Washing clothes in cold water
Washing clothes in cold water is underrated. Plus, detergents in the Persil® ProClean® range, ensure clean clothes at cold temperatures. Read on to learn how to do low temperature machine washing.
Steps for a cold water wash
On most washing machines, the cold water setting is no higher than 65-85°F. While it isn’t strictly speaking “cold”, this temperature is already more energy saving and far gentler on your clothes! Washing clothes in cold water can be a great way to clean your washj, but you may want to add a few steps to ensure squeaky clean laundry. If you want to machine wash cold, you might consider pre-soaking heavily soiled clothes in cold water and detergent.
Step 01: The first step in any laundry routine is to sort your clothes. You don’t necessarily need to sort as strictly with a cold wash because the dyes are less likely to bleed at colder temperatures. However, you probably don’t want to run the risk, so stay on the safe side!
Step 02: Select an appropriate detergent such as Persil® ProClean® Original Scent Liquid Detergent. Pay attention to the dosage recommendation on the packaging – use a low dosage for lightly soiled clothes, and the highest dosage for extra dirty laundry. You can learn more about using the right amount of detergent here.
Cold wash your clothes– Now set your machine to the cold wash setting, and to a suitable spin cycle for your garment. And there you have it!
Top tips from our pros
Here are some top tips for getting the best out of your cold water wash.
Stain removal
If you’ve got stains on your clothes, you should pre-treat the stain thoroughly with the right stain removal product such as Persil® ProClean® Stain Fighter. If you’re not sure what the best way to remove your stain is, check our helpful Stain Advisor articles. Pretreating is always good for stains, but in cold water, you’ll want to do this a little longer because the hot water will loosen stains faster than cold.
Heavy soiling
If you’re washing a soccer kit or very sweaty clothes, you will have to do a degree of prep to make sure you still have clean clothes when washing clothes in cold water. Either select a cold pre-wash on your machine, or soak the clothes in a basin before hand and then rinse them. If there’s mud or similar on the clothes, try and scrape this off as much as you can before soaking.