Know before you drop your clothes off at dry cleaners!

Dry cleaning is a special technique of cleaning clothes that does not use regular washing (water). This method of cleaning is suggested for certain fabrics because of its property to preserve colours and shape of the clothes.

Many people get confused between regular washing, such as one you could do yourself at home, and dry cleaning. Both are aimed to remove stains and thoroughly clean clothes which are either washed or dry cleaned depending upon their composition. Regular cleaning is a water-wash process in which clothes are washed with soap, detergent etc. Over a period of time, it can make the color look bland. On the other hand, dry cleaning is process of washing clothes without using water and therefore, the color is better preserved.

Dry clean: Chemicals used for cleaning:

Companies that provide professional cleaning services such as dry cleaning use perchloroethylene and fluro to clean fabrics of special types. Apart from this, some spotting agents are used manually to remove stains that do not come out with regular washing. Souring agents, bleaching agent, and alkaline salts are also bring into play of dry cleaning.

Types of fabrics that should be dry cleaned:

Silk is one material that requires this advanced cleaning process. If your fabric has above 60% silk content, it needs extra care to preserve the texture and colour of the cloth. Although silk fabrics get stronger when they are wet, then why they need to be cleaned under this process? Well, in order to preserve the texture, colour, and to clean it without shrinkage, dry cleaning is necessary.

Lighter fabrics such as chiffon, georgette, and cape chiffon should also be cleaned following dry method. Besides this, coats, expensive dresses, dresses with heavy embroidery, fancy buttons, beading etc. should also be dry-cleaned.

Another fabric to clean using approach is delicate dresses made using cotton voile and muslin. Because of their delicate properties, these fabrics tear easily with a slight pulling.

One important thing to consider is make sure that cleaning service you choose is highly professional and has a certain experience to work in this field. Beside this, firms that offer professional cleaning services have knowledge and expertise to make safe use of chemicals and procedures for cleaning your clothes.

Benefits of dry cleaning:

Among the various reasons to choose dry cleaning over traditional cleaning, some of the most common are:

Retaining fabric texture: The solvents used in this cleaning helps to remove different types of stains without losing the texture of the fabric.

Preventing colour fading: Some fabric bleed when they come into contact with water. Because of the chemicals used on dry cleaning, which helps to prevent colours from fading, the life of the cloth is amplified with vibrant appearance.

Reducing shrinkage: Many fabrics shrink during water-wash. For those types of fabrics, dry cleaning is perfect to retain their finishing without shrinkage.