As much as we’d like to avoid it on holiday, sometimes you do need to do some washing while you’re away; especially if you’re travelling with children or are going to be away for a while. But then, if you’ve gone away on holiday for a month then a little bit of laundry is a small price to pay! So for all those who are lucky enough to be going away on a good holiday this year, these are a few of our top tips for holiday washing.
One lesser-washed item is the sun hat. That’s not to say they don’t get dirty though. Kids in particular get them covered in all sorts of things, because really, a sun hat is a logical choice for a makeshift bucket on the beach, or a hat for a football, or who knows what else. The problem is that washing hats often makes them lose their shape. To counteract this, our top tip is that when you’ve washed them (by hand is best), blow up a balloon so that it is still small enough to fit the hat, balance the balloon in the top of a vase or something else that is nearby, and put the hat over it to dry. Shape retained!
When it comes to swimsuits it’s really important that you rinse them out in clean water as soon as you can. The sea unfortunately doesn’t count as the salt is seriously bad news for the fabric. Another common mistake is drying swimsuits in the sun. Yes they may dry faster, but it’ll also mean that they fade faster.
Wetsuits too are another thing that shouldn’t be left in the sun to dry; it does seriously bad things to the fabric. The best way to look after a wetsuit is to hose it down with fresh water on the outside, turn it inside out and do the same to the inside, then do up the zip and leave it to dry in the shade – either flat or laid in half across a line. Never hang it up by the shoulders or it’ll stretch out of shape.
Another tip when it comes to drying your clothes on holiday is to take some small pebbles home from the beach and use them as pegs. When you get back to your hotel you aren’t always going to have access to a washing line and pegs. What you do have though is a windowsill and pebbles. Trap the clothes under the pebbles so they don’t slide off of the sill and leave to dry.
Not everything should be dried without the aid of a tumble drier though. If at all possible, at some point throughout your stay, find a tumble drier that you can use to dry your beach towel in. Drying towels in the sun or over the bath is ok for a while, but after time the towel will go hard and a bit sandpapery. Putting towels through a tumble drier every so often stops this from happening.
And finally – if you are lucky enough to have access to a washing machine, remember to wash that “Kiss Me Quick” t-shirt that the joker in your group insisted on getting, on a hot wash. (Oh whoops. It’s shrunk and you can’t wear it anymore. What a shame…)
