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We know that you hate doing laundry – who doesn’t? It takes away so much of your time and you have to do it every week (unless you want to be called a slob). You’d think people would have invented some better way to wash your clothes, but the process is still as tiresome as ever. Considering how many different settings and options modern washing machines have, it can sometimes be quite confusing. You know some of the more popular (?!) cycles, but have you heard of the perm press option? Apparently, it helps keep your clothes wrinkle-free and saves you the trouble of ironing, but how does it work? Well, let’s go step by step.
The Sorting
First, you need to sort out all your things, to separate the colored ones from your whites. A problem ensues immediately. Is beige considered white? How about gray? What if there’s one green spot (designer’s choice) on the front of your seemingly pearl-white underwear? Will the green spot dissolve or make everything else greenish? Next, there’s the problem of temperature. Various types of clothes can withstand various degrees, so you have to keep that in mind as well. It’s as if the makers of the machine didn’t really want anyone to use it. Anyways, once you manage to sort it all out, you have to deal with various cycles.
The Cycles
Now, the cycles. Basically, there are three main cycles on every washing machine. There’s washing, rinsing and spinning. The first one uses the detergent and any softeners you have to soak your clothes and wash them, the second one uses just water to remove any leftovers from the washing, and the spinning dries your stuff. Pretty simple, right? Of course, the cycles vary depending on the type of clothes you’re washing. So, for example, colored clothes require cold washing so that the color wouldn’t fade away or get mixed up. Delicate clothing, on the other hand, demands both cold washing and slower spinning so as not to damage the fabric. Now, if you believe some of your clothing was exposed to bacteria or simply want to make sure it’s completely clean, you should use the sanitize cycle that employs extremely hot water which kills off any microorganisms.
The Permanent Press
However, most people don’t know about the permanent press option on their washing machine even though it’s extremely useful. You know how sometimes when you take out the laundry from the machine it ends up being so wrinkly that you have to spend hours to iron it out. Well, people who invented the machine actually thought about it. There is the option of perm press, which straightens out any wrinkles by washing the clothes in warm water and rinsing in cold. This actually relaxes the creases and makes the fabric wrinkle-free. Furthermore, the cycle also includes slow spinning to make sure your clothes don’t get wrinkled yet again. Interestingly, there is a perm press option on your dryer as well, if you happen to have one. It pretty much just uses medium heat to avoid making any new creases as your clothes slowly dries.
General Tips
- You should always make sure your colored clothes go through the permanent press cycle because it preserves the color and avoids any shrinking.
- Because of its low temperature, the permanent press won’t be as effective at removing some hard stains, so make sure you clean the stains first.
- If your washing machine doesn’t happen to have this specific mode, you can set it yourself so that it’s warm water for washing and cold for rinsing. Of course, it won’t be absolutely the same, but it’s close enough.
So, now that you know what a perm press is, will you try it? You can thank us later.
