Drying Your Clothes

When I was in about sixth grade I went through this phase where all of my pants were too short, resulting in a not-so-cute dorky flood pant look. I blame this mostly to the fact that my height was increasing at an alarming rate, but also in part to my pants being dried in the dryer. Shrinking clothes may seem unavoidable and it almost all has to do with how you dry it. So how then can you effectively dry your clothes without ruining them? Here are just a few tips to keep in mind as you do your laundry!

One thing you can try is to dry your shrinkable clothes on a low heat setting. This way your clothes get dry but the intense dryer heat you may be using won't affect the article of clothing. It may take a bit longer, but what are a few extra minutes when compared with nerd jeans?

Another tactic I usually pursue when preserving all the integrity of my clothes is to partially dry the shrinkable ones and then let them line dry the rest of the way. This technique works great with fabrics with Lycra, jeans, and fitted camisoles. When you put them in the dryer, set the dryer on a low heat setting and dry for a short amount of time. Take your clothes out when they're still damp and let them line dry. This will greatly decrease the risk of shrinking.

Another tactic you can take is just to line dry without even using the dryer. For those items to which you are particularly attached, this might be the route for you. After the washer has run its cycle you should take out those clothes that you don't to go in the dryer and simply hang them on a line. Don't wash these clothes any time soon before you want to wear them just because it takes a bit more time than when you just use the dryer!

Drying your clothes doesn't have to ruin them—you can effectively dry your clothes and have them not shrink! Here's to dry clothes that don't shrink!