The DISGUSTING truth about Laundry 

As a Brit, the banning of line drying clothes in the US is freaking insane.

My grandmother grew up in the Netherlands, and she said everyone dried their clothes on a line. We asked her if they were ever embarrassed if the neighbors ever saw their underwear. She said "of course not, everyone has underwear. But if you didn't hang your clothes properly (meaning, straight, evenly spaced, etc) THAT was when you should be embarrassed."

A German here. Coming from generations of seamstresses and growing up in a rural area, most of our houses we have dedicated, well-aired rooms for doing laundry and hanging up our clothes when the weather is bad, called „Waschküche“. When it’s nice outside, hanging out our clothes on the line is pretty much the norm. I was also taught to wear an undershirt, and we air our outer layers outside when they are worn, but not stained, so they don’t need to get washed after every single wear. This really helps to maximize their life span. Hearing that some states actually banned people from hanging out their laundry is quite shocking.

Thank you! Finally a RU-vidr from the US, who actually states in the video, that the experience she talks about is a North American experience. I get so disturbed by all the "we, modern people, do stuff like this" videos, because they are almost always US point of views and completely missing a disclaimer. I am from Eastern Europe, and there is so many historical costumer videos on RU-vid, where they talk about "this is how people did this a long time ago and we will never know how accurate the descriptions are" - and I am sitting here and thinking that "this is how we STILL do things where I am from.

I fully agree that those regulations barring cloths lines should be elliminated. If a person has a backyard which is fenced and someone is offended by seeing the clothes on the line, then the offended person should be told not to look over the fence.

Really interesting video, but there is one thing that I have to disagree upon and that is the sanitation part. While there might not be an explicit sanitizing step in our modern laundry routine, surfactants definitely are effective against bacteria etc. The whole point of a detergent is for part of it to be hydrophilic (easily soluble in water) and part of it hydrophobic (easily soluble in oils + fats) so that the hydrophobic part of it binds with non-water-soluble dirt and actually makes the compound of both water soluble after all, so that the dirt can be washed away. Cell membranes (of bacteria and viruses as well as your own cells) are made of lipids (fat), so they do get broken down by detergent. Heat and other chemicals are still helpful of course, but it is simply not true that your normal washing is not effective. Yes, some bacteria could survive, but mostly, you're fine, don't panic. Also note that the information posted on screen comes from a source that directly profits from you believing that normal detergent doesn't sufficiently clean your laundry by selling you a solution to the claimed problem.

16:47 Her source for detergents not sanitizing clothes is literally an ad for laundry soap. Surfactants already kill bacteria by destroying their outer lipid bilayer (because it's made of the stuff soap removes) spilling out their insides.

Hey Abby I think a video on making linen/cotton under gardens for our modern wardrobes would be amazing!

Just a tip for anyone alarmed by this video, the solution IS NOT to start adding more detergent to your clothes! Most people already use too much and thats part of the problem. A high efficiency washer using high efficiency detergent only needs a couple tablespoons of detergent to clean your clothes, more is gonna cause buildup and soap scum and clog up the washer. Use minimal detergent, add white vinegar to to combat hard water and soften clothes without buildup, and use dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. Dryer sheets can actually cause the problem Abby talks about where the dryer thinks clothes are dry when they arent; dryer sheet gunk is messing up the sensor.

People who live in apartments and have shared laundry facilities often have all those problems in addition to having to use dirty machines that will contain remnants of other people's laundry (never mind pet hair), so even if you attempt to use better products, your clothes will be exposed to other people's products. I have had a couple show downs with the management about my collapsible drying rack that I use on my balcony. Permanent drying lines are illegal (or were the last time I checked the legislation). The marketing of how to clean (and dry) our clothes is part of our pending ecological disaster.

It's super interesting seeing this as someone from the Caribbean where our higene practices and clothing practices are totally different. I hand wash delicate thin things. Most Caribbean homes have clothes lines. Some folks will take care to hang bright fabrics in the shade. But most of all we have what we call house or inside clothes and outside clothes. Clothes you wear to work or to go out will never be worn at home. Home clothes are accumulated with lots of odds and ends of outside clothes that got stained or slightly damaged. And most Caribbean ppl shower twice a day, given the climate. It astounds me that Americans just wear jeans and nicer shirts at home. I've got old pj and stained shirts for home. Also beds? Never go on those with outside clothes on. These are deff practices our grand parents and their grandparents passed off to us.

We use distilled white vinegar in the "fabric softener" portion of the washing machine to soften the rinse water and help sanitize things. It's also good for keeping colors and whites bright and it's much cheaper than actual fabric softener. It also won't clog up your washing machine.

I would be so down for a video on making “Modern Linen Undergarments”!! From simple undies to slips and shifts and camisoles!

Unless you have existing health conditions you've been warned about you don't need to sanitize your clothes. Yes it sounds icky, but it has zero impact on your health. In the same way that you don't need antibacterial hand wash, the soap + water + movement does the job well enough.

You can get around a lot of these issues by wearing your clothes more times before you wash them. Getting an extra day or two out of your tshirt means you reduce the impact of the problems of laundry by 2-3x just because you have washed the clothes less

This is so fascinating particularly as a person living in the Philippines (and is probably similar in a lot of the "Global South"). So much of our traditional laundry practices that are way more sustainable are being displaced by aggressive marketing from the big multinationals that sell detergents and fabric softeners. I've often been looked at askance when I tell people I refuse to use fabric softeners, and don't use chlorine bleach (vinegar, washing soda and oxy bleach instead). Also, as someone who also loves line drying...I can't imagine living in a country where I can't line dry at all 😬

I'm a lolita fashion enthusiast, I've been wearing these garments for 11 years now. This fashion really opened my eyes to modern laundry practices, because it's very common for members of this J-fashion community to be TERRIFIED of washing these dresses. They fully know and understand how hard machines can be on regular clothes, so naturally when it comes to $350-500 dresses they are so scared of cleaning them. Even as brands switched to better dyes that don't bleed and different materials, to this day people are still scared of washing their lolita. It's to a point where I have bought dresses secondhand and received them, knowing the garment was supposed to be white but it's all-over stained yellow, I wash it, and the water comes out opaque brown. And this happens all the time. I started getting into historical fashion in 2020 through channels like yours and Bernadette Banner, Karolina Zebrowska, etc. etc., and it has inspired me SO much to change how I wear my fashion. I was already taking extra steps to wash my lolita, finding ways to wash it that didn't damage it, and now I've started taking further steps to protect the clothes that I love and care for so much by wearing things like underdresses/chemises beneath them to protect them (and the blouses that I wear with them) from my skin. I've also started paying more attention to what materials the new clothes I buy are made of, including shoes and handbags. If it has fake leather (made from plastic) I refuse to buy it. So thank you so much for making this video, a lot of it was super validating and 100% yes people are afraid of line drying clothes in North America because it looks poor, and it's infuriating. So for any other lolitas maybe reading this, here's what I've figured out: -Get cotton nightgowns to wear under your dresses, or linen like Abby mentions but those might be harder to find. I've found ALL of mine in thrift stores, made sure they were labeled 100% cotton so they're comfortable against my skin, etc. You might have to hem it but hemming is the easiest thing in the world to do, and a great way to get into sewing, just look up videos on youtube for it. -If you're living in an apartment (which many of us are) stop washing your clothes in shared laundry facilities. Get a mini or portable washing machine, mine is a little top loader from Black & Decker. First: with Afterpay/Shop Pay/PayPal Pay in 4/etc you can get most of them for a payment plan of $20-40 a month. Second: It's WAY gentler on your clothes than a regular washing machine because they ONLY use cold water, just turn it inside out and remove anything with pins. Third: Hang your clothes to dry. You can get drying racks for like $20 at Walmart or hang them on the rods for your shower curtains, I do both. Make sure all the lace/ruffles/pintucks/etc are lying flat when it's wet and it'll dry nice, you might just need to steam it real quick afterwards. -You don't need to use fancy detergents, literally any basic detergent works fine. If you have some food/drink stains, throw a little bit of Oxiclean into the water with the wash and that'll help infinitely. -Mix vodka with lavender essential oil and white vinegar as a disinfectant spray, you can use this to spray the armpits of a dress if you got really sweaty while wearing it, inside your shoes, etc. -Stop dry cleaning your dresses I promise you I have yet to come across a single one I can't wash or handwash and it turns out just fine. And I have a LOT of dresses, including velveteen, corduroy, flocked, brocades, jacquard, etc. Some thoughts: -I've heard some people say that isopropyl alcohol is BETTER than vodka to use to spray your clothes with? It has a higher alcohol concentration, kills more bacteria, and isn't watered down like vodka is. I haven't tested this yet though and I don't know how dye-safe it is? -Should we add a dash of white vinegar to our laundry loads in addition to an eco-friendly/homemade detergent? I've seen vinegar mentioned in some historical laundering techniques and it is anti-bacterial, so could this be beneficial? EDIT: Apparently vinegar is also a great method for softening the water you use to clean with, but you'll need to do research to figure out how much to add to turn your hard water to soft water. DEFINITELY DOING THIS IN MY LAUNDRY FROM NOW ON! -What are some of the best/most eco-friendly methods for making detergent that are ALSO affordable and would be more effective than traditional "DIY detergent" recipes out there, has anyone found one they like or come up with something that seems effective? Really tired of the sham of most store-bought detergents and would like to get into making my own for cheaper instead! Thanks again for the great video Abby, modern laundry is AWFUL lol!

Growing up in Russia, we always had what we called "home clothes" and "outside clothes". Home clothes were usually older comfy, misshapen, patched or stained clothes that are wearable, but that you wouldn't mind getting a beet stain on that you couldn't remove. Outside clothes were things you'd wear to school/work etc. You'd change as soon as you get home and usually wear the same home clothes the whole week until the next laundry. You'd also have summer house/playing on the street/gardening clothes, that were basically your old "outside clothes" that did not fit for home or school/work. In Sweden on the other hand - there is no such thing. Sure, most people usually use their older jeans for gardening or wear sweatpants at home, but the last one is more out of comfort (and bought especially for that) rather than preserving ones clothes. It really does make a big difference in how long ones clothes last

As a plus-size human, I’m all about keeping my clothes nice! It’s tough finding well-made, well-fitting clothes that fit my budget. So thrilled to find more tips on extending wardrobe life.

I think we need to make a shift in our styling practices to bring back linen undergarments, like pretty chemises under dresses. Wearing a tank or tee under a shirt, or a slip under a skirt or dress is something lots of people don't do anymore, but it saves you from laundering the shirt half as often. Underarm sheilds seem dorky but are made to protect your clothes so you can wash them much less frequently. I also advocate hand washing & air drying clothing whenever possible. It's so much better for the environment and for the garments.

Another tip is to not automatically put your clothes in the laundry bin after every single wear. Exercise some judgment considering what the garment is, what you did that day, how much you sweat, does it smell/look dirty. Not saying to keep wearing it until it smells but a lot of clothes can be worn 2-3 times (or even sometimes more depending) before washing and it's going to make a big difference on their durability and how many loads of laundry you do already. Like I rarely ever wash skirts since I wear shorts underneath them, until they get dirt or stains on them.

Not me (a European living in an area of Florida that has banned line drying clothes) hanging my family’s wet laundry in our guest room as I watch this video 😂 I will say, with attempting proper care of clothing and mending when broken instead of replacing, I still own and wear a dress from 15 years ago from a H&M sale. Cheap clothing doesn’t have to be treated like it’s cheap especially when that’s all someone can afford to buy at the time!

My dad sometimes tells me about washing routine in our family when he was a small boy in 50s. It's important to mention that it was a period right after WW2 in an area severely bombed so there were no working water pipes, the only source of water were wells, rivers and springs. The best water for washing was in a well in about a kilometer distance and they didn't have a horse, so all family members gathered together, took buckets and went to that well to get water. They had to make several voyages back and forth to have enough waterfor washing and rinsing. Dad says that water in the well was very soft, mild and helped to save detergents, that were difficult to buy in post-war period and that the fabric after washing was very soft and pleasant without any fabric conditioners. It was a weekly routine for the whole family. Also he said that wool and silk were washed with white clay in sea water and then rinsed in fresh water. A perfect place for this was in about kilometer and a half from their home - it was a shore of the sea with little pits filled with white clay and a small spring nearby. Also he said that his granny's coat was turned about 8 times before it was sent to a landfill. Oh, and they often used mustard seed powder for washing.

I'm scrutinizing the way that I was taught to do laundry and wear clothes now. Abby, would you consider making a follow-up video on creating "modern" linen undergarments that could be worn under pants and t-shirts and such?

Modern underwear is to protect your saucy bits from the awful seams in your modern,poorly made clothes.

In college, my roommate and I installed a retractable laundry line between our lofted beds in front of our window. It was incredible! We line dried most of our laundry and our room always smelled so clean and fresh because of it. Our friends laughed at us for it, but it's one of the best decisions we made. And our jeans outlasted everyone else's because we weren't frying them in the dryer ;)

Air drying clothes and using distilled white vinegar instead of fabric softener has helped a ton. I also have used baking soda and hydrogen peroxide to get rid of ancient armpit stains. I've also been paying attention to washing instructions in the tags of all my clothes. It's amazing how many shirts say "hand wash only" and "dry clean only." I also don't put any of my blouses in the dryer, unless I'm in a huge rush.

Love your enthusiasm for this topic and your thorough research! I do want add one point that I think was missing. While the modern laundry system has its flaws, the automation of laundry has historically been crucial in reducing domestic labor and freeing up time for women especially to pursue work or interests outside of the home. I've lived with both hand-washing and line drying and while I didn't mind the labor for myself and my partner, I think of single parents who work full-time with kids and could not imagine how they would manage the additional task of manual laundering. Just wanted to introduce this counterpoint, as I think that in today's economy (especially in America where social support for families and work-life balance are both rare), many people do not have the time and the energy to commit to manual laundering, and the reasons are often systemic.

One aspect that wasn’t mentioned in the video was time. Our modern era views time spent doing tasks so much differently than historic eras. I have three kids and currently pregnant with #4 and I can’t imagine the time it would take just to get through the laundry process of soaking, scrubbing, rinsing, boiling, ringing out, hanging up to dry and ironing! Heck I can’t keep up with folding and putting it all away. And don’t get me started on cloth diapering! There’s a reason laundress/ washer woman was a real occupation for women in historic eras so people who didn’t have time or facilities to do their washing could hire it out. But for most low to medium income households, putting the time in to spend many hours on just washing the clothes was so normal they didn’t think any differently. Now we can’t even fathom putting that much time into laundry yet we will gladly binge watch entire tv series on our smart tvs and not bat an eye.

When I lived in the Yucatan, many people had a drying room. It was basically a shed without a roof with laundry lines in the backyard. The sun is brutal there and it ruined anything with elastic very quickly ( I ended up replacing the elastic in all my husband's boxers). My solution was to hang my clothes in my covered porch on hangers. They take less space on the line and it's one step less. Also aprons do wonders for protecting your clothing. I like the kind with a bib front and pockets. Speaking of protecting clothing, our ancestors even wore washable sleeve protectors. Collars and cuffs were often removable and could be washed or replaced.

I've literally done the trick of dyeing a dress darker to hide a stain! Australian here and my mum gifted me a copy of a book called Spotless and it's essentially a home manual full of every possible stain/fabric combo. I've never experienced those little holes you mentioned but we haven't had agitators for years and don't have hard water. Praise be the Australian tradition of the hills hoist!

As a thrift-loving germaphobe with specific sensory issues that force me to use a washer and dryer, this video sort of ruined my life. 😅 On the other hand, I’ve been wearing the clothes I have for decades with very little wear and tear despite having a machine with an agitator, so I think avoiding low quality fabrics in clothes will prevent a lot of the damage and waste Abby describes.

As someone living in Germany, I am pretty confused about much of this. Yes, in some parts here you are not allowed to hang laundry in certain places (like outside the window, or in my case inside the flat - because dampness) but: this means the owner has to supply you with a space to hang laundry. Often in the cellar, where there is also space for everyone to put there own laundry machine (and if you have one dryer). People sometimes have dryers, mostly to keep towels fluffier or to dry other sturdy things. Obviously, you need to know how hard the water is, so you can adjust the detergent and if necessary add a water softener? (same goes for dishwashers!). How much people separate their clothes differs, but I wouldn't wash underwear with other clothes. I usually wash them at higher temperatures with the towels (with detergent meant for higher temperatures/white cottons). My mother does separate delicate/not delicate, dark/white and (at least while there were 5 people living in her household) would usually separate further by color/ garment type (no jeans in with the blouses/shirts). I also have rules what things I won't wash together, but sometimes get a bit creative if I need to wash but don't have enough of one kind to fill a load.

I'm 60, Australian, and was taught by my Mum to do laundry carefully and respectfully. I still hand wash precious garments, have washed wedding dresses, silk shirts...etc with no ill affects. I love my modern washing machine but feel that an understanding of clothing laundering has been lost. Longevity, effectiveness and environmental factors definitely underpin my practices and its a shame many seem to have no idea of how much they could save by some time spent not only washing garments correctly, but also hanging correctly and ironing correctly. A really good challenge Abby!

You’re killin me girl 😂 we cloth diapered and we sun dried her poopy pants. They were sanitized UV ironically, and bleached. By the time they had been through my agitator and sunshine they were eat-off-me fresh … and I SOLD her diapers when we potty trained. That’s right. Her USED organic birdseye cotton weave poop catchers SOLD for .40 on the dollar and shipped out all over the country. Would love to see an episode on diapers!!! #clothdiapermom

I have a three armed clothes line in my sewing room because I intend for my clothes to last. This is just what I was taught since I was a child. I am 71 now and have kept most of what my depression era Mother and Grandmother had passed down to me.

I was very poor as an out of town student in the 70's and hand washed everything as I could not afford the laundromat down the road. I soon learned how to treat my clothing better, make better second hand choices in the charity shops and tackle anything from ink to blood stains in my shared bathroom bathtub. I still enjoy hand washing my woolens and underclothing. Great topic, Abby...this could easily be a multi- part topic if you include proper ironing and starching. :)

australian here. the part about line-drying bans is one of a gajillion reasons i think HOAs are dystopian.

If you're worried about your laundry soap, what I often do is shave a thin layer off a bar of laundry soap (like fels naptha or zote) or a bar of people soap. Its fairly cheap, easy to customize to the load (thin slice for fairly clean laundry, a couple slices for really dirty). Just make sure to do stain removal beforehand, simples!

I feel like I must be doing something “wrong” because I’ve known about hard vs soft water since childhood and I’ve never had a washing machine damage a garment. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also over sanitizing has led to a lot of problems with immune systems not developing well, so we have to be careful with that.

Dang! So this means that at the beginning of my shift, my scrubs are poopy with my germs...but 12 hrs later (after changing patients' poopy diapers) the OUTSIDE is now covered with the poopy germs of strangers. Then I come home and wash my poopy scrubs with my other poopy scrubs (and sometimes other clothes), so now everything I own has trace amounts of not only MY poop, but also the poop of my patients all mixed together?!? *extreme disgust noises in nurse*

As someone who has always indoor line-dried their clothes: watch out for mould and mildew spreading around the house. Line drying promotes a shit tonne of humidity.

I think one way to help break that cycle would be small things like: not washing the clothing just because you wore it once, but instead let the clothing air out for a few days and than wear it again. That way I wear my jeans like for 10 to 14 days before washing them and for shirts it is like 3 to 7 days. Another small thing which can easily be done and would be good for the clothing would be to either use a washing bag or handwash the more delicate things. I own a lot of clothing for more than five years and even a few things I inherited from my mom.

Here in Sweden most of the apartment buildings have shared laundry rooms in their basements which you have to book in advance. Thus, due to being forgetful and mildly afraid of the dark I started airing out, hand washing and air drying a lot of my clothing when I was in my twenties and noticed after a while that it was so much better for the garments!

Thanks for another interesting video! I had some thoughts from my perspective as a nurse: First with regard to sanitizing: In a situation where folks are not very ill, cleaning is enough. The friction, rinsing and detergent removal of oil and dirt carries off most bacteria and viruses. This is generally enough to keep most people from getting ill. If someone in the house is ill with something like COVID, MRSA or C. diff, you might want to step it up. In that case, I would use bleach and the hottest water setting, and dry in the sun. If someone is concerned about, say, E. Coli or stool on underwear in an otherwise healthy household, I would consider using the hottest water setting, and either oxyclean (basically washing soda and baking soda mixed), and/ or a pre rinse with vinegar. These are natural, inexpensive and kill many germs. Especially when combined with the dirt removal/friction/rinsing. Then, like you said in your video, hang them in sunlight. All this, if your clothing label says the fabric can stand up to it. Definitely wear your most wash tolerant clothes when ill. I like your idea about linen underwear. It is difficult to find, though!

That's an important topic. Thank you for the reminder to use my "Wäschespinne" (translates literally as "laundry spider" :) and is basically a rotary cloths dryer) more often. Thank goddess this is allowed in our region. Some thoughts I have: - Bleach can also be made with oxygen. Infact I do not have chlorine bleach in my house. - Bacteria etc. mostly are destroyed at temperatures above about 40° to 45° C (104 - 113 Fahrenheit). If you want to get sure, 60° C (160 F) is a good option, some nasty stuff needs higher temperatures. 90°C (194 F) should help on really most things even without detergent or bleach. - I never ever wash underwear incidentally with outer garments. It comes, together with the other laundry I want to bleach (towels, washcloths etc.), into the 60°C-cycle. Of course, you need underwear that can stand those temperatures... - Clothes dryed on a rack outside really smell wonderful in spring when all the flowers bloom. In winter, when some houses in the neighborhood are heated with coal briquetts they don't smell that fine 🥴 - Rubbing the clothes like they did in the past isn't good for fabrics either. - Hard water can be softened with citric acid. Soda does a good job on it, too. - Not all was good in the past :) I think we are privileged today. We can learn from the past and take the best out of both worlds. I wouldn't want to miss my washer (I don't miss the US-style washers that I know though :) ) but we still can think about our washing routines. We do have well functioning devices and chemicals at hand, the challenge is to choose the right ones to be appropriate for the tasks they are used.

Interesting video. I was born in 1957, the youngest child of my parents who were born in 1915 and 1916. Growing up in the 1960s we didn’t have a clothes dryer. We had clothes lines outside to hang our clothes in the summer and in the basement, where the washer was, to hang them in the winter. Also I think initially my mother used a wringer washer. So your video describes a transformation that I have witnessed over the course of my life. I remember my mother being puzzled by the changes in attitudes toward clothing as clothing became more disposable and outer clothing was washed so much more frequently. She was almost offended by the idea of pre-washed jeans that gave them a worn appearance and feel right off the shelf. She kept the strong sense of the value of fabrics that she had grown up with when they mended and protected their clothing.

As a European who lived in Chicago for several years, I was baffled by the way laundry was done there (not saying it's perfect in Europ though). One of the first thing I did was hook up water softening filters to every water pipe in my appartment (3 pipes + a special for the shower). I went to Target and bought a drying rack that could be set up indoors. Yes it's ugly but at least it doesn't damage my spouse's expensive shirts... I had small sanitizing tablets that I used in Europe put in every load of laundry, they even sanitize with the cold setting. For really dirty clothes, I put alcohol in the first wash and then ran a cycle with the lowest temperature setting if any of the clothes had synthetic fibers. Everything was air dryed except towels and bedsheets (because indoor drying rack), who all went into the extra hot setting for both washing and drying. I know I am privileged to have the means to do all of this, but I thought I'd share, because some ideas might be useful for someone.

When I lived in Eastern Europe I went to an international school. My European classmates would not only wear a piece of clothing many times before laundering it, they would line dry everything.They would spot clean and air everything out between wearings.The school did have dryers, but it seemed only us American students ever used them. Their reasoning was: "If my shirt isn't visibly soiled or sweaty, why should I wash it right away?" This was in the late 1990's, so I have no idea if practices have changed. My fellow Americans would think me disgusting, but I do this now: line dry as much as possible, spot clean, and air things out between wearings. I have folding drying racks, just like we had at the school. They take up little space when not in use and hold a lot of clothing.

You don't need to sanitize clothing. I learned a lot about laundering, detergents, fabrics, water, and washing machine care by cloth diapering (yup, poopy laundry). Water softener can be good, but it can also hinder cleaning. Too much softener can give you a suds cushion, and the clothes can't rub together to get clean. Not enough softener can cause minerals to deposit into your clothes, causing discoloration, stiffness, and stink. They used to use pee to clean laundry, so idk if i'd put them on too much of a pedestal. Lol. Using pee to clean poop always seemed funny to me.

abby, as a girl being raised in the 1960s my parents were wayyyyy ahead of their time...we lived in a "tiny" house repurposed, reused, raised most of our own food, had cold running water only, so to wash in a wringer washer we had to boil water to wash clothes, having hard water, what mama would do is use baking soda and vinegar they soften AND disinfect the clothes....now when I watch my "homesteading" channels I have to chuckle....now living the way I was raised is called green, leaving a small footprint being self-sufficient, when I was a kid we just called it POVERTY!!!!! wash day literally took all day, boiling and changing the water, hanging the clothes out to dry then the next day was ironing all the clothes...even the sheets!!! thank God Mama wasn't as crazy as some, ironing napkins!!! I still use napkins or hand towels instead of paper towels, and when I see my friends using spray and paper towels to clean, I tell them, just how clean is a thing when one uses basically toilet paper to clean?

I live in the UK and line-drying is definitely the norm here, but as a sensory sensitive autistic person (in a family of autistics) I can definitely see the effect of the dyes and detergents and fragrances in our clothes and bedding etc. This video was really helpful for identifying some changes I can make which might benefit us so thank you for that!

The longest running mild argument my husband and I have with each other is that I air dry nearly everything and wash a lot of things on the gentle cycle and he looks at the label and says 'You don't have to do that, it says warm/tumble dry' Modern clothing is made out of spider webs and wishes not actual fibers and so I have been babying my clothes for a long time and even more so since I have been changing to buying more expensive/sustainable brands, because even a good brand of t-shirt gets little holes in it during the washing process in my experience.

Instead of using alcohol like vodka, you can use vinegar (the clear kind, I don't know if there's a specific term for it in english, sorry) to sanitize and soften your fabric. I put it in the softener compartment in my washing machine and it works like a charm. (EDIT : forgot to mention that you should only use it with natural fabrics) As a frenchwoman, it was mindblowing for me to learn that drying your clothes outside could be banned. Almost everyone in France does it, even people who live in cities. We have drying racks you can fix on your wall or by your window, people with balconies will have ones you can unfold. I love laundry day, there's nothing better than the smell of freshly washed clothes that dried in the sun !

I learned from a older friend how to disinfect my laundry without destroying it. My friend was in her 70s and she told me just what to do. Quarter cup of white vinegar in the slot for fabric softener for every medium load. The vinegar disinfects, and leaves your clothes with no scent. I never do laundry anymore without white vinegar.

I'm so happy to see this video, it doesn't gross me out, it validates all the things I've been doing to protect my clothing. I've been using a laundry rack in the bath tub in the winter and a laundry line in the summer to dry everything (originally for energy savings). I buy only fabric and clothing that are natural fabrics (micro plastics are evil) and I rarely use the washing machine to launder lighter weight clothing. (Rub board and a bucket usually suffice) I started this as an effort to "de corporatize" my universe, and energy/water savings (I live in the desert, water is a BIG issue) and now to find there are other benefits that I had no knowledge of is fantastic This video made my entire month!

FUN (DANGEROUS) FACTS: fabric softeners actually adds a film onto your clothes and make your clothing more flammable and doesn't actually 'soften' your clothes. This can be dangerous when you toss them into the dryer but also in your day to day wear. I'm a fire performer and never used fabric softeners due to the hazard and the gross feeling it causes. Also some companies sell "fire resistant" baby onesies: 1) this means you should never dry the outfits on high heat, it'll cause it to be very rough on the skin 2) it does not last for ever. its effectiveness is only a year or so. Be aware that it is perfectly fine buying second hand but don't just blindly trust the label. 3) "fire resistant" baby clothes are a bit misleading because its only fire RESISTANT not a retardant, it has a higher flash point (burning temp) and if it reaches beyond that point it will still burn and turn to ash and not melt onto the skin. (synthetics will melt into a pile of molten goo whereas natural fabrics will still burn but turn into a ash and not melt your flesh) Do not go and buy fabric retardant spray for use on fabric that'll be worn on the skin, it will cause severe irritation/rashes and such because the chemicals are not supposed to be used that way, and it does not make up for the fact a fabric is synthetic and will melt.

If this video doesn't go viral I'm going to be extremely disappointed in YT watchers. BTW, Italian here: we usually air-dry our clothes. In the last few years you can find dryers in the shops, but I have no idea how much they sell. To me, it sounds so wasteful (and plain stupid) to forcibly dry something that's going to dry anyway if you give it a few hours. It's not like we have just one shirt/skirts etc. I can see that a dryer can be necessary if you live in a ridiculously humid enviroment, but if you are not, they are useless, imo. Oh, and when my father was a kid (about 60 years ago), my granmother did the laundry by going to 'the' brook with the other women of the village, and boil the clothes and linens in water and ash, rinsing them in the brook, and hanging them to dry on nearby bushes and small trees. It was a day long job, not only for the amount of stuff to clean, but also because they had to climb down the rocky peak the village is perched on to reach the stream. Heavy, heavy work. (sorry for the humongous comment)

I super highly recommend the Sunshine clothes dryer. It is an "umbrella" style clothesline made by a very small mom and pop company and it is the most durable and easy to use line I have ever had!!

I’m so glad you did this video. I’ve been thinking about this issue a lot lately, and have started to hang up my clothes inside to dry. Ultimately I’d like to put up a line out back so I can hang up towels and sheets more easily. I bought a brand new washer and dryer back in 2016 and remember telling a friend how it seemed to be tearing up my clothes. Towels were unraveling, spots wouldn’t come out, and a family quilt started coming apart every time I washed them. Thanks for your research, it’s really eye-opening!

Lots of info in this. I think it’s also important to think about economics, and how people from different economic brackets might do laundry. When I was a single mom for a long time we didn’t have laundry at home. We went to a laundromat, and we only went once a week, and in general, my daughter and I each got 1 load of laundry. I now have at home laundry, and I still only do a load a week, and 2 if I’m doing bedding. I’m always think about ways to protect my clothes from BO and staining so that if I need to, I can wear something more than once. And I have enough undergarments to keep my outer-garments protected from myself.

For the short time I lived in the US, I was stunned by the lack of laundering "options". In most of homes I went to, people don't even have a sink in the laundry room, which means you won't wash delicate garments by hand, or take out stains, or do what I do sometimes - just wash the underarms area really quick and not put the whole thing in the machine. And the fact that they don't have anywhere to hang clothes to dry was so weird to me.

Wow... I guess my lifelong dream of having all silk bedsheets and keeping them forever is unrealistic 😁 It's true in France the vast majority of us air-dry our clothes, even in apartments hanging from windows and balconies, or just indoors with a window open. Another issue with our laundry practices is the energy used to heat the cold water which goes into the washing machine. We have readily available hot water in our homes heated by a water heater (however energy efficient it may be) but the washing machines are only connected to the cold water pipe. There are some machines with 2 pipe connections, one for cold and one for hot, but they're very hard to find, in france at least

I only learned this year that our washing machine and dishwasher has to be set to which hardness our water has.

I remember being a kid in the 80's and wore undershirts under shirts and slips with top and bottom coverage under dresses. When I became an age to wear bras the undershirt wearing stopped. I thought it was all about whether someone could see through, but the whole family was wearing undershirts under thick and opaque clothing. I remember my dad wearing an undershirt under a tshirt and saying he didn't understand the point of tshirts and deciding that they were more comfy without the undershirt. looking back it's around that time that we stopped wearing undershirts. your video gives me a different perspective looking back. I was thinking that the undershirts were about modesty and perhaps it was for our family, but there's other purposes as well. I do still have tshirts, sweaters, sweat shirts, coats, and bedding from the 80's and 90's which I still use. Most of them are in better condition than items from 2000 to recent, but when they get too holy or thin to repair then they become cleaning rags.

“People smelled funky back then!..” Really, most people would’ve just smelled like they’ve been around a bonfire because - well - they’ve have. So many things were done over an open flame, cooking, certain steps of laundry, blacksmithing, etc. Sure, there are the factors of how often they bathed and how, but really they just would’ve smelled smoky.

More questions than answers. If we had the opportunity to even sew our clothes, it seems the majority of textiles, fabrics, etc, would have to be imported, which could be expensive too. There is no easy answer to any of this, which is pretty frustrating, I must say.

This was a fantastic video! I think I'm really fortunate that my mom taught me everything she knows about taking care of clothes. My grandparents owned an appliance store and took classes to learn how washing machines and dryers worked, and the best ways to use them to preserve your clothes. Its not perfect, and I know there are a lot of practices that were lost over time here in the US which would definitely benefit me to know, but generally speaking I almost never get rid of a garment due to a hole or laundry mishap. Only when it no longer fits me or its not to my taste, in which state I donate or sell it.

Abby has convinced me that our entire world is a lie. As someone who used to live in a suburb with city water (read hard water) to a rural area that uses well water, I have definitely noticed a difference in my clothes and skin. Now I'm considering getting a wash tub and wash board. BRB, gotta go talk to our Amish neighbors. 😆

For outdoor line drying - really important that black,navy and red clothes are hung inside out to avoid bleaching. (Red is the worst for this. Bedding should be draped over two wires instead of one to allow fresh air to access both sides of the fabric. For indoor drying - really important that the washing machine is clean and when washing add some alcohol or vinegar (2x shot glass doesn’t leave a smell) to kill any odour/mildew causing bacteria/mold In colder weather instead of trying to add heat to dry clothes faster simply add ventilation. Put a fan in front of the drying rack and run for a few hours. This is an effective method down all the way to freezing. Allow some time to vent the room during the day to prevent the humidity causing issues.

Thank you for this excellent video! You have inspired me to try line drying. I'll try doing it from now through the end of summer, see how manageable I can make it. As for clothes and washing, I really only get clothes from goodwill, but i do try making them last. Will try harder though! Tbh the historical clothing community on RU-vid has really changed the way i look not just at the fashion of an item, but the material, longevity, all of it. Your hard work in making these videos and building this community does not go unnoticed ❤ Thank you for everything you teach us

This is such a gooooood video, I learned so much in a random FB group about laundry practices, and this was the deep dive I needed to feed this interest. Also.....you used Disclosure and honestly, I can't thank you enough for reminding me that song exists.

This video was both really informative and quite sad. We absolutely have a long way to go. I was flabbergasted to learn that front loading washing machines aren't standard in the US. Here in Norway, you can get top loading ones, but they're mostly for smaller spaces and far from the norm. Not all people have dryers here, and even when we do, I believe most of us use them fairly sparingly to protect our clothes (or maybe I'm the odd one out, having somehow been raised in the depression era while also being a millennial). I stopped using fabric softeners a few months after I moved away from home because I realised they didn't really do anything except adding fragrance I didn't want. While I haven't been able to exclude synthetic fabrics or fast fashion items from my wardrobe (dressing a fat body can be a bit tricky, and being choosy with fabrics isn't all that easy), I am quite impressed by how durable my clothes actually are. I think we have to consider how we wear our clothes, and learn from earlier generations: I have good clothes and home clothes. Good clothes are basically never worn when I'm at home, I change to home clothes when I get home from work or whatever. That way, I can usually get away with wearing that good garnment multiple times before it needs to be washed. When it at some point either doesn't fit all that well, loses its shape or basically just looks worn and sad, it's demoted to a home garnment and will stay in that role until it either doesn't fit or it feels wasteful to wash it - at that point, it will either be turned into rags or recycled. I find that this system both reduces the number times I have to do laundry and keeps my clothes from being worn out. I'm currently wearing a 4 year old "home dress" that was a "good garnment" for two years, had to have its trim removed because it got tattered, and is still going strong.

We also need to talk about how deodorants and antiperspirants eat and stain fabrics. Our washing machine broke 3 years ago. I wash everything by hand in the bathtub or a sink. Haven't used a clothes dryer in years. Everything gets hung to dry. My water is soft and pH of 8. How I know that is because I'm on a deep well and a septic system. And I never wash my underwear with anything else nor socks. Or with anybody else's laundry.

This is such a great video Abby! I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that you’ve done so much research to bring light to this incredibly difficult yet important issue that is so present in our society. I know this video has been out for a while, but I hope it continues to pop up in people’s feeds for a long time to come

Thank you, Abbey. So much to think about. I've been working on decluttering my wardrobe, and only keeping what I love to wear. Perhaps after sanitizing them, one might consider making them into quilts? I love line drying clothes! I am going to look into sanitizing my clothes and also into acquiring linen undergarments. Thank you so much for all you do.

From Germany: I have never in my life had a use for a dryer. When i was younger, people would dry their clothes in the backyard or in the cellar, nowadays I can see people drying their clothes from a window where they installed a collapsible rack. I dry mine in the bathroom or on the balcony, though that one has limited space and is not seen from neighbors. But I will definitely sew more undergarments in linen now - you can't get them anywhere - and check our water acidity level (the city has a chart, I believe). I can't believe it is illegal to dry your clothes outside!

I grew up in Japan line drying everything because we literally didn’t own a dryer, and I remember getting in trouble for hanging out beach towels on the balcony at a hotel in Florida.

I totally thought this was going to be a video essay on the gross things they used to use to clean stuff.... ummmm.... nope. but this was sooooo informative. thank you... I hope this goes viral, because more people need to be interested in this.

You can make the dryer a little more efficient by throwing a clean dry towel in with the load. This is helpful for winter and overcast days.

Laundry is one of the most confusing thing ever. We don’t talk enough about the theoretical groundwork enough but thank you.

"Laundry" by Cheryl Mendelson is an amazing reference book for learning to do laundry with actual science. Borax and washing soda are good "water conditioners" that make detergent more effective in hard water. Soap is a bad idea in hard water.

I have always lived in 'hard water' locations and I have trouble with rashes no one can explain. Abby answers! Thank you, Abby!

As a Aussie in her 50s modern washing is very modern. We have always line dried. We have always hand washed delicates. We patched (patches were fashionable) and have died clothing or sections of clothing when discoloured. We have bleached whites in the sun. We use natural washing products (I have tried soap nuts) and use vinegar to rinse. We soak dirty clothes before washing and use grey water for to water the garden and to scrub plant pots to reuse them. So not perfect but better than what I see on social media. And we did it coz we don’t have money.

For line drying laundry - the Hills Hoist (known as a rotary clothes line to non-australians) works really well if you have the space for one, and you can use larger items to hide your smalls that are hung closest to the middle. The parallel lines are also great for hanging lengths of fabric from after prewashing them - kind of looks like this when hung up /\/\/\/\ and the gravity helps remove wrinkles from washing so you don't have to iron as vigorously before you go to cut stuff out.

As a UK resident I have recently switched from tumble drying all my laundry, to hanging it on an airer, because...cost. I can't bring myself to hang it outdoors to dry, however. I live, surrounded by farmland, and there are certain days when anything hung outside just gets covered in bugs of one kind or another. (There's a fact they rarely tell you about outdoor drying.) I also find that clothes are not as soft when not put in a tumble drier.

I live in an apt with no washer and dryer, so I bought a small electric washer. Thanks to it I've learned a lot about laundry, starting with how agitation is actually needed to get the oil and dirt out of the fibers. I never understood why they'd show people beating their clothes on rocks and hitting it with paddles. Turns out you actually HAVE to do that to force the water in and get the nasty out. No wonder the stuff I hand washed would stink when I put it back on. Ugh. The little machine works so well and I can monitor if they need another cycle or not. Also we aren't allowed to hang our clothes out to dry but I do laundry on the weekend and no one sees it lol.

Love this video, it is just the thing to spark revamping my laundry process. Especially since my family and I have been integrating historical clothing elements into our wardrobe. It has been 2 years since I have started wearing a layer under my bra and not only has it improved my comfort, it also improve my laundry process. As, I don't have to launder my bras as much ... And to be honest... do any of us sanitize or launder our undergarments as much as we ought? ... Alright time to get the poop outta my clothing! Thanks Abby!

For drying clothes on a line: I'm allergic to mold, which turns out there is mold spores literally everywhere outside. I break out from head to toe in a rash if I line dry anything outside, and we don't have any good setup to dry clothes in the house. I also physically wouldn't be able to line dry anyway. Unfortunately, buying a good energy efficient dryer isn't in the budget, so we're stuck with an old used one whose sensor definitely doesn't work. I use white vinegar as a softener, works much better. I also have a cesspool so bleach and anything with antibacterial properties is out for laundry and cleaning products in general that might end up going down the drain. I do want to incorporate boiling undergarments and add linen items to my wardrobe. Especially since we tend to wash everything on cold because our hot water is oil and that's expensive

As a kid my mom line dried until the doctor told her that it was causing some of our health issues with the pollen and such that get in your clothes, lol. This makes me want to actually separate my clothes and do the socks and underwear separate, but im in an apartment and dont tend to have the quarters and money to do that amount of loads between towels and bedding and clothes, etc.... especially since i tend to do my laundry on cool because my work has a black dress code.

I used to have an outside drying line, and when you said "use rainwater" I chuckled, as in my family it's very common to leave the clothes out when it starts raining and leave it until it's dry again, as the rainwater acts as a natural fabric softener, not to mention gives that amazing fresh smell. I'm also used to use vinegar as "fabric softner" or as a odor neutraliser, as it does actually kill bacteria, and is great for the machine. I also wash my delicate fabrics by hand and always leave them to air dry or flat dry (I'm Dutch btw)

I am so glad I decided to watch this video right after watching the one where you made your own 300-year old laundry soap! I always wash and dry my clothes and the delicate cycle so I don't ruin or shrink any of my clothes and I always seperate my underwear from everything else. Now I will be on the lookout for more natural detegent and start using white vinegar as a softener/anti-bacterial agent.

22:32 This is hilarious because in India, the clothes line is ubiquitous and is also a sign of people living in a space. There was even a celebrity here who had a problem because he had a large balcony and people would use it as a communal clothes line without asking him first.

I'm in London, UK and have to use a water softener in my washing machine because we have very hard water. The one I use also has an anti bacterial agent in it. We use a spray to extend the length of time between washes, and line dry (outside or in the bathroom) - and I cannot believe there are laws against line drying in parts of the USA!

Thanks Abby for this video that hits all the right places! I made my own laundry detergent out of soft soap and I know people have recipes with ashes. I would love to see a video where you explore a few historical options! And definitely, line drying all the way! 🌸

First, cheap clothes have to become too expensive (financially and morally). Then, people will have to start valuing the clothes they own, learning how to maintain them, and we will need businesses specializing in mending, tailoring, stain removal. Maybe even washing. It's starting, now. Look at you, spreading the word! Please do what you can to make this better? If you have that luxury. You alone will not fix it, but what you do matters. Five years ago, I took on the full-time job of attempting to buy nothing, make what I needed (including clothes - that's why I'm here), and reuse everything else. When I hit a dead end, I wrote letters to companies, asking for better choices. There are products on the market now where they didn't exist, then - deodorants in cardboard, paper-only shipping packages, closed-loop products. The market does respond to demand.

On the note of sanitized laundry - Early in the pandemic there was a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of regular soap. From my understanding, as long on the detergent has consistent contact with the item, it manually breaks apart the lipid layer of germs and kills them. It’s a cool process! Soap is so cool Also I love to boil laundry. It’s so much fun :) and I wish I liked the smell of line dried clothes :( I end up drying everything in various places around my house to avoid it.

It’s so interesting that historically they used rain water. In some parts of the U.S. it’s also illegal to collect rainwater.

This is my favorite video. Its SO informative. Ive watched it so many times. Ive been trying to change how i laundrer my clothes for years. So this is so helpful and i come back to it all the time to renew my brain on this information.

It was really interesting to watch your video and hear about some of the issues we face/that are caused by modern laundry practices. There are definitely things that I unconsciously do that you mentioned as potential ways to lengthen the life of your wardrobe and help the environment a bit. One suggestion of mine that I haven’t had a chance to implement (live in a rental) is installing a filter on my washing machine to help catch micro plastics.