Do clothes shrink in the washer or the dryer?
I agree with David. Heat does a number on anything, including laundry. It’s been my experience that the hot air in a dryer causes more shrinkage than hot water in the washer, but hot water still shrinks anything susceptible to getting shrunk, like cotton. Washing in warm (not hot) water, then skipping the dryer and hanging the clothes out to air dry has always worked pretty well. Again, I agree with David – cold water/air is your best bet for no shrinking at all, and it’s probably easier on the clothes. Drying on a low heat setting, like permanent press, for only five or ten minutes shouldn’t cause much shrinking, depending on the specific fabric. Good luck! To mb: it’s so nice that your pup has a coat in cold weather.You have to watch those canines, though. My golden retriever used to sneak into my closet and take my dry cleaning. She’d get dressed up and go shopping while I was at work. I only caught on when she forgot to brush all that blonde-red hair off a black sweater.
Fabric shrinks with heat, regardless of the source. If you’re washing in warm or hot water, they’ll shrink in the washer. If you’re drying with heat, they’ll shrink in the dryer. If you’re doing both, they’ll shrink in both. When in doubt, read the tags. ALL store-bought garments have tags in them with care instructions. MOST clothing does better washed in cold and dried in air, whether hung, laid or tumbled, but without heat. Also, even when things can be dried in heat, it is often best to dry them only to damp and then hang them until they dry the rest of the way. In any case, ALWAYS follow the tag directions. If it says hand wash cold or dry clean only, don’t EVER put them in the washing machine.
We went to buy a new washer and dryer because our clothes were shrinking every time we washed them. No matter how many times they had been washed. Shrinking to the point that we would wash never before worn clothes and we couldn’t wear them because they shrunk WAY to much. We got tired of spending money on clothes only to never be able to wear them. So we went to buy new ones. We told the sales person what the problem was and he said that it is actually usually the washer that shrinks the clothes. Not the dryer. I can not remember the exact reason he gave for it. But it’s a misconception that only the dryer shrinks clothes. It is usually the washer. After he told us this, I did a load of laundry and took a look at the clothes before putting them in the dryer and sure enough, they had shrunk.
