To finish your laundry sessions quickly, you may prefer grouping clothes by size or color and put them in the washer. Or, you divide clothes by quantity and wash them in batches.
While doing the latter, you may want to put jeans and towels in the same load. But the question is – can you wash jeans and towels together since they are different fabrics?
They have entirely different textile structures and feelings. Towels are soft and fluffy, whereas jeans are hard and plain. Washing them separately is highly needed to protect their fabrics.
To know why, read on this write-up. We are going to explain the dos and don’ts of washing towels and jeans. Also, you will get to know more on washing towels and other clothes.
Can I wash jeans and towels together?
In a word, you cannot wash jeans and towels together. Though cleaning them together can save your water and time, at the end, you will see nothing but damage on both fabrics.
Jeans are not eligible for machine-washing unless they are heavily soiled. They require only hand-washing without any detergent and line drying under the sun.
The only time they can be put the washer is when they are extremely dirty. And all you need to do is use cold water and a gentle rinse cycle to wash them.
On the contrary, towels need the highest temperature for washing and drying, up to 95°F/35°C.
Also, you have to use hot water and the mixture of detergent and non-chlorine bleach to kill bacteria and remove the tiniest particles nesting on them.
Unlike jeans, towels require a heavy-duty long wash cycle and drying in the dryer. Hence, the dryer will help to kill bacteria if there are any lingering on the towels after washing.
After knowing all these, imagine what would happen if you put both on a gentle or a harsh preset. Either one of them will be uncleaned, shrunk, or worn out.
Is it okay to wash towels and jeans?
If they are washed individually, then it is okay, otherwise not. What will happen when you wash these two different fabrics?
Well, Jeans are mostly outdoor clothes, while towels are for indoor use. So the substances they catch on are different too.
There are some other crucial factors that you need to consider while washing them. Therefore, in short, wash jeans and towels in separate batches, by hands or a machine.
In the next section, we will let you know the consequences of mingling jeans and towels in the same wash batch.
Why Shouldn’t You Wash Jeans With Towels?
If you wash jeans with towels together, you may destroy both items unintentionally. And here are the reasons below how jeans and towels will impact each other in the same rinse cycle.
Risk of cross-contamination
As we have said earlier, jeans are for outdoor use and towels are for indoor use. Therefore, both fabrics catch on contaminants from respected areas.
To be specific, jeans carry more chemicals than towels. When you wash them together, they transfer contaminants to each other.
Moreover, the germs and bacteria that linger on jeans are more lethal than on towels. The chemicals used for giving color on denim are also not out of the list.
As a result, towels will be more bacteria-infested than before and cause skin irritation and diseases when you use them.
Smell transferring
Towels require regular washing in hot water for the purposes of disinfecting and deodorizing. In contrast, jeans require gentle washing in cold water once in a while.
Since jeans don’t have the same wash routine as towels, they may smell foul. If you wash jeans with towels together, the foul smell will transfer on the towels.
You may not realize that your towels get the funky smell of the jeans when they are damp. Once they dry off, the bad smell would defeat the smell of the detergent you used to wash them.
Food bits and grease transferring
Kitchen towels may have food bits and grease. In case you wash them with jeans, those substances will transfer to the jeans.
Color mix-up
Dark-colored jeans, specifically raw denim, heavily bleed color. Therefore, when they are with towels in the load, they will discolor towels. Your bright towels will turn into hued and weird-looking cloth pieces.
Different detergent preference
Towels crave milder and more fragrant detergents, and jeans need more abrasive detergents that can secure their color.
You cannot put different types of detergent in the same cycle. So you have to wash both of them either with a harsh or mild detergent. Consequently, either of the fabrics may end up exhausted.
Different presets
If you put towels and jeans together with cold water on a mild cycle, towels won’t be disinfected. Likewise, if you put jeans and towels together with hot/warm water on a rough cycle, jeans will discolor and shrink.
Again, since heat is the enemy of jeans, you cannot dry them with towels in the dryer. But towels don’t have any problem staying in the dryer.
Shedding
When towels are a bit old from continuous use, they shed lint while washing. The lint will stick to the jeans if they have jeans by their side in the machine. Chances are higher that you may damage the jeans when removing the lint.
Ripped towels
The zipper and buttons of jeans are so sharp that they can rip towels. Even in a casual tumble in the washer, the metallic components of jeans will snag onto the towel fibers. If this continues, your new towels will disentangle and look old.
Ripped jeans
Jeans will be ripped because of the fabric softener that you put on the washer for the towels. Fabric softeners make towels light, fluffy, and smooth.
They affect the jeans texture and loosen the fibers, making jeans prone to tear. Therefore, washing jeans and towels together and using fabric softener in the same load will make jeans lose their sturdiness.
Accidentally washed clothes with towels?
Since putting towels and jeans in the same load is a big NO, you may wonder ‘can I wash a towel with clothes’?
Clothes and towels have different cleaning instructions. You can wash towels in the washer without any worry. But not all the clothes can bear the heavy treatment of the washing machine.
Moreover, not every fabric is washable with towels. To understand this fact better, you need to read the next section thoroughly.
Towels and clothes with special care requirements can never be washed together. If you accidentally did it, no need to panic, there’s a solution too.
Unintentional mixing of towels and clothes may leave lint on the clothes. To remove the residue, rewash the clothes alone.
Lint roller is safe to remove those fluffy bits. But sometimes lint rollers may fail to clean thoroughly. In that case, you can use a razor to gently shave the lint.
What can I wash with towels?
You can wash anything cotton with your towels. Clothes like tees, shirts, socks, pajamas, sweaters, sheets are all good to go with towels. Make sure to repeatedly check if they are cotton and have any special care instructions.
Don’t mingle gym clothes, swimming costumes, and cycling shorts with towels. Most of the time these clothes are made of lycra or spandex. Lycra cannot stand woolen clothes and towels.
Make sure to separate the dark-colored cottons from the light-colored ones. And use lukewarm water for washing rather than cold water for better results.
FAQ
Why is my washing machine leaving marks on clothes?
When the inner parts of the washing machine are dirty, damaged, old, chipped, rusty, or moldy, they leave marks on clothes. In other cases, excessive use of fabric softener builds up waxy substance in the washer drum. The drum then leaves dirty marks on the washed clothes. Likewise, too much laundry detergent creates suds that the machine cannot rinse easily. And it creates white patches on clothes.
Can I just use vinegar to wash clothes?
Yes, you can. Vinegar alone does so many good things to clothes. As an alternative to the detergent, vinegar not only removes stains and bad odors but also locks fabric colors. Besides, it brightens, softens, disinfects, deodorizes, and protects clothes.
Can towels and clothes be dried together?
If they are in the open air, then no issues. But if they are in the dryer, they need a little attention. Towels dry slower than clothes. So while drying towels and clothes together, the drying cycle requires frequent stopping to check whether the clothes are dry. If yes, the clothes must be taken out to prevent over drying or shrinkage.
Why do my clothes have white lint after washing?
Because you have put too much detergent in the single load and used normal water to wash your clothes. The detergent can’t dissolve without hot water and leaves clumpy residues as white lint on the clothes. Another reason can be that you have washed your clothes longer than necessary. When the water pump filter or the dryer vent of the washer is clogged, lint and dirt cannot be disposed of properly. Later they remain as deposits on the washed clothes.
Can I wash kitchen towels with bath towels?
You better not do so. Washing all types of towel together bears the risk of cross-contamination. This is why towels for different purposes should be washed separately in different loads. If you have to wash kitchen and bath towels together, wash them at 60°C or above temperature to avoid contamination.
Verdict
So far, this write-up should clear your confusion regarding ‘can you wash jeans and towels.
We understand that doing laundry is tiresome, even after having a super convenient washer at home. The exhaustion doubles if you hand-wash clothes.
But nothing to do, you neither can escape doing laundry nor wear dirty clothes. So it is better to do the task by following all the washing tips and rules. In this way, you can avoid unexpected damages and save your dignity.
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