is an office worker, sitting there and picking off all the lint from a dark coloured light fabric polyester/cotton shirt seems to take ages. And then you rarely get it all off. If you try putting the shirts through another wash or rinse cycle all you are doing is redistributing the fluff and you still have to pick off the remainder anyway. One way I've found that makes this happen less often is if you let everyone know that anything, pens, wallets, keys, receipts and anything else, goes to the person doing the wash if they find it prior to washing the garment. If it goes through the wash and gets spoiled, then bad luck to both and I'll guarantee you that you will be much more careful next time. 

TLC Washing Hints for Men's Shirts:

• Check all pockets and remove foreign objects
• Check collars, cuffs and underarms for stains. Spray with stain remover or prewash detergent and leave for recommended time
• Wash shirts in a warm or cold wash with a suitable washing detergent in proportions recommended on packet or bottle. Do not exceed recommended washing detergent because it either gets left in the clothes to form skin irritations or it bubbles over and damages your washing machine.
• Always rinse men's shirts thoroughly in a cold wash and light/spin dry spin cycle
• Remove clothes from washing machine immediately after wash cycle completes to avoid creasing
• Place clothes in dryer on medium to cool heat cycle depending on shirt fabrics and dryer manufacturer recommendations
• If hanging clothes outside to dry on a clothes line, use shirt hangers. If not using shirt hangers, then make sure you peg on a seam either underarm or at bottom of shirt tail to avoid peg marks. If possible, do not hang in direct sunlight on a hot summers day because eventually the shirt colours will fade and the fabric will weaken.
• If you have to iron a shirt for whatever reason, then make sure that the iron is not too hot because this will scorch the polyester fibre in the shirt.
• Once the shirts are ready to wear again, place them on hangers into a lightly filled wardrobe to avoid re-creasing.

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