Your guide to washing label symbols

When laundry day rolls around, it’s tempting to look at the mound of dirty clothes, shove it all into the machine and hope for the best. While this approach might buy you a few extra minutes, it can cost you time and money in the long run (think shrunken socks, snagged sweaters and tie-dyed towels). If these washing woes sound all too familiar, we’re here to help! Our handy guide will help you brush up on all the main washing label symbols so you can protect and prolong the life of your wardrobe.

What are washing label symbols?

A washing label (a.k.a care label) is a small tag found on the inside of a clothing item. On this tag, you’ll find a variety of information and symbols that tell you everything you need to know about how to wash, dry, iron and bleach that item. Pretty handy, right?

While these symbols can look confusing at first glance, they become a lot clearer once you know what you’re looking to look out for. To help you on your way, we’re breaking the symbols down section by section for you. Up first, hand wash and washing machine symbols…

Washing

• Bucket filled with water – item should be machine washed.
• Bucket with a cross through the middle – item should be handwashed rather than machine washed.
• Numbers in the bucket – the numbers correspond to the temperature it should be washed at e.g. 30 degrees.
• Bucket with a hand in it – the item should be handwashed only.
• Bucket with one line under it – the item should be washed on a synthetics cycle.
• Bucket with two lines under it – the item should be washed on a wool wash.

Persil Liquid Bio 918ml 34 Wash

£5.49

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Dr Beckmann Washing Machine 250ml

£2.49

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Surf Winter Indulgence 648ml 24W

£2.99

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Stergene Gentle Care for Handwash Delicates 500ml

£2.49

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Bleaching

• Triangle – the item can be bleached.
• Triangle with two stripes – the item can be bleached but using a non-chlorine formula.
• Triangle with a cross through it – the item should not be bleached.

Drying

• Square with a circle inside – the item is suitable for tumble drying on any heat.
• Square with a circle and a dot inside – the item should be tumble dried but on a low heat.
• Square with a circle and three dots inside – the item should be tumble dried on a high heat.
• Square with a line below it and a circle inside – the item should be tumble dried on the ‘permanent press’ setting.
• Square with two lines below it and a circle inside – the item should be tumble dried on the ‘delicate’ setting.
• Square with a cross through it – the item should not be tumble-dried.
• Square with a semi-circle at the top – the item should be hung to dry.
• Square with three vertical lines – the item should drip dry on a rack.
• Square with one horizontal line – the item should dry flat on a surface.

Ironing

• Iron without dots – the item can be ironed on any temperature setting.
• Iron with one dot inside – the item should be ironed at a cooler temperature (usually for delicate materials like wool and silk).
• Iron with two dots inside – the item should be ironed on a medium heat (usually for synthetic materials).
• Iron with three dots inside – the item should be ironed on a high heat (this is for materials such as linen and cotton).
• Iron with a cross through it – the item should not be ironed.
• Iron with a cross through it and lines coming out of the bottom – the item shouldn’t be steamed using the iron.

Comfort Vaporesse Blue 1 Litre

£1.39

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