When a clothing tag says 'hand wash', do you really have to wash it by hand?

Find and use the delicate setting on the washing machine, use gentle SOAP not detergent. You may have to “block dry” the item on a towel on a flat surface if it says, “Do not tumble dry.”

I usually do.
My cats are tired of my shrunken hand-me-downs anyway.

To me it varies from the “gentle cycle with woolite” or really hand wash in a basin with woolite.
It depends on the fabric and item. i would never do a silk item or something that was of special value to me in the machine.
Also I steer clear of the dryer.

Put the garment in a lingerie bag and was it on the gentle cycle. Make sure the washer is not jammed full of clothing to everything can move around easily. Cheap washers tend to have sucky gentle cycles and still agitate too much. Run your washer on gentle and open the lid, see what the washer is doing and decide if it is equivalent to a hand wash.

Front load it should for sure be fine on gentle, because the clothing does not get twisted. Stll use the lingerie bag though.

If the fabric easily snags make sure you don’t have any clothes in with it that has a zipper, hooks, basically no other metal in the washer at the same tme.

I usually put them in the machine on regular cycle but shortest cycle possible. I always feel like the machine makes things cleaner than handwash.

I usually follow the instructions on the tag because I absolutely hate ruining my clothes. If you’re not as attached, using the gentle cycle would probably be fine.

No, of course not. You can find someone else to wash those things by hand.

Seriously, though, an old girlfriend used to throw several “delicates” into a net mesh bag and wash and dry that with a regular load. As long as the garments can withstand the heat of the dryer, that might be a good option for you.

If you have a top loading washer, you can wash it on the delicate cycle with cold water in a mesh bag and that should be fine. But if you have a high efficiency washer, then you may have an option for a hand wash cycle, in which case you can just wash the item on the hand wash cycle (again, with cold water). Finish by hanging the garment up to dry or block drying it with a towel.

@Tropical_Willie What’s the difference between soap and detergent?

Cool. Thanks all!

My washer has a hand washables option. I don’t put many things in the dryer though. Nothing that I like very much anyway.

@Aethelflaed Soap is Ivory Snow or Woolite and detergent is All, Tide, etc.. and will say that is detergent on the box. Detergent is harsher to fabric, cleans great but is harsh.

I would definitely keep the hand-washables out of the dryer. Hang dry or place on a rack.

[mod says] This is our Question of the Day!

[mod says] Minor typo in title corrected via internal edit.

i hand wash..everyday!! spin the water out and line hang…i was told by our sears kenmore repair service never ever to overuse the delicate cycle!! it wears out the motor alot faster!!

That is new info for me @SHEWHOSHOPS . Thanks and welcome to Fluther.