Things you can wash with biological detergent

You might not have considered them all!

Dry cleaners in the traditional sense, with chemical wash programs are fast becoming an industry of the past. Most of us rarely step foot in a dry cleaners these days. The exception being for items like wedding dresses or garments that would be mind boggling to attempt to iron at home, let alone machine wash. 

You can wash all these items in washing machine – or if they won’t fit comfortably in the machine – you can simply leave them to soak clean in the bath.



1. The first is wool items, including blankets, as well as the more obvious, jumpers and cashmere sweaters and dresses. 

And we’re not just talking about viscous mixes which have always been machine washable, we are talking about super fine cashmere jumpers too. You need to dose far less than for any other wash cycle, and also only wash 3 or 4 jumpers in the load. You can place items inside a mesh bag for safety, but the essential factor is to select a delicate or hand wool wash cycle, which all modern machines have.  Don’t be tempted to pop a jumper in the wash with your jeans – the harsh fabric and metal zip might catch against the wool fibres.

A note to consider to make sure you have the setting right. the cycle should be fairly short (you don’t want lots of machine agitation -the cycle wants to get everything properly wetted and then wrung out gently) similarly to if you were washing these items by hand. The temperature setting should also be very cool, hand warm is the maximum so 30 degrees and the spin isn’t likely to be higher than 400rpm. 

This does mean that the washing will still seem quite wet, when the cycle finishes, so you need to place jumpers somewhere they can ideally dry flat or smoothly. You are likely to get dripping, so cover the floor with towels that can go in the next load. Over a bannister or airer to dry is great, if its not drying weather outside. Protect your banisters paint work by placing a towel over it first.

Woollen items won’t need to be ironed – just smooth whilst drying. If you do need to iron use at the very lowest heat setting and press gently, or use a t-towel on top and iron that with the jumper underneath.
 

2.  Curtains

We used to take curtains to the dry cleaners every five to ten years, and hoovered them otherwise. This was the staple as far as cleaning them went 20-40 years ago. And still today it is the one thing we most often overlook when it comes to cleaning the house. 

We change bedding regularly, wash our clothes and even rug doctor our carpets – but who remembers to wash and iron curtains. If you want a fresh room then this is one of the fabrics in our living spaces, that holds onto stale odours. 

Wash them inside the washing machine one curtain at a time, and make sure to tie off your ends and remove all the curtain hooks before you start. Again select a low temperature but a slightly faster spin speed. If drying indoors then again protect your banister paintwork with towels before draping them over as straight as possible. Hot iron when dry and then re-attach all the curtain hooks. The more hooks the better in terms of a professional finish and well hung look.


3. Blinds

Unroll or extend out the blind. This is going to have to be dip cleaned in a bath with Distinctive washing powder. The biological enzymes will get to work on the dust and grime in no time.

It’s hugely satisfying to come back after an hour or two and see how filthy the bath water is. Thankfully the way a biological detergent works is to hold onto the dirt in the bathwater away from the fabric. Which means when you rinse the grime away down the plug hole – you won’t be left with a dirty bath.


4. Suits

Many suits are now washable. It’s a fact, garment manufacturers are doing their best to make our lives easier. They use fabric mixes that are more suitable for being machine washed than their old fashioned counterparts.

Check your label, but there’s a high chance you can wash it on a delicate setting, and then simply hang to dry. This is where hanging a jacket correctly on a good shoulder style hanger is very worthwhile as it will need less steaming or ironing later. 


5. Rugs

Washable rugs are the craze so why wait to use a rug doctor. If you can separate the top part of your rug, roll it up and pop it in the washing machine. On a gentle setting.


6. Coats

Most coats including specialist water repellent fabric can be tossed in the washer on a cool delicate setting. You can wash with Distinctive using less detergent than for other cycles but if you have a water resistant fabric we would recommend buying a specialist water repellent detergent to use every other wash to keep the performance of the fabric. Coats don’t need to be washed often – you can wipe off the occasional muddy mark no problem.



7. Kingsized Duvets and bed protectors  

Most modern machines have a wash programme for your duvets. You are only limited by the size of your machine – the garment needs to fit in with a little hand waggle room as modern machines fill with so little water the fabric has to have enough room to turn over and still sit in detergent and water equally. Got a 11 or 12 kg drum then this really isn’t a problem at all.

Wash at 60 to kill dust mites and for a hygienic clean. Air drying outside or indoors is still best with Distinctive to keep the fragrance in the fabric for longer but if you particularly want to tumble at the end of drying feel free!


8 . Shoes

We aren’t recommending this as a lazy solution to muddy trainers! You need to sluice any muddy deposits by hand. Do not risk damaging your lovely washing machine by getting it to wash disgustingly muddy dog walking shoes. You wouldn’t put a child’s sick blankets straight into the machine without sluicing, so please don’t with your trainers. The washing machine filters just aren’t heavy duty enough for such gunk.

The sport programme is super for deodorising your shoes as well as brightening up your kit. You can always sprinkle a little Distinctive inside the shoe before washing to give the smelly insides a boost of clean.  

If you are careful then you can also wash Ugg fabric boots and Crocs in the machine too - the trick is a v short wash and very little spin.


9. Hard floors/carpets

If you have a pet or human accident to clean up then there is nothing better than a biological detergent to eliminate and break down urine. For hard floors simply wipe, and for upholstery stains either use a carpet machine with a little dissolved biological powder, or by hand with cloths and a pair of gloves. Although our detergents don’t contain harmful preservatives which affect skin, enzymes can be drying on our skin, so wearing gloves will just protect.

Dry powder can be sprinkled on your carpets if you need a bit of a deodorising scent boost! Just hoover thoroughly afterwards – your hoover will also smell amazing.


10. Cleaning your oven

A biological washing powder is great at oven cleaning and lifting burnt on food deposits. It’s the enzyme action like what happens inside us to break down foods. Simply sprinkle some inside your oven and add a splash of warm water before leaving it to sit and hour or two. Pop your gloves on and wipe out your oven. There will be no toxic fumes or dangerous seeped spillage like when you use an oven cleaner product.


Are there any uses for biological washing powder - you didn't know about before?



Contact Distinctive Wash on 0800 2982054 or info@distinctivewash.co.uk for more information