Washing bedding isn’t something many enjoy, but nothing beats getting into bed with freshly washed sheets.
You might think that your bed is the thing in your bedroom getting the most use, but, if you think about it, your sheets suffer more wear and tear than the bed itself.
With this in mind, the operations manager of Super Cleaning Service Louisville Elizabeth Shields has shared the top mistakes to avoid when it comes to laundry for bed sheets.
She exalted that taking care of bed sheets is something we all want to get right, but there are some everyday mistakes we can “easily make without realising it”.
Using fabric softener
Most love the idea of soft sheets, but too much can lead to a buildup within the fabric fibres over time, which might “affect the breathability and absorbency”.
What’s more, the excessive use can leave a residue that can “trigger an allergy”.
Not removing pilling
Before washing, the expert recommends gently removing any pilling using a fabric shaver or a lint roller.
This “prevents pilling from spreading and becoming worse” during the washing and drying process. Doing so will keep your bed sheets looking “smooth and fresh”.
Tangling bed sheets
When households stuff their sheets into the washer without much thought, they can get all tangled up in there.
Elizabeth warned: “This excessive friction can lead to unnecessary wear and tear, potentially resulting in frayed edges, pilling, or even small tears in the fabric.”
Using chlorine bleach
The use of chlorine bleach on white sheets every time is not good. Elizabeth warned that grabbing bleach every time you wash bed sheets can “weaken their fibres”.
She said: “This makes the fabric susceptible to wear and tear, leading to gradual deterioration.”
If the bedding items have traces of body oil on them, the chlorine may react with these substances and cause yellow stains to appear which can be a nightmare to remove.
Aside from the list of don’ts mentioned above, Elizabeth also recommends protecting the colours and fabric of your sheets by sorting your laundry.
This means washing whites with whites and colours with colours. You can also sort it by colour and by fabrics as delicate ones should only be on gentle or normal cycle settings.
If you’re rotating between different sets of sheets, place the off-duty ones in a breathable fabric bag, and store them in a cool, dry place.
If it helps with organisation, fold the complete set of matching bed linens and store it into one of the pillowcases. This way, “you’ll never struggle to find matching linens again, as they’re all in one place”.
