A woman is urging people to make sure they're doing their washing correctly, after realising she's been "ruining clothes for years".
Washing machines have simplified the once grueling chore of washing clothes by hand, but there are still steps that must keep your clothes in good condition. Before even loading the drum, each item comes with a label depicting symbols to spell out exactly how to wash them.
While many of us just throw our laundry in at once without giving it a second thought, ignoring these signs could impact the quality of your garments - which happened to one fashion fan before she realised how to care for them properly.
Taking to social media, the woman admitted she wished she had paid heed to these symbols sooner - and her wardrobe has likely paid the price, the Mirror reports.
In an eye-opening video shared to TikTok, the fashionista - who goes by the username @nosliv.co - expressed her amazement that she'd been "ruining clothes for years", and says she wishes she'd figured it out sooner.
Sharing the first four symbols, she kicked things off by sharing four symbols which all had the shape of a bucket containing water.
The first of the four symbols had a cross struck through it, which she explains means "do not wash", while the second and third ones, which contained the numbers 30 and 60 respectively, both refer to the "maximum temperature".
The fourth and final symbol, which means "hand wash only", shows the same bucket again, but with a hand inside.
She then moved on to four circle symbols, the first of which is just a simple circle meaning "professional clean only". The second, which contained a cross, means "do not dry clean".
The third symbol has the letter 'P' in it, while the fourth contained an 'F' in it, which means "needs a professional to do this".
Going on to a new line of triangle symbols, she went on to explain that the first plain one meant "bleach", while the second one, which contained the letters CL, meant "bleaching with chlorine".
The third striped triangle symbol meant "non-chrome bleach", while the fourth, which was crossed out, meant "do not bleach".
In the caption of her video, the stylish content creator wrote: "Am I the only one who didn't know this?"
A number of followers had also been clueless about these meanings and thanked her for finally deciphering them. One person commented: "I started doing this last year. My clothes have lasted longer now."
Another remarked: "Thanks for this because I stare at it every time I do my laundry but never have the energy to figure it out."
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