Do you throw dishcloths in with your regular laundry?
In many households, the washing machine is usually working in overdrive. To make sure the machine has some downtime as well, we tend to wash some different items together in one load. The dishcloths we used earlier to clean the kitchen with are now washed together with our clothes. But is this actually a good idea, or not?
You probably already suspect the answer to this question…
Hygienic
It’s a well-known fact that dishcloths are a big source of bacteria. Our dirty clothes aren’t exactly immaculate either, but does that mean it’s hygienic to wash your used dishcloths together with your clothes? Hygiene expert Dr Lisa Ackerly can be brief about it: it’s not a good idea.
Bacteria
To prevent our clothes from wearing and becoming faded and ugly too quickly, we like to wash them in relatively cold water. “Consumers believe that normal laundering produces ‘clean’ clothes but this does not necessarily translate to ‘hygienically’ clean,” Lisa Ackerley explains to the Daily Mail. “If you put something ridden with bacteria in the washing machine you will simply be swishing the germs around – creating a ‘bacterial soup’ – unless you do something to kill them.”
Wash separately
That’s why it’s always wise to sort your laundry. Items you use to clean with are best washed separately from your clothes. It’s also best to wash things like underwear separately as well. That’s because you should wash underwear on a hot cycle, while T-shirts and other clothes are best washed on a colder one to preserve their quality. “Most people wash all of their laundry in cold or lukewarm water, which only removes and kills about 80% of bacteria,” Dr Charles Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, tells Woman’s Day.
Read more: Clothes stinky after washing? This is what’s causing it (and how to solve it)
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Source: DailyMail, Woman’s Day | Image: Unsplash