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What laundry symbols mean · Stain removal

Can I wash these clothes together?

Add what is in the pile — its colour, what it is, and what the tub on its care label says — and this sorts it into loads, says how hot each one can go, and says why the rest are kept apart.

The care label and the maker's instructions outrank anything here. A temperature on a label is the most it can take, not a setting to aim for. Hand-wash, dry-clean and anything nobody can read never go in a load on a guess. Can't read the tub? What laundry symbols mean. Stain on it? Treat that first: how to remove common laundry stains.

How the loads are split

Worked examples

A week of one person's washing

The pile: White T-shirts, White socks, Grey joggers, Jeans, washed before, Black T-shirt, Navy bath towels, Wool jumper.

Load 1: Whites — clothes

No hotter than 40°C, on a normal cycle. 40°C is the lowest maximum on any label in this load, and the gentlest cycle any of them asks for. A label's temperature is the hottest it can take, not a setting to aim for — cooler is fine if it gets them clean.

  • White T-shirts
  • White socks

Kept apart because: Whites, lights, mediums and darks go in separate loads: dye that comes out of darker clothes can settle on lighter ones. Towels, bedding and fluffy things go apart from clothes: they are heavy and shed lint, which ends up on everything else.

Load 2: Lights — clothes

No hotter than 40°C, on a normal cycle. 40°C is the most its label allows. A label's temperature is the hottest it can take, not a setting to aim for — cooler is fine if it gets them clean.

  • Grey joggers

Kept apart because: Whites, lights, mediums and darks go in separate loads: dye that comes out of darker clothes can settle on lighter ones. Towels, bedding and fluffy things go apart from clothes: they are heavy and shed lint, which ends up on everything else.

Load 3: Darks — clothes

No hotter than 30°C, on a normal cycle. 30°C is the lowest maximum on any label in this load, and the gentlest cycle any of them asks for. A label's temperature is the hottest it can take, not a setting to aim for — cooler is fine if it gets them clean.

  • Jeans, washed before
  • Black T-shirt

Kept apart because: Whites, lights, mediums and darks go in separate loads: dye that comes out of darker clothes can settle on lighter ones. Towels, bedding and fluffy things go apart from clothes: they are heavy and shed lint, which ends up on everything else.

Load 4: Darks — towels and bedding

No hotter than 60°C, on a normal cycle. 60°C is the most its label allows. A label's temperature is the hottest it can take, not a setting to aim for — cooler is fine if it gets them clean.

  • Navy bath towels

Kept apart because: Whites, lights, mediums and darks go in separate loads: dye that comes out of darker clothes can settle on lighter ones. Towels, bedding and fluffy things go apart from clothes: they are heavy and shed lint, which ends up on everything else.

Not in a load — hand wash, one at a time

  • Wool jumper

A hand in the tub means hand wash only, so it stays out of the machine whatever else is going in. Wash it by hand exactly as its label says, apart from the machine loads. Squeeze rather than wring.

New things, and a label nobody can read

The pile: New red hoodie, White shirt, Shirt with a faded label, Silk shirt marked with a plain 30 tub, Suit jacket.

Load 1: Whites — clothes

No hotter than 40°C, on a normal cycle. 40°C is the most its label allows. A label's temperature is the hottest it can take, not a setting to aim for — cooler is fine if it gets them clean.

  • White shirt

Not in a load — not for washing at home

  • Suit jacket

The label rules out washing — a crossed-out tub, or dry clean only — so nothing here puts it in a load. Read the rest of the label: it usually says whether it can be professionally cleaned. Take it to a cleaner and show them the label.

Not in a load — check the label first

  • Shirt with a faded label

Nobody knows what the label allows, so it is not going in a load on a guess. Find the tub on the label and read it. No label at all? Ask the maker or a professional cleaner rather than guess.

Not in a load — the label needs a second look

  • Silk shirt marked with a plain 30 tub

What was entered does not add up: wool, silk or a delicate with a plain tub, or a temperature and a line under the tub that do not usually go together. Read the label again. Delicates usually want a gentle cycle or hand washing. If the label really does say what was entered, follow the label, in a load of its own.

Not in a load — check the colour first

  • New red hoodie

New things and deep colours — red, black, navy, denim — can bleed into the rest. Nothing here can promise they will not. Test a hidden bit: dampen it with warm water and press a white cloth on it. If any colour comes off, wash it on its own, inside out, as its label says. Even if none does, the first wash on its own is the careful one.

When something stays out of the machine

Not for washing at home

The label rules out washing — a crossed-out tub, or dry clean only — so nothing here puts it in a load.

Read the rest of the label: it usually says whether it can be professionally cleaned. Take it to a cleaner and show them the label. What laundry symbols mean.

Hand wash, one at a time

A hand in the tub means hand wash only, so it stays out of the machine whatever else is going in.

Wash it by hand exactly as its label says, apart from the machine loads. Squeeze rather than wring. What laundry symbols mean.

Check the label first

Nobody knows what the label allows, so it is not going in a load on a guess.

Find the tub on the label and read it. No label at all? Ask the maker or a professional cleaner rather than guess. What laundry symbols mean.

Find the temperature first

It can go in a machine, but without the temperature nobody knows how hot is too hot for it.

Look for a number or dots in the tub, or a temperature in the words on the label. Then add it again with that. What laundry symbols mean.

The label needs a second look

What was entered does not add up: wool, silk or a delicate with a plain tub, or a temperature and a line under the tub that do not usually go together.

Read the label again. Delicates usually want a gentle cycle or hand washing. If the label really does say what was entered, follow the label, in a load of its own. What laundry symbols mean.

Decide on the colour

Which load it joins depends on its colour, so it is not placed until somebody decides.

Several colours? Put it with the darkest colour on it, or wash it on its own. Then add it again with that.

Check the colour first

New things and deep colours — red, black, navy, denim — can bleed into the rest. Nothing here can promise they will not.

Test a hidden bit: dampen it with warm water and press a white cloth on it. If any colour comes off, wash it on its own, inside out, as its label says. Even if none does, the first wash on its own is the careful one.

Where this comes from

General sorting advice for washable clothes. Sources differ on details — some say a new item can go with identical colours, others to keep it alone for its first few washes — so this takes the careful one. Nothing here recommends a product, and nothing promises a colour will hold.