Instead of soaking clothes in water with soap or detergent, the dry-cleaning process uses chemicals that are safe for your clothes to eliminate stains. Because each method uses solvents, every piece of clothing that is dry cleaned will need drying to get rid of any solutions left behind.

Dry cleaned clothes, bedding, and other items will feel softer than when washed in water. Dry cleaners use liquid chemical solvents to clean clothes without using water. Traditional washing uses water as a primary solvent for dissolving detergents, or soaps, which will, in turn, clean the garments.

Since dry cleaning does not involve immersing your clothes to clean them in water, and it has a gentler process, dry cleaning has some clear advantages when it comes to getting your clothes cleaned when compared with the traditional washing machine.

While both processes serve their purposes, overall, dry cleaning is better suited to clothes, particularly those that are sensitive, compared to regular washing in a machine. One of the popular reasons to dry wash clothes is the ability to keep clothes that otherwise would need to be hand washed looking and feeling good. Secondly, dry cleaning saves time. Handwashing garments is a time-consuming task, that also includes drying clothes. Therefore, using the dry cleaning alternative is a suitable substitute that allows you to spend your precious time on more stimulating tasks. While some fabrics can be washed at home, either by hand or by machine, fabrics such as rayon, silk, leather, suede, and velvet need to go to a professional dry cleaner. With some additional precautions, you can wash clothing made of acetate, velvet, wool, and silk at home without the need for a dry cleaning kit. However, one needs to make sure you wash linens in a soft cycle with only cold water. You should wash Wool with cold water and air dry it to avoid shrinkage and damage. However, fabrics like wool and very fine silk should go to the dry cleaners if they need cleaning; wool shrinks terribly when washed in the average washing machine (especially with hot or warm water), and fine silks may become damaged from agitation by the washer. Cotton, linen, cashmere, polyester, acrylic, and nylon can generally be washed at home, but keep an eye out for blend materials; and, when in doubt, bring it to the dry cleaner.

Linen, cotton, and sturdy polyester items will stand up to the journey to the laundromat, using a mesh washcloth. You should always check a fabric’s colourfastness by rubbing some detergent and a bit of water in the garment’s inner seam; if it does not respond, you may want to consider washing it with cold water and mild soap or use a gentle/handwashing cycle on the washing machine. Now, not knowing how to wash delicate or complex fabrics at home, combined with brands protecting themselves by plastering dryer-only labels on an increasing number of items, we are finding ourselves running in search of the nearest dry cleaner.