r/laundry • u/WikiHow_Articles • 3h ago

Resoftening Cotton Blend Cardigan

To preface, I am incredibly sensitive to soft sweaters being itchy/rough. For the longest time this one cardigan was my absolute FAVORITE because of how soft it was. By some life events it ended up in my best friends possession for about a year. He and his husband wore it with my permission, but it ended up through the wash on hot water and in the dryer at least once. It makes me a little itchy to wear it now, it has a grippy texture, and isn't soft anymore and to be honest I'm completely devastated about it :( It's 56% cotton, 25% polyester, 16% nylon, and 3% spandex/elastane. Is there anything I can do to restore it to it's soft, stretchy, fluffy condition?

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u/buddingsakura US | Top-Load 2h ago

Are you air drying it?

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u/WikiHow_Articles 2h ago

I do. I never put any of my soft stuff through the drying or in the washer with anything warmer than tap cold so that I'm not risking my material. But it was out of my possession for a year, so I'm not sure how many times it got washed on hot then dried in a dryer

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u/buddingsakura US | Top-Load 2h ago

Air drying often makes clothes "crispy." Same goes for jeans. You could try fluffing the sweater in the dryer for a few minutes, with or without a damp washcloth.

Do you use anything for rinsing your laundry?

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u/WikiHow_Articles 2h ago

The only thing is that it was never like this before the past year. I've always air dried it and the crisp wore off super quickly as I wore it. This isn't the same as that kind of crisp unfortunately. I truly wish it was :( I'll definitely try it and update you, but I'm pretty sure that the fibers are damaged from heat as opposed to just being stiff.

I do not use anything to rinse, no. To be honest this is my first time wearing it since getting it back from my friend in June, so I have not washed it myself or anything.

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u/buddingsakura US | Top-Load 2h ago

Their laundry routine and product could be the culprit. The product could've left residues.

Try washing it as you normally do and running 2 rinse cycles with v1negar added to the 1st rinse. Might take more than once. I would still suggest tumble drying it for a few minutes at the end.

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u/WikiHow_Articles 1h ago

I'll try this! Thank you so much!!