Explaining Laundry Care Symbols

Today, I’m de-coding and explaining those confusing laundry symbols. So, the other night we were out to dinner with some friends and we somehow got on the topic of the care tags on clothing and how confusing those little symbols are. My friend’s wife suggested I make a video about it to help de-code the meaning of those symbols for you guys, so here it is.

First up, it should go without saying that you should be following the care instructions for all your clothing if you don’t want to wreck it. Because putting something in the dryer when it’s not supposed to go in the dryer can and most likely will ruin that garment. Now, I’m sure we’ve all seen those ridiculously giant care tags on clothing in several different languages, and because those tags are getting a little out of control, more and more manufacturers are going with a much more streamlined tag system of only including universal symbols, so it’s important to know what those symbols mean.

Washer Symbol

Okay, first up are the washing symbols. Now, these can have either numbers or up to three dots. The more dots, the hotter the maximum temperature of the wash can be. You also have the “hand wash” only symbol along with the washer cycle instructions. No lines underneath indicates a normal wash cycle, and if there’s a series of lines underneath, this indicates either a synthetic cycle or a gentle cycle.

Dryer Symbol

Next, we’re moving on to drying symbols. Once again, the more dots you see means the hotter the dryer settings can be. Personally, I wash all my clothes in cold and dry pretty much everything on low heat. It does take a little longer, but I feel a lower dryer heat it’s a lot easier on the clothing. And, one more time, we can see lines underneath the dryer symbol which indicates permanent press or gentle. If at any time you see an X through any symbol, this means “do not”.

Ironing Symbol

Moving on to ironing, once again you see dots indicating the maximum iron temperature you can use on that specific garment. You can also see if there’s an X through the steam symbol or the plain iron symbol, do not iron, or do not use steam.

Bleach and Dry Clean Symbols

Next, if you see a triangle, this is the bleach symbol and if there’s an X through it, do not use bleach. If you see lines through it, use only non-chlorine bleach, and if it’s just a plain triangle, you can go ahead and use bleach. The circle symbol is for dry cleaning. If your garments care tag has a circle, that means it should be dry cleaned only. If it has a letter inside the circle, this is for your dry cleaner to let them know what type of solvent is okay to use.

Guys, that covers most of what you’re likely to see and if you learned something new or got something out of this video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel because the entire premise of this channel is to prove that it’s never too late and you’re never too old to change or start something new. Live well gentlemen and I’ll see you soon.