photo by Gloria García
Doing laundry is everyday chore. But depending on material of garments, they are separated into washable at home and unwashable at home group. Washable? Unwashable ? How to wash? If you are not sure check garment tag first. To avoid shrinkage of your garment, we will explain how to read Japanese garment care instruction.
How to read garment care instruction
Square shaped symbol represent a washing machine to show it is a machine washable. A number such as 95 is to show the limit of the highest temperature when it is washed in water. If it says 40, it can be washed in water in up to 40 degrees.
If there is a 弱 inside the washing machine symbol, it means the garment needs to be washed gently. For the garment with this symbol choose gentle or hand wash cycle to be washed in your washing machine.
If there is no square shaped symbol and only 手洗イ symbol is shown, the garment is not machine washable.
Furthermore, if there is X symbol, the garment cannot be washed in water.
A symbol look like triangle beaker means that chlorine bleach can be used. If there is a X on it, chlorine bleach cannot be used. You must check when you use bleach.
How to wash garments with 弱、手洗イ marks at home
Washing by soaking is recommended. Soak the garment in warm water in designated temperature with laundry detergent for about an hour, and it will be clean. To wash delicate garments, do not wash it hard, removing impurity by soaking in detergent is highly effective.
Half circle shape with a line represent an iron. With X mark, the garment cannot be ironed otherwise it can be ironed. Letter in side the symbol shows the temperature range that can be ironed.
高: up to 210c
中: up to 160c
低: up to 120c
Symbol looks like wrapped candy with ヨワク means the garment need to be squeezed gently. With X the garment cannot be squeezed at all. Especially the garments need to be hand washed, also need to be squeezed by hand.
Shirt shaped symbol shows how to dry after it is washed. With a projection on the top it means drying by hanging is recommended .
With the same symbol without a projection and 平 in the middle of the symbol, drying by flattening is recommended. Dry the garment by spreading it on the flat space.
Diagonal lines in the lower right corner represent shadow, it need to avoid direct sun light and be dried in shadow.
How to dry garment with ヨワク、and dry in shadow symbol faster
It produce odor when garment takes long time to get dried. But with limited method of squeezing and drying, it may take much longer time to be dried. In this case, use towels to get rid of excess water. Spread a towel on where it is flat and then spread the garment over the towel and then spread another towel over the garment to place the garment inbetween towels. The garment will be dried amazingly faster because the towels absorb excess water.
Summary
Washing your garments improperly without checking instructions may cause shrinking and fading for your favorite garments. Remember to check care instruction not only when you wash it but also when you purchase garments.
