Does The Dryer Ruin My Clothes? A dryer does a great job of drying the clothes fast. But is there any risk of damaging your clothes using this device too often? Well, the answer is more yes than no.
The scientific studies revealed some facts that many people were already aware of. In this article, we talk about how a dryer affects the fabric of your garment and how to minimize damage.
Do dryers shrink the clothes?
When you remove your piece of clothing from the dryer, you may notice that it doesn’t fit you as it used to. Most of the time, it will feel tighter. You may start thinking that it is because you gained body weight. However, the dryer is most probably to blame.
During operation, the dryer uses forceful air that blasts into the fabric, causing it to lose moisture fast. Namely this powerful airflow makes the cloth shrink.
Now, you may wonder how much the fabric shrinks and how quickly you will need to throw it to the trash bin. If you are not a fan of overusing air drying machine, we have good news for you.
The device needs around 20 drying sessions to cause significant damage to a piece of cotton or synthetic clothing. The first time you dry the clothes in the dryer, they will shrink, then get back to their usual fit fast. After 20 visits to the dryer, the fabric loses flexibility and the shrink fit will stay forever.
Who causes more shrinkage: low-heat or high-heat drying?
Some homeowners try to use high-heat drying to reduce the shrinkage and prolong the lifespan of their clothes. They rely on the idea that heat makes objects to expand.
Interestingly enough, research shows that high-heat drying shrinks the fabric just as much as no-heat drying does. This one more time proves that it is not the temperature that shrinks the cloth, but the forced air.
So you got to give up on overusing high-heat drying. Not only the inability to minimize shrinkage is the reason. High heat tends to bring more damage to the fabric than low heat. It causes faster wear and tear, which is not what you want to happen with your new expensive shirt or suit.
Do dryers fade colors?
Another popular concern about dryers is whether they fade colors. Color tests proved that dryers have nothing to do with cloth fading. Clothes color needs around 170 degrees to start fading, which is beyond the capacity of any dryer.
The fading occurs rather naturally after spending much time in the sun. However, the dryer may cause a sort of damage to the fabric that contributes to making the color less vivid and vibrant. Every time you put the cloth in the dryer, tiny tears occur in the fabric structure.
These tears create distance between colorful fibers which makes the overall color lose consistency and substance.
Do dryers cause wear and tear?
If you wonder whether dryer causes wear and tear, the answer is no doubt “yes it does”. As we have mentioned above, tiny tears occur in the fabric every time you use the forced air to dry it. It inevitably leads not only to less accentuated color but also to less durability of the fabric.
The more tears the fabric gets, the easier it is to break it apart. Experiments revealed that the fabric loses half of its strength after 20 high-heat drying sessions. It means that after 10 dryer uses, the piece of clothing is already sensitive and pretty easy to tear.
When it comes to low-heat treatment, things are a bit more positive. After 20 cycles, the fiber reduces its strength by around 25%. It is also much, but it is still a better result than high-heat drying.
Does The Dryer Ruin My Clothes? – Conclusion
No matter how well it performs, a dryer is still a device you don’t want to use every day. If you use it too often, it may ruin your clothes as fast as after 20 cycles. The forceful air that it blows leads to the cloth shrinkage and prevent wear and tear.
The hundreds of mini tears that appear in the fabric after each cycle make the color less consistent and vibrant. That said, you are better off limiting your use of this appliance.
To keep your clothes safe, you are good to use the dryer only when you need extremely fast drying. We hope you enjoyed reading the article – Does The Dryer Ruin My Clothes?