Understanding Laundry Symbols
Have you ever noticed the strange hieroglyphic-like symbols on your clothes tags? Have you ever wondered what they mean or why they are on the tags in the first place? Although these laundry symbols seem like another language, they give us important care information and tell us exactly how to care for every garment in our closets. Read on to explore the different types of laundry symbols and how to use them to keep your clothes fresh and new.
Washing Symbols
Using the right water temperature and wash cycle is super important for good laundry results and to prevent damage to your clothes. The washing symbols depict a tub of water. These symbols tell us ideal water temperature, indicated by dots drawn within the tub, as well as wash cycles, indicated by one or two lines drawn under the tub. It is essential to sort your laundry based on colour and type of garment to choose the correct wash cycle and temperature for each garment.
Before we go on to outline all of the types of laundry symbols, your life can be a lot simpler with Haier washers and dryers. Use the hOn app and its AI technology to choose the right cycle, every time. Simply snap a photo of the wash labels on your garments and your washing machine and dryer will already be up to speed on the type of wash cycle needed!
Washing symbols depict a three-sided tub of water. This is meant to represent your washing machine tub. These symbols tell us which type of washing is suitable for each garment.
Machine Wash Symbol
This symbol means that it is safe to wash the garment in a machine using the other symbols such as temperature and cycle to choose the best cycle that will not damage the garment.
Hand Wash Symbol
This symbol usually means that a garment should not be washed in a machine, but rather by hand. This symbol is common on garments made of delicate materials like silk and linen. It may be ok to use a hand wash cycle or another delicate cycle on your washing machine, but extra protections like putting the garment inside a mesh bag are recommended. If the garment is particularly valuable, vintage or irreplaceable, but sure to take it to a professional cleaner.
You can feel confident washing your delicates with Haier washing machines. Haier’s new Pillow Drum washing drum features pillow-shaped pads which cushion garments and prevent snags and other damage to delicate fabrics.
Do Not Wash Symbol
Garments with the do not wash symbol should not be washed in a machine or by hand and should be taken to the dry cleaner for professional cleaning.
Dry Clean Only Symbol
Dry clean only garments must be taken to a dry cleaner when they become dirty for dirt and stain removal.
Do Not Dry Clean Symbol
Some garments cannot be dry cleaned. These items should be washed on the gentlest cycle of your washing machine, inside a mesh bag or inside out. Choose a wash cycle with minimal agitation to avoid damage to the fibres of the garment.
Washing Temperature Symbols
The temperature of the water we use to wash our clothes also matters when it comes to cleanliness and durability of our clothes. We want our clothes to be as clean as possible but without generating unnecessary wear and tear on the fabric. Understanding the proper water temperature will make sure that your clothes get clean while staying bright and new.
Cold Temperature Water
The cold water symbol is depicted as a 3-sided wash tub with one single dot in the middle. This means that clothes should be washed at water temperatures between 18° C and 30° C.
Warm Temperature Water
We can see that the warm water symbol is the same as all wash symbols, showing the water tub, but this time we can see two dots in the centre of the tub. This means that the wash cycle for this garment should not exceed 40° C.
Hot Temperature Water
The hot water symbol shows three dots in the centre of the wash tub. This means that garments can be washed at hotter temperatures but in general they should not exceed 50° C.
Washing Machine Symbols
Now that you’ve determined if your garment can be machine washed and at what temperature, there may be more symbols to help us decide which type of wash cycle is best. Many modern washing machines come with a variety of wash cycles, Haier models have up to 16 programs. Washing machine symbols are quite straightforward and can be identified by a series of lines underneath the wash tub.
Normal Cycle
The normal machine wash cycle symbol shows the three-sided wash tub with water in it. It does not have any lines under it and no dots in the centre. This normal cycle symbol is usually found on sturdier fabrics like t-shirts, socks, jeans, and fabrics that can stand to be roughed up a little bit. These cycles use more agitation and for this reason usually eliminate dirt and grime more effectively than a gentle cycle.
Permanent Press Cycle
The permanent press symbol is represented by one line drawn underneath the wash tub symbol. “Permanent press” refers to synthetic materials that have been processed to guard against wrinkles. Permanent press cycles use warmer water and less spin to eliminate any existing wrinkles and prevent new ones from forming.
Delicate Cycle
The delicate cycle symbol is a wash tub with water with two lines underneath. These cycles are meant for delicate garments and use cold water, slow spin speeds and low agitation to wash and protect fabrics.
Pro Tip: Watch out for dry cleaning symbols or hand wash symbols! Dry clean symbols are circular while hand wash symbols show a hand in the wash tub. It is important to note these symbols as they tell you which garments should not be placed in the washing machine.
Drying Symbols
Drying is another important part of the laundry process and understanding how to dry each one of your garments can prevent scary stories of your favourite trousers coming out 3 sizes too small, or your favourite jumper getting all lumpy and out of shape. Read on for some of Haier’s top tips for drying your clothes properly and using the drying symbols to help you.
Just like washing symbols, we have two main types of drying symbols, general drying symbols which show us how to dry a garment, and temperature symbols which show us the temperature setting on the dryer we can use to dry a garment.
General Drying Symbols
Tumble Dry
This symbol shows a square with a circle inside representing a dryer. It means that it is generally safe to dry a garment in your dryer but pay special attention to any additional symbols such as temperature indicators or other warnings.
Do Not Tumble Dry
This symbol shows a crossed out version of our tumble dry symbol. This means that you should not put this garment in a dryer at all. Instead, these garments should be hung to dry or be laid out to air dry.
Hang to Dry
The Hang to Dry symbol shows a square that is folded over at the top, suggesting a garment that is hung over a line. This symbol means that garments should be hung to air dry. Be careful not to hang them in the direct sun as excess heat could cause clothes to shrink and the excess sunlight for prolonged periods of time can cause colour-fading.
Dry Flat
The Dry Flat symbol shows a square with a horizontal line through it. This indicates that a garment should be air dried laying flat either on a drying rack or on a soft towel. Clothing made of natural fibres such as cotton, wool, linen, hemp and cashmere need to be dried flat as the fibres can easily stretch out of shape.
Do Not Wring
Do Not Wring is represented by a twisted symbol with an “X” through it. Garments with this symbol should not be wrung to eliminate excess water as this could damage or overly stretch the fabric.
Drying Temperature Symbols
Now that we’ve seen the different drying techniques and how they are depicted, let’s look at the different temperature symbols used to indicate the temperature of a tumble drying cycle. Like washing temperature symbols, the drying temperature symbols use one to three circles inside the tumble dry symbol.
Tumble Dry
This is the universal symbol for tumble dry, usually at any heat setting. Although higher heat causes clothes to dry faster, be aware that heat also causes clothes to shrink.
Low Heat
The Low Heat symbol is the Tumble Dry symbol with one dot in the middle to indicate that garments can be tumble dried but at a low heat setting.
Medium Heat
The medium heat symbol has two dots in the centre of the Tumble Dry symbol and is used to communicate that the garment can be tumble dried on a medium heat setting as higher temperature could damage or shrink it.
High Heat
The high heat symbol has three dots inside the Tumble Dry symbol. These garments can be dried on your dryer’s highest heat settings.
No Heat / Air
This symbol is the Tumble Dry symbol with the inner circle completely filled in. This means that it is safe to use your dryer but without any heat at all. To avoid any potential mishaps, you may opt to simply line dry to lay this garment flat to air dry.
Pro Tip: Just because a garment can be tumble dried, it doesn’t mean you have to! Hanging clothes or laying them flat to dry is gentler on fabrics and is a more eco-friendly solution than using a dryer.
Tumble Dry Laundry Symbols
Last but not least for our drying symbols, we have different tumble dry laundry symbols. These show us what type of drying cycle to run.
Normal Cycle:
This symbol shows the Tumble Dry symbol without any lines underneath. This is your general go-to cycle to dry items with heat. Things like towels, sheets, t-shirts, and sweatpants can be dried on this setting. Be careful with jumpers and items made of natural fibres as the high heat of this cycle can cause them to shrink.
Permanent Press Cycle
The Permanent Press cycle is shown as the Tumble Dry symbol with one line underneath. This cycle can help to eliminate and reduce wrinkles in fabrics with synthetic materials. The permanent press cycle tends to be gentler and uses medium heat.
Delicate / Gentle Cycle
The Delicate Cycle symbol has two lines underneath. As it uses a low heat setting, it will take longer to dry clothes but will protect them against shrinkage and other damage.
Conclusion
Being able to identify and use the different laundry symbols on our clothes tags allows us to expertly care for every garment in our closet, keeping our clothes clean and bright. Haier’s modern washers and dryers are the perfect companions to care for our laundry as they can sense and measure fabric types, load weights and even know how much detergent to use for each wash cycle. The integration with the hOn app also allows you to personalise wash and dry cycles according to the fabrics and garments you are washing. Being a laundry expert has never been so easy.
