Laundry hacks: Expert says to ditch 4 things when washing bed sheets – always damaging – Express

Snuggling down into fresh bedding is one of lifes simple pleasures, so it can be disappointing when you get into bed only to find rips, snags or discolouration on your sheets. While bed linens arent designed to last forever, British designer Linda Barker explained that adjusting the way you wash them can make a huge difference to both how clean they are, and how long your favourite bed sets last. Heres your expert guide to caring for cotton and silk bedding.

Speaking exclusively toExpress.co.uk, esteemed designer, Linda Barker, who has extended her exclusive homeware collection with home furnishings retailer Terrys,said: In my mind, the look of the bed is the most important aesthetic part of a bedroom's decor.

A beautifully made bed is easy to achieve and is always worth the attention you lavish on it.

While quality bed linen may look expensive and luxurious on your bed, caring for the delicate fabric is really quite simple.

In fact, Linda warned against using complicated washing cycles and even urged people to ditch the supposedly germ-busting hot water cycles altogether.

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She explained that cooler temperatures on the washing machine will prolong the life of your bedlinen and protect it from any unnecessary colour loss.

Linda said: Hot water is always damaging to bedlinen as it is breaks up the cotton (or silk) fibres and makes them brittle.

Its what the lint is in your washing machine - (the more lint, the more damage).

I always use an eco wash with only a warm water temperature as this will be much kinder to your linen and the environment.

Linda urged people to reduce the number of chemicals in each wash cycle in order to prevent damage and improve the freshness of their clean laundry.

She said: Often our washing is to get rid of skin and sweat rather than a build up of dirt so dont be too heavy handed with the chemicals which can be too damaging.

I use eco-friendly, plant-based washing liquid detergents and I never use fabric conditioners.

Linda added that once a year, it is worth washing your bed linens without any commercial detergents at all, and instead, use a cup of borax or baking soda to benefit both the fabric the washing machine.

Never use heat for drying

Keeping it simple is crucial when it comes to drying your bedding too according to Linda, who swears by drying sheets exclusively outdoors - even in the winter.

She said: Ill avoid rainy days of course but even in the winter I can usually get things dry. Thankfully taking care of the environment is the best approach for matching the care of our laundry so everything is good here.

How often should you wash bed sheets?

With these hot nights Id recommend that bed linen gets washed a little more often than if the nights were cooler.

Washing bedlinen once a week is a good habit to get into regardless of the season, if this seems too much washing then at least the pillows and the sheet should deserve this attention.

Your duvet cover can hold back a little longer, I suggest every two weeks.

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Laundry hacks: Expert says to ditch 4 things when washing bed sheets - always damaging - Express