# Washing Fleece Garments



## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Besides my usual political ranting, I do the laundry occasionally too. 

Yesterday, I washed a bunch of polyester fleece tops and jackets and was dismayed to find that the stuff came out coated with soap residue, lint and cat hair. (I knew about the cat hair going in, but I hoped the washing machine might remove it). I assume the lint and cat hair was now clean lint and cat hair, but it was a pain. It took me about an hour with bits of masking tape and a stiff brush trying to remove most of it.

Anybody know any magical laundry tips for washing fleece so it doesn't come out covered in lint and cat hair?


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## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

GratuitousApplesauce said:


> Anybody know any magical laundry tips for washing fleece so it doesn't come out covered in lint and cat hair?


Check to make sure kitty is not sleeping in the dryer?


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Nope, there's no magic solution - cat hair will just get woven deeper into the fleece if you don't remove it all before throwing the load in the washing machine. I always wash my fleece stuff either alone, or with other fleece garments that have had fur removed (yep, masking tape works but it can be a slow job).

For soap residue - are you using liquid detergent, or powder?


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## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

GratuitousApplesauce said:


> Yesterday, I washed a bunch of polyester fleece tops and jackets and was dismayed to find that the stuff came out coated with soap residue, lint and cat hair.


Back to my usual serious programming; 

I am going to assume that you used both a washer and dryer. 

A. Ok, soap residue...you've used too much soap or you overloaded the machine so it was not able to rinse everything properly.
B. Lint...did you make sure that you cleaned the lint trap? Did you also make sure that you didn't leave a tissue in with the laundry? Did you use a product such as Bounce? That may reduce some of the static cling but don't quote me on that. And, finally, you may want to wash your fleece separate from your cotton clothing.
C. Cat hair..stop leaving your clothes on the floor, rolling on the floor with your cat (now, that's an image I don't want to explore  ), stop allowing your cat(s) to lie on your clothes...am I missing something here?


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## Arne (Jan 27, 2003)

If they came out of the dryer coated with the lint and cat hair I don't have an answer. If they came out of the washer coated with the lint and cat hair, try drying them on low with one those anti-static sheets. I have a white Land's End fleece top that usually looks awful coming out of the washer (lots of lint, no cat hair because no cat), but sparkly clean with the whitest whites  after drying.

HTH


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## gastonbuffet (Sep 23, 2004)

shave the cat!


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## MaxPower (Jan 30, 2003)

gastonbuffet said:


> shave the cat!


 LOL.

I was just thinking that. 

That or get rid of the cat.


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Thanks for the quick answers, folks.

I don't actually have a dryer, in the winter I just hang everything up in a room with a high ceiling and it works well, summer it's outside.

Too much soap? Gee I thought I was being pretty conservative with it, only putting about half as much in as it says on the box. I am using powder, because the liquid only seems to only come in these massive plastic containers. I try to avoid buying things that have too much packaging. Will liquid work better? Maybe I can buy a small container of it for the fleece.

Removing the fur first - so it's either tedium before or tedium after, eh?

I was hoping some laundry genius out there might tell me something along the lines of "Just put a teaspoon of x into the wash and everything will come out without lint and hair." Oh well, no free lunch.

Shave the cat??!! Believe me, that's crossed my mind. Every time I buy the 20 lb bag of cat food, I see it as producing 20 lbs of cat hair that I'll find in big clumps under the bed and the couch.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Liquid soap tends to leave less residue than powder, in general. Whether you use liquid or powder though, check the load during rinse agitation. If there are still suds on top of the water, let the rinse finish then set the machine to rinse again. Repeat as necessary until you see no more suds during the rinse.


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

The Doug said:


> Liquid soap tends to leave less residue than powder, in general. Whether you use liquid or powder though, check the load during rinse agitation. If there are still suds on top of the water, let the rinse finish then set the machine to rinse again. Repeat as necessary until you see no more suds during the rinse.


If there is too much sud, cut back on the soap rather than re-rinsing.

Use liquid, you'll use less since you really don't need much. The big plastic jug looks intimidating but it is recyclable and possibly made from post-consumer, recycled material. That big jug will last for quite a while if you use a small amount.


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

.


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## Brainstrained (Jan 15, 2002)

A good anti-static cloth in the dryer with the clothes will attract much of the pet hairs and make removing the hair from the fleece easier.

Instead of using masking tape on the tape after the wash, you could try one of those cloth brushes available at dollar stores (they used to be called magic brushes). They are fairly effective. 

Also 3M make a clothes tape which is pricey but good. Each sheet of tape is about 2 by 5 inches and can be used several times.


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## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

Ahh, fleece, the miracle fabric. What did we do before it was invented? I don't recall. 

What the hell are you doing with your fleece and your cats? I have lots of fleece clothing, one cat and two dogs and I don't seem to have this problem. 

1. Buy very good fleece. 
2. Vacuum the house once and a while.
3. Brush the cat regularly. That way the hair is removed in one sitting and dispose of instead of being allowed to come out at will.
4. Add soap before clothes to the washer, let it fill abit with water, then add clothes.


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Carex said:


> 2. Vacuum the house once and a while.


What, once a year ain't enough? 

Ok, this is all just sounding like more work. How am I ever going to waste hours on end in front of my Mac? Hmmm ... maybe I can train the cat to learn how to vacuum, I mean he's the one pumping out most of the frikken hair in this place.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

GratuitousApplesauce said:


> ...I mean he's the one pumping out most of the frikken hair in this place...


Brushing him once or twice a day will help...


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## Ena (Feb 7, 2005)

GratuitousApplesauce said:


> Too much soap? Gee I thought I was being pretty conservative with it, only putting about half as much in as it says on the box. I am using powder, because the liquid only seems to only come in these massive plastic containers. I try to avoid buying things that have too much packaging. Will liquid work better? Maybe I can buy a small container of it for the fleece.


Cheap laundry powders have filler in them. It's probably the filler that's being left on clothes. I'm quoting a relative who worked for one of the companies making the stuff.


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## miguelsanchez (Feb 1, 2005)

combine these two:

2. Vacuum the house once and a while.
3. Brush the cat regularly. 

into: 

2.5 vacuum the cat.

that might save you some work.


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## ErnstNL (Apr 12, 2003)

Are you talking about Polar fleece which is lightweight but warm? That fabric is like a debris sponge and picks up everything. Tape rollers from your local dollar store is the easiest solution to remove surface hair and lint. We have 2 cats and buy them in bulk.

Wash the fleece inside out. Prevents unecessary wear on decals or decorative stitching. 
Good fleece has a high density and fur shouldn't infiltrate. 
The presence of lint could mean that the lint filter in your washing machine bay be blocked and is recycling the water fithout filtration. When you see lint on your clothes from the washing machine you might see it coating the inside drum. Or an errant tissue in someone's pocket was washed. 
(Our 2 children still living at home wash their own clothes and we have to deal with this problem on occasion.)


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## Wolfshead (Jul 17, 2003)

Only one thing to add to the excellent advice already given - if you live in a hard-water area try adding a water softener to your laundry. It might help with the residue. The advice about buying a good quality liquid detergent is sound. Your clothes will thank you for it and will last longer.


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

*A Cautionary Tale*

Not that this thread necessarily needs resurrecting, but here's a story.

A couple of weeks ago, an horrible (and I mean _horrible_) smell started emanating from the tub of our washing machine (a two-year-old Maytag Performa). The smell was really strong - kinda rotten, kinda sickly sweet, enough to make you gag...

I immediately thought it must be gas backing up from the sewer into the washer. I braced myself for a costly plumbing job. But I thought I'd do a test - I pulled the drain hose out, stuck my nose in the exit pipe, and took a good whiff. I expected a stench but it was clean & sweet-smelling.

Hmm. So I did a bit o' Googling.

It turns out that liquid laundy soap was the culprit. Sometimes, if you do a lot of cold-water washing with liquid soap and no bleach (I just _can't stand_ the smell of chlorine), the liquid soap can leave congealed deposits inside the drum and cause an horrible stench. 

Now - six oversize hotwater loads later (each one with a bit of powdered soap and _lots_ of bleach, but without clothes/linens/whatever), the smell is gone from the tub. Happy happy joy joy.

After this jug of Tide liquid is finished, I'm switching back to powder.


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## Woodlot_Manager (Apr 17, 2008)

*Soap, Cat Hair and Fleece*

Right I am here because of the frustration with cat hair and fleece. We have a very fine haired cat, actually a Burmin. I can get it off the fleece easiest by rubbing the fleece with a wet finger. The cat hair roles into piles which are relatively easy to remove, but still quite labour intensive.

About the stench in the washing machine, I never knew about it until I ran out of liquid SA-8 and went to liquid Tide and Cheer. I since converted back to SA-8 and it no longer has the smell. I suspect that it is caused by a rotting residue under the rubber seal around the door of our front loader. Cleaning it helped somewhat but was quite labour intensive, again and only lasted for so long. With SA-8 I no longer have to clean it.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

*cat hair and fleece*

Buy only fleece that is the same colour as the cat, or so I was told. I have three cats - a grey, a black, and a grey+white - those colours pretty much defeat any single colour fleece.... :clap:


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Woodlot_Manager said:


> Right I am here because of the frustration with cat hair and fleece. We have a very fine haired cat, actually a Burmin. I can get it off the fleece easiest by rubbing the fleece with a wet finger. The cat hair roles into piles which are relatively easy to remove, but still quite labour intensive.
> 
> About the stench in the washing machine, I never knew about it until I ran out of liquid SA-8 and went to liquid Tide and Cheer. I since converted back to SA-8 and it no longer has the smell. I suspect that it is caused by a rotting residue under the rubber seal around the door of our front loader. Cleaning it helped somewhat but was quite labour intensive, again and only lasted for so long. With SA-8 I no longer have to clean it.



*Wow, Amway spam! A whole entire new level of suck.*

Are Amway cleaners safe?



> Some complaints, in brief:
> 
> The Dish Drops automatic dishwasher detergents contain phosphates, which contribute to algal blooms when they enter water from wastewater treatment plants. Phosphates were once widely used in laundry detergents here in the US, but most states have banned its use in laundry detergents due to water pollution. There is a loophole that permits phosphates in dishwashing detergent, but the truly eco companies do not take advantage of this loophole, instead creating detergents that are phosphate-free. Quixtar's SA8 Plus Premium Laundry Compound/Concentrate still contains a phosphate detergent as well.
> The Leather and Vinyl cleaner and the SA8 Solutions Pre-Wash Liquid contain mineral spirits, which can depress the central nervous system when inhaled, leading to dizziness, nausea, and headache.
> ...


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## Woodlot_Manager (Apr 17, 2008)

Amway Spam? I thought it was some other company Quickstar or something. 

I don't have an elaborate prepared response regardless. All I know is that my washing machine doesn't smell, at all.

Also the cat is mainly white - sort of seal point in appearance, and the fleeces are black or dark blue. The wet finger still seems to work pretty good. Actually with the colour difference it makes the wiping quite obvious, in fact much of the hair is so fine that it is not visible until it roles up.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Quixtar is Amway's new name, and if you use their products after reading a tiny portion of what is available above and on the web, let's hope you live in the US so we aren't subsidizing your health care.




Woodlot_Manager said:


> Amway Spam? I thought it was some other company Quickstar or something.
> 
> I don't have an elaborate prepared response regardless. All I know is that my washing machine doesn't smell, at all.
> 
> Also the cat is mainly white - sort of seal point in appearance, and the fleeces are black or dark blue. The wet finger still seems to work pretty good. Actually with the colour difference it makes the wiping quite obvious, in fact much of the hair is so fine that it is not visible until it roles up.


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