Random questions to which you seek an answer
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Honestly I kinda enjoy washing my iron heart stuff by hand… my wife (and mother in-law for that matter) get a big kick out of it. Every time one of them sees me get something on my clothes they laugh and say “should I go start the bath?”
I guess I get a kick out of it too. It’s a running joke around our house that I do laundry like it’s the 1800’s. Also I have had cheaper clothes get little nicks from the washing machine and the dryer. I’m not taking any chances on stuff I have put a lot of time and or money into.I would love to hear more about your hand-washing system! What's your method?
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And does anyone else besides me think that sulfur-dyed clothes smell amazing when you wash them? I don’t know what it is about that smell but I freaking love it! It is a smell that is all Iron Heart to me!!
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I'm in the same boat — totally love hand washing. And the spin is a good tip, it does make sense that it'd flatten em out.
I'm sticking with the tub washes though. My washing machine was rated as the top model by Consumer Reports when I bought it, and whaddya know it's a colossal turd. I don't really like washing anything particularly finicky/valuable in it.
My method:
Cold water (unless it's a new pair and I'm doing a hot soak), add detergent while the tub's filling to get the bubbles going. Wash right side out, for 20 mins one side, agitate, flip and do 20 minutes other side. Drain tub, refill, agitate and rinse for 10 to 15 mins. Hang up. I weight jeans down with jars to keep everything underwater during the wash.
edit: I'll also add that I wash right side out because I find no need to do otherwise, never got any kind of marbling washing stuff in the tub, inside out or not.
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Wash right side out
I feel like you're glossing over some of the important stuff
Do you use a sponge, towel, brush? Are you just treating the area with stains or are you "washing" everything? -
The crease can be a good thing too. The sign of a pair of jeans valuable enough to have stored away for a later date. It’s just a different fade.
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Haha, good question! I don't usually have stains on stuff because I'm an anal-retentive dweeb and am always watching out, but… whenever it does happen, I pre-treat with a petroleum-based dishwashing soap like Dawn for about 5 mins before putting it in the tub. Once I was cutting up an avocado which slipped out of my hands — I subsequently caught it before it hit the ground but managed to smash it into my 666-21ODs. Since avocados are basically just pure fat, it left a big, nasty oil stain. Dawn got it out.
Oh and the other day, my cat got out and I had to chase her around the yard (highly comical, I have little doubt), and got a big grass stain on my wabash painter's pants. Once again, Dawn to the rescue.
After pre-treating with the Dawn and putting whatever it is in the tub, I usually just kinda scrub the area with my hand until I can't feel the slipperiness of the soap anymore.
If there's no staining though, I usually just agitate the jeans a couple times to help the detergent do its thing.
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@Nkwkfld:
The crease can be a good thing too. The sign of a pair of jeans valuable enough to have stored away for a later date. It’s just a different fade.
And yes, this. It's not ruining the jeans or anything. And as someone else mentioned earlier, the rest of the fades will eventually catch up to it, and it'll seem less obvious.
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@popvulture
My method is almost exactly the same as yours. I also wash my stuff right side out and have never had any problems… the only thing I do any different is I don’t bother weighing down my clothes. Outside of that my method is exactly the same -
@Memphisakers hell yeah — laundry soul mates!
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My Dude!
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@popvulture
I like the stain treatment method you use with the dawn… Just the regular blue stuff? You used that method on indigo dyed stuff without any spots or weirdness after washing? That’s awesome! I will keep that in the back of my mind for stain emergencies (God forbid). I have learned from seeing other people mistakes on this forum and from finding clothes for sale with weird spots in the indigo, that spot treating and trying to rub on stains is a very dangerous endeavor. -
Yeah, just regular Dawn or you could also use Palmolive — the key is that it's a petroleum-based dish soap. Something more natural like Mrs. Meyers won't work. I forget where I learned it (Martha Stewart?) but first tried it when I got some oil on a t-shirt I loved while I was cooking something splattery in the kitchen. It'll take it right out, even if the stain's been on there for a while and has been washed. Basically that detergent's got petroleum to break down grease, and ta-da — it does the same for oil-based stains on clothes. Really one of the best tricks I've ever learned. Laundry witchcraft.
I've worried that it'd affect the indigo, but as of yet I've tried it on the OD 21oz and the wabash with no problems. That said, I guess there's always a risk, but I think there's a lot less than if you were to like try to scrub out a stain with a toothbrush or something.
@Filthy is also a Dawn acolyte
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Thanks man
I’ll keep it in the emergency kit!! -
You bet!
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Yeah I always add a tablespoon of real Dawn any time I soak or hand wash my jeans. The use it to clean tar off of baby seals after oil spills, so it's completely safe to use my n your jeans
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I have never had vertical fades other than train tracks, and for whatever reason, while I love train tracks, it would bother me to have vertical fade lines other than those. My OCD shows up in strange places.
I'm sure there are many other factors to consider, but my method is gentle, cold cycles with gentle detergent and no softener, inside-out, pre-soaked, no spin, hang to drip dry, then turn back outside-out when fully dry. And I only wash when I notice a smell or there's been a stain that spot-cleaning couldn't eliminate, which is very infrequent–but I don't think the frequency's really a factor in the vertical creasing/fades, though a higher frequency might help mask them.
I fold the outseams forward to store pulling the crotch back to align the outseams to one another, and then in half from there.
The only bad result I've ever had in the past decade or so with raw denim evo was when I didn't let me IH-634SII dry enough before turning them back outside-out and got some marbling.
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A little crease sure as hell isn’t going to stop me from rocking these SBG 821’s… crease or not these are beautiful! And I’m going to wear them like I mean it!! Who knows if I’ll ever find another pair…
