Tip-sy Tuesday: laundry symbols

I bought a package of towels and napkins at IKEA; after I got home and checked the tags for laundry instructions I remembered something about IKEA - in addition to notoriously being known for everything coming in a box and having to put it together with no word instructions, just pictures, the labels are often not in English and for the towels and napkins they only have the laundry symbols printed. That got me thinking about how many of these symbols I don't know!

So I googled and found us a chart and lists of what most of the laundry symbols are - if you already know all this then stop reading and I'll see you tomorrow. For the rest of us here's a cheat sheet we can easily reference - there's no way I'm remembering all this info, at least I know it's on the blog haha:

WASHING INSTRUCTIONS:

• a tub icon with a wavy line = an item can be machine washed

• a tub icon with a hand = an item should be hand washed

• a tub icon with cross thru it = do not wash

• a tub icon with 

• one dot = item should be washed in cold water (85'F or 30'C)
• two dots = wash in warm water (105'F or 40'C)
• three dots = warm/hot water (120'F or 50'C)
• four dots = hot water (140'F or 60'C)
• five dots = sanitizing wash (160'F or 70'C)

• *note the tub with numbers inside are in Celsius, so match them to the temps above. For instance, the tub on my tag says 60 - so that means wash in hot water

BLEACHING INSTRUCTIONS:

• an open triangle = ok to use bleach

• a triangle with two angled line inside = non-chlorine bleach

• a cross over the triangle (white or black triangle) = do not bleach

DRYING INSTRUCTIONS:

• a square with a circle = item can be tumble dried
• one line underneath = permanent press
• two lines underneath = delicate or gentle

• a square with a circle with a cross over it = do not tumble dry

• a square with a curved line at the top which goes from side to side = line dry or hang to dry

• a square with three vertical lines inside = drip dry

• a square with a single horizontal line = dry flat

• a tumble dry symbol 
• with the circle filled in = no heat should be used
• one dot in the center = low heat
• two dots = medium heat
• three dots = you can use a high temperature

IRONING INSTRUCTIONS:

• an open iron icon = item can be ironed
• one dot inside = low heat
• two dots = medium heat
• three dots = high heat is allowed

• if the iron has two sloped vertical lines below that are crossed through, do not use steam

• an iron with a cross over it = do not iron

I've never needed to know what most of these circle symbols mean, other than

• an open circle = ok to dry clean
• an open circle with a cross thru it = do not dry clean

Back to my IKEA tags, here's what they show and what I now know to mean:

There are 2 rows but they both say the same thing: 

• machine wash hot 140'F or 60'C
• do not bleach
• do not tumble dry (I'm confused how I am supposed to dry them tho!)
• iron on hot heat
• do not dry clean

And this tags indicates:

• machine wash hot 140'F or 60'C
• no bleach
• tumble dry medium heat
• iron with high heat 
• do not dry clean

info and graphics found here

1.24.22: thru the years

1.24.21: 🔥week 4

1.24.20: candy cane hearts

1.24.19: DIY body wash

1.24.18: side table re-do

1.24.17: egg and avocado toast

1.24.16: citrus scented lamb stew