“Oh, come here. You have to see this.” This was a care instructions tag on a kitchen towel. The speaker was my daughter.
The tag in questions read, in part, “tumble dry low, remove promptly and fold.”
“They’re getting demanding. I’ve never been threatened by linens.”
She had a point. Most tags stop at “remove promptly.” We know. We went through all the kitchen towels in the kitchen towel garage. I stopped to freshen my lemonade and the daughter disappeared. “Nope, no aggressive towels in here!” I heard from the bathroom. So maybe they aren’t getting demanding. It is a rogue towel getting demanding on its own.
The idea of care instruction tags has always confused me. All those little pictures on them. It’s like one day someone decided “we have more to say and only one line of type left, let’s invent new hieroglyphics.” You can get a guide if you’d like. I saw one guide with 52 symbols. That’s more than all the symbols that flash in my car’s dash when I start it up. There’s even a symbol for Do Not Wash. You would think if they don’t want it washed it wouldn’t even need a tag. Or perhaps just a tag with nothing on it. But then how would you tell it from a tag attached to a towel that’s been repeatedly washed, and then dried at dryer’s the hottest heat setting where it then sat for 4 or 5 hours.
Remove promptly and fold. Hmm. What if I want to use it right then. Do I have to remove it promptly, fold, then unfold for use. Of course, it doesn’t say anything about unfolding before use. Maybe its intent is to be used folded. It wouldn’t have its total surface area to work with, but in its folded state it would provide more towel depth to soak up the water deeper into itself for no drips or spills. Of course, that’s what paper towels are for, and they pick up quicker. Just ask the lumberjack who sells them
(Follow this link for a Readers Digest version of the 32 most common laundry symbols)
Stress eating is not the correct term. Considering all the good things that to happen to a person while feasting, we call it de-stress eating in our latest Uplift blog by ROAMcare, Eat Your Stress Away.
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I hear you! Bossy and sometimes contradictory. I checked the care label on a sweater the other day and I could barely read it — so micro micro tiny and when I did figure out what it said it told me NOT to dry clean and NOT to wash it. In six languages. What’s a girl to do? Leave it out so a laundry fairy can make it fresh and fab overnight? 🤪
That is new one for me. I’ve seen do not wash. I’ve seen do not dry clean. I’ve not yet seen both on one garment tag. Sounds like the kind of thing a playful laundry fairy would do to have fun with the humans. Either than or perhaps the sweater was intended to be a single use item!
Ohhhh! What a thought. Talk about “fast fashion” – gah! Entirely disposable? Let’s hope that’s not in anyone’s future. 😉
Haha! Fast fashion. That surely describes it! Disposable garments should be considered only at doctor offices.
Agree, agree! 😉😉😉
I tend to think of care labels as suggestions more than directions. I’m ornery like that.
Actually I’d say that’s pretty standard procedure for most of the world. Except “Dry clean only” For some reason I tend to take that one to heart.
Care labels are those things industry creates to mess with our heads. Your comments on “aggressive towels” had me in stitches. I look at care labels so I don’t have to dry clean things. And even if it says don’t dry clean, I usually throw it in the wash anyway. No article of clothing has been sacrificed or killed using this method of washing. I looked at the list of those pictographs, and apart from the descriptions on them, I wouldn’t have known what half of them meant. Is the communication in today’s world so confusing that we have to resort to pictures to help connect with thoughts? I’m so confused. I think I’m having aggressive gray matter.
Those laundry pictorgraphs came to mind when I read about Ikea instructions in your post this morning. First place my mind went was everything has been reduced to these little pictures. And like emojis, I don’t know when 90% of them mean! Just between us and don’t dare ever tell anyone else or I will deny it, I wash and dry everything at the same setting. Mostly because I can’t figure out the pictures on the machines’ controls. 🙃
You must be my brother from another mother! I never switch the settings! Ever!
Ha!! Anything is possible!
That’s a funny one. Ever since I started needed reading glasses to see the tags, I’ve used not have them handy in the laundry room as my excuse to ignore the tags. Good for your daughter for even finding that. And I love that you all checked the others!
I don’t even use the lack of glasses in the laundry room for an excuse. I just toss everything in. If something comes out shredded, faded, or otherwise inappropriate for public viewing, it goes into the “clothes to wear while working on the car” drawer. But it was fun checking all the towels in daughter’s house for another one,, any other way, to include folding instructions. The one pictures in the post seems to be an outlier.
I need to go look for some aggressive linens. Although, most of mine are pretty old. Worn and frayed have probably lost their anger in the dryer. Which I do change for some items. I also change the settings on the washer…and now I just remembered I have unfolded towels in the dryer! (I’ve been sick. I never leave stuff in the dryer!)
Yep, if you had those aggressive linens they’d be badgering you to get them out of the dryer and folded. Promptly!
I changed the setting on the washer once. Did all my wash for 3 weeks on delicate because I forgot to turn it back.