Hand washing clothes is not the number one washing method that people generally go for. However, in times of emergencies and especially when you’re travelling, knowing how to hand wash can definitely come in handy.

How To Hand Wash Clothes

What you’ll need:

• A sink, tub or bucket
• Liquid detergent or soap

Just as you would or should do when doing normal laundry via the washing machine, you should separate white and dark clothes to prevent colours from bleeding onto other fabrics.

1.  Fill the sink, tub or bucket with luke-warm water and soap. If you’re using laundry detergent, make sure to add only a few drops and if it’s a bar of soap, create soapy water. You may wish to use the soap bar to scrub your clothes provided that it won’t discolour or ruin the fabric.
2. Add your clothes and start to kind of spin and swirl them around in the water, dunking the clothes in and out. Also, scrub the clothes by rubbing parts of the fabric together, especially the dirtier areas. Feel free to add more detergent in the process and change the water if necessary.
3. After a good few mins of scrubbing or once you feel like it’s clean enough, let your clothes soak between 10-30 mins depending on how dirty your clothes are.
4. Rinse out the soap just by draining and changing the water or you can rinse it out directly under the tap. You’ll know you’ve rinsed it out well when there are no more bubbles and the water appears clear.

Drying Hand Washed Clothes

Wring out as much water as you can and hang them up to dry. If it’s possible, hang them outside or up by the window for exposure to the sunlight as this will help clothes to dry quicker. Be aware that clothes can drip dry and create a wet floor if they’re still filled with much water. If it becomes the case that you need to hang them indoors, hang them up in the bathroom.

For items that have a longer drying time such as wool or cotton, use any towel that’s large enough for the item of clothing, lay the piece of clothing down on a flat towel and roll it together to wring out the excess water. Then hang up to air dry.

If you’re travelling and want to use a simple laundry service, Laundryheap will collect, clean and deliver your clothes to your within 24 hours. Just download the app for for iOS or Android.

Laundryheap is available in the UK, Ireland, UAE and Netherlands.