How to Wash Those Tights!

My tights are getting scuzzy, but how do we remedy this situation? Well, there are several ways to do this. I can either wash it buy hand or put it in the washing machine. With the machine, though, I would have to put it on a delicate setting and put it in a lingerie bag. Though any bag would work, such as a pillowcase, I decided to conserve energy and soak them in the sink and then wash them by hand.

First, I recommend you turn your tights inside out. Also, make sure that the sink is completely clean.

Next, I fill the sink with semi-warm water. Water that is too hot may damage the delicate fabrics used in quality tights, and we want to keep their life as long as possible. By soaking our tights in the sink, we avoid stretching and tearing the fabric; a machine without a lingerie bag is harsher on tights during the cycle. Pour a little bit of detergent into the sink. If you have detergent for delicate fabrics, I would use that. If you don't, regular detergent worked well for me, so it could work for you, too.

I wouldn't recommend fabric softener. I was speaking with a lady about delicate fabrics, especially stretchy ones, and she said that softener will take the life out of these fabrics faster than if you abstained from softener.

Let the tights soak for a little bit. Make sure to scrunch the tights in the water to release air bubbles and so that the water completely saturates the tights. I let my tights sit a little bit in the water before scrubbing them.

I'm balancing the camera underneath my chin here :)

I took the fabric in between my knuckles and rubbed my knuckles across the tights. I tried to get the high maintenance areas such as the feet, ankles, and crotch area. I then let it soak for a tad longer before rubbing it a little bit more between my knuckles.

*Be sure* to use your knuckles like an old scrubbing board. The knuckles provide a friction. You don't want to poke your fingers through the fabric too far. The fabric could be stretched out of shape. Though you would be able to do this when it's dry, it's not a good idea at all when it's wet. Also, be careful you don't have any hangnails, rough nail edges, or jewelry. We don't want them to snag on the fabric!

 YES!   --------------------------------------------  NO!

After the soak, I drained the sink and refilled it with fresh, lukewarm water. I swished the tights around in the water and squeezed it to get the soap out. I rubbed the tights again with my knuckles. I drained the water again and repeated the last step. By this time, the water didn't have any suds. Repeat swishing the tights in water until all the soap disappears. You should also be able to get more dirt out of the tights if you wash it a couple times.

Once the tights have no more dirt or soap, it's time to let them dry. Again, I wouldn't use a dryer because it's rough and will probably be too hot for the delicate fabrics. The tights could easily dry outside on a wire or just hanging from anything. I used my shower head.

It will take awhile to dry completely, so it's a good idea to wash them when you know you won't need them for at least six hours. Mine didn't take that long to dry, but it's a safe bet.

As you can see, though I did a pretty good job scrubbing, I couldn't get all of the dirt out of the high traffic areas like the feet (no, I didn't mean my crotch was a high traffic area, hahaha! PS: my tight's crotch is, indeed, perfectly clean). But the rest of my tights look great! So there you have it! Hope this helps!