Cotton sheets made from organic sources enhances the aesthetics of your bed and gives your bedroom a touch of luxury and elegance.
In this way, you should consider using organic cotton when you are looking to upgrade your bedroom into a luxury sleep space.
You will find organic cotton sheets very comfortable and will want to protect and preserve them at all costs.
One of the most important points to protect your cotton sheets is to wash them. Delicate fabrics are best when hand washed, but your organic cotton sheets can safely stand up to washing in a machine.
Furthermore, when your sheets are spread on your bed, you may notice that for a brief period, your sheets feel a little loose; this happens all the time when dealing with cotton products.
Since organic cotton is not treated with preservatives (or other chemicals) to pre-shrink it, it is best to wash your organic cotton sheets before using them on your bed.
Organic Cotton Sheets’ Cleaning Tips
Your washing machine is certainly an acceptable way to clean organic cotton sheets.
But there are important things to know for the best result and ultimate enjoyment:
- When washing your cotton sheets, avoid washing it with other laundry, as cotton mixes very easily with other clothing and items.
- Do not launder your bedding with hot water or at a high temperature. This could ruin the cotton sheets’ natural fibers and cause them to not have your clothes comfort level.
- Don’t use harsh chemicals or treatments; instead use natural soaps or detergents.
- Set your washing machine between 31C.00 to 40.0C; as this is the best temperature range for cotton rubrics. This temperature range is also sufficient enough to kill hard bacteria, and anything higher than that will damage the organic cotton sheets fibers by shrinking them.
- Set the washer a gentle cycle for overall better results.
- Do not use a lot of detergents; use half a detergent as you would for laundry detergent to prevent any damage the fabric.
- Do not use a bleach agent or anything similar. Bleach can result in discoloring or ruining your bed linens due to the quality of the cotton fabric.
When you wash cotton fabrics, they will naturally soften due to the fibers found in it, therefore, you should not use fabric softeners in the washing cycle of your bedding.
Note: With time and regular washing, your organic cotton will naturally soften. Adding a fabric softener will tarnish the sheen of the sheets and compromise their quality and longevity.
After Washing Tips
After washing your sheets, you will still need to take some steps to preserve their comfort and prolong their lifespan without compromising the quality of the fabric.
Once you have finished washing your sheets, you want to find a perfect place to put them out to dry:
- To prevent creases, always take your sheets out of the washing machine as soon as they are done washing.
- You can air dry cotton sheets outside to prevent wrinkles. This will not damage the fabric of the sheets.
- Don’t dry the sheets in direct sunlight to avoid fading of the colors.
- If down on air drying, tumble dry your cotton sheets instead. Choose lower temperature settings; high heat will cause damage and shrinks the sheets.
- If your sheets become tough over time, use white vinegar in the detergent to clean and soften the fibers.
- After washing your organic cotton sheets, shake them out from time to time between the washing and drying cycle to help prevent wrinkle setting.
Ironing Your Organic Cotton Sheets
You should not worry if you crease or wrinkle your organic cotton sheets several times.
Traditional cotton fabrics come with chemicals to make them wrinkle-free, so you do not need to press them.
Organic cotton will wrinkle faster; ironically, the wrinkles imply you are using high-quality fabric that is iron-safe.
It is a good bet: You can use steamers or warm temperatures when ironing your sheets which help press them out quickly and thoroughly.
Products to Avoid When Cleaning Organic Cotton Sheets
Being mindful of the cleaning products used to clean cotton bedding will help protect the longevity and quality of the cotton.
To be specific, bleaching agents and harsh detergent contain chemicals that destroy cotton materials, which causes the cotton to weaken and eventually tears, and the others discolor cotton fibers.
When cleaning cotton beddings, avoid harsh chemicals, brighteners, and strong fragrances.
If you own colored or dyed cotton beddings, it is important to note that you want to steer away from the use of harsh detergents, as organic cotton beddings can be even more vulnerable to damage from chemicals.
Rather use alternatives to traditional cotton softeners. Conventional fabric softeners have chemicals that damage organic cotton fibers, and it will show up as a loss of fabric softness and sheen, and eventually not last long.
Natural Alternatives to Soften Organic Cotton Fabrics
Following the washing of your cotton bed linens, rinse using white vinegar, which will soften cotton fibers naturally without stiffening them.
White vinegar will also hold fabric fibers like traditional softening detergents. Most important of all, the vinegar smell dissipates quickly after drying so you don’t have to worry about the fabric being full of a vinegar smell.
Alternatively, you can soak your cotton sheets in baking soda; this is an excellent softening agent and will maintain your fabric quality. It is important to do this the day since you’ve purchased your sheet set to soften the linens for the first night.
Best Results: If you have another set of bedding to use, you can soak the organic cotton linens in salt for a few days and then wash and dry as usual.
How to Prevent Your Organic Cotton from Fading
If you do not take the proper steps to care for your fabrics or wash them with detergents that are not appropriate, they will fade. A fabric’s integrity, color, and durability are affected by fading.
As stated above, you can wash all natural cotton fabrics with vinegar, as well as use low temperatures and delicate settings when washing in a washing machine.
Excessive heat is the primary risk to your cotton fabrics. Therefore, you should:
- avoid drying your fabrics in the sun.
- avoid high temperatures when using a dryer.
Direct sunlight will cause discoloration to even white fabrics, and cause yellowing.
Green organic cotton fabrics will tan when washed with acidic substances like vinegar.
There is no need to be alarmed within you can restore the color of the fabric by washing the fabric with an alkaline substance.
You are likely to find sheets made of organic cotton which have colors running instead of fading; these fabrics are also easier to care for.
In that scenario, you can simply wash the sheets in cold water, which will preserve the color by locking in more of the color with the cotton fibers.
To hedge your bets, however, you can wash the organic cotton sheets separately just to be safe.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, these suggestions will help you to wash your organic cotton sheets while keeping them intact and maintaining their quality.
Besides providing a better alternative for your skincare, organic cotton sheets not only improve the look and feel of your bedroom.
The ideas here will also increase the lifespan and high-end look of your sheets.