This Is How You Can Unshrink Your Clothes With Hair Conditioner
Have you ever pulled your favorite shirt out of the dryer only to find it shrunken to toddler size? It’s very upsetting, but luckily, there is a way to reverse this laundry mishap.
With a little bit of hair conditioner and some gentle stretching, you can restore your threads to their former glory. Here’s why your clothes might shrink and how to undo the damage.
Why Clothes Shrink
Washing your garments in hot water or drying them on high heat can cause them to shrink to an unwearable size. That’s why it’s critical to follow a garment’s wash instructions every time you do your laundry.
Wool and cashmere fabrics are most likely to shrink when exposed to hot temperatures. Cotton fabrics will also shrink up to 20 percent after the first wash if they are not preshrunk.
Polyester, linen, and denim can shrink as well. However, they aren’t as likely to shrink as other fabrics, and denim tends to stretch back out itself.
How to Unshrink Clothing
First, combine lukewarm water and two tablespoons of hair conditioner in a bucket or basin. Mix the product in as much as possible. Then, fully soak the garment in the mixture for about 30 minutes.
Afterward, remove the clothing item and rinse off the conditioner. Wring out any excess moisture. Next, stretch the garment gently and allow it to air dry in your desired position.
Konstantin Yuganov – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Finally, rewash and dry the garment according to the wash instructions on the tag. This is to prevent a residue from the conditioner setting in.
Stretching Different Fabrics
When stretching certain fabrics, make sure to be extra careful. For instance, wool and cashmere are made from the coats of animals. They are delicate, so you don’t want to be too aggressive.
Your shrunken wool item is beyond the point of return if the fibers have matted together to create felt. But if it’s only shrunk slightly, you can stretch it back out using the hair conditioner method.
Preshrunk cotton fabrics will only shrink a little during the first wash. The purer the cotton, the more likely it is to shrink. Pure cotton is more prone to shrinkage than cotton blends. But either way, it is possible to get them to stretch back.
Polyester is known for being durable and resistant to water. It is a synthetic fabric made of polymers and will shrink some if washed or dried in hot temperatures. Re-stretching polyester blend is easier than pure polyester.
Linen is a plant-based material that can shrink about four percent after the first wash. Pure linen cannot be restored, but a linen blend can.
Denim also shrinks about four percent when first washed. If you don’t want to soak your jeans in conditioner to stretch them out, you can put them on while wet and do some squats.
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