Laundress cashmere shampoo for down review

Mic drop moment: Wool and cashmere can be washed at home. In fact, washing your knits can actually be better for them than dry cleaning, which can potentially strip fibers of their natural oils responsible for keeping them soft and supple. So cozy up to our cleaning and care tips and solutions for your washing your cashmere sweaters, blankets, scarves, and coats. Everything you need to know about washing cashmere garments is here.

The basic rules to wash a cashmere sweater are:

• Use cool water and a gentle cashmere detergent.
• Let the cashmere sweater soak for no longer than 30 minutes.
• Rinse with cool water and press out the water with your hands. Always air dry.

Handwash

Draw a Bath: Add Wool & Cashmere Shampoo to a tub or sink filled with cool water. Unlike generic detergents, The Laundress Wool & Cashmere Shampoo is specially formulated without enzymes for cleaning wool, cashmere, merino, mohair, blends.

Go Under: Submerge your items and gently agitate them to evenly distribute soap and water. Soak for up to 30 minutes.

Rinse Clear: Run cool water through items until rinse water is no longer soapy. Do not wring. Instead, gently press the water out of your items between your hands or against the sink.

Note: If there is color in the water, don't worry! It's normal. The yarn dye is simply releasing color and you will not notice any loss of color after the wash is complete. Always wash only like-colored items together.

Machine Wash

Yes you can machine wash cashmere. Turn your cashmere inside-out and place it in a washing bag. Use cool water on the delicate cycle. Follow these steps for the best results:

Bag It: Turn items inside out and place them in a Mesh Bag to protect them from agitation and friction that can cause pilling.

Select Your Cycle: Select the woolens or delicate cycle on your washing machine and make sure the water temperature is cold and the spin is on low. Add Wool & Cashmere Shampoo according to the machine type and load size.

Dry & Finish

No-rush Drying: Lay the items flat in their natural shape on a drying rack or clean towel. When drying, avoid direct sunlight and heat sources, such as the radiator, because they can shrink or damage wool. Never hang wet wool.

Quick Drying: Lay one item flat on a towel. With the item in its original shape, roll it up in the towel (like a sleeping bag) to remove the excess water.

Steam it Up & Stay Fresh: Ironing can crush or flatten the natural pile of the yarns. Instead steam to remove wrinkles and odors. You can also spritz a fabric freshening spray between wearing and washing.

Brush for Beauty: Use a fine garment brush between wears to remove lint, fuzz, and hair and release natural oils that rejuvenate yarns.

Get Into the Fold: Always store knits folded to prevent stretching or distorting.

Make Pests Bug Off: Help keep bugs at bay by storing knits in a breathable cotton or canvas with a zip closure. Always clean items before storing to avoid providing a "food source" of proteins for bugs.

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• Most "Dry Clean Only" clothes can actually be washed at home — you just need the right products.
• The Laundress makes highly effective detergents and fabric care products for everyday fabrics, delicates, and wool and cashmere.
• On November 30, 2022, The Laundress recalled more than 150 products due to the presence of bacteria.

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Editor's note: Information about The Laundress voluntary recall can be found .

No matter what material your clothes are made of or how carefully you wash them, maintaining them to look and feel brand new seems like a challenge no one is ever able to surmount.

We've come to accept that the stains of life — sweat, everyday dirt and grime, wine, baby spit-up, and more — are inevitable, but removing the evidence is a task less easy to swallow as we get our daily arm workouts scrubbing vigorously in the sink, encounter washing machine mishaps, and schlepping armfuls of clothing to the dry cleaners.

A few years ago, we discovered the power of a $6 magic-in-a-bar stain remover from a company called The Laundress and it gave us hope that the nice clothing we've spent hundreds of dollars on will really last a lifetime.

Founded in 2004, The Laundress makes highly effective, eco-friendly detergent and fabric care products for the clothing you thought you could only let the dry cleaners handle. It was acquired by Unilever, which will only help accelerate its mission of "taking the chore out of doing laundry."

The Laundress/Facebook

We're not surprised The Laundress caught the eye of the consumer goods giant because its products work beautifully at cleaning while doing better things for both your body and the environment. From food to beauty, shoppers are more concerned than ever about how their purchases will impact them and the world around them, but they still want the products to work well.

Brand background

The founders of The Laundress, Lindsey Boyd and Gwen Whiting, first met at Cornell University's Fiber Science, Textile and Apparel Management and Design program. Both went on to careers in luxury fashion, Boyd as a US sales manager at Chanel Ready-to-Wear, and Whiting as a senior designer at Ralph Lauren.

Their specialized knowledge of all things fabric and garments, plus their frustration with toxic cleaning products and ineffective natural ones, put them in the perfect position to bring change to the laundry market.

The Laundress/Facebook

Knowing that 90% of "Dry Clean Only" items are actually washable, they developed powerful cleaning formulas that can take care of fabrics like cashmere and wool, as well as everyday cotton, linen, and blends without ruining them. The formulas don't resort to harsh and harmful ingredients to be effective. They're free of ammonia, chlorine bleach, dyes and colorants, perchloroethylene (a chemical solvent often used by professional dry cleaners), parabens, phthalates, and VOCs.

Instead, you'll find ingredients like oxygenated bleach, which is gentler, safer, and just as effective as chlorine bleach; enzymes like cellulase, lipase, and mannanase, which quickly break down soil and stains; plant-based grease-cutting agents; biodegradable surfactants made from coconut and sugar to help dissolve dirt and stains; and natural essential oils to lend a light, fresh scent to your clothing.

The Laundress/Facebook

Some Laundress products we recommend are Delicate Wash, Signature Detergent, and Sport Detergent. These 16-ounce bottles are highly concentrated and should last 32 washes, giving you more value and less waste per wash. Fabrics that you thought you couldn't confidently wash, like silk or performance fabrics, will stay preserved with each wash.

Hesitant to buy more wool and cashmere clothing simply due to their tricky care process, I was most excited to try the Wool & Cashmere Shampoo on my favorite soft sweaters and coats. I lightly hand-washed the wool and cashmere items with the shampoo, let them soak, and dried them on a rack. They kept their shape and came out softer than I ever remembered, plus they had a light cedar scent (which also happens to keep moths away).

The convenient thing is that you can use the products for hand-washing or any laundry machine at any water temperature, so you don't have to juggle a handful of different care instructions for every load of laundry. Putting aside time to do laundry is enough of a nuisance, but The Laundress makes the chore seamless, and our clothes look like they got the professional dry cleaner treatment without the high cost or harmful chemicals.

The aforementioned Wash & Stain Bar that multiple Business Insider reporters and editors swear by is another secret to vanquishing the realities of coffee spills and makeup stains. This vegetable soap is excellent for spot treating and pre-wash prep. Since it's small, you can carry it wherever you go in case a stain disaster ever strikes.

The bottom line

The Laundress has succeeded in making laundry and cleaning glamorous and sophisticated — something the laundry category has never been described. With its minimalist designs and Le Labo partnership that have landed it on the shelves of luxury department stores, it's making shoppers excited to do their laundry.

About the recall

While we stand by the effectiveness of The Laundress fabric care products, you should stop using the recalled products listed here. On November 30, 2022, the brand issued a voluntary recall after testing determined that bacteria was present in some of the recalled products produced between January 2021 and September 2022.

The bacteria include cepacia complex, Klebsiella aerogenes, and different species of Pseudomonas. These can cause serious infections in people with weakened immune systems, external medical devices, and underlying lung conditions. Read more about the recall on the website www.thelaundressrecall.com and follow the provided directions to request a refund.

Connie Chen is a former senior reporter on the Insider Reviews team, where she led coverage of home textiles, home entertaining, and food and drink. While at Insider, she specialized in all the things that enhance life at home, from the most comfortable bed sheets and fluffy pillows to cool online wine clubs and bartender-approved cocktail shakers. She combined rigorous testing methods, conversations with professionals, and active knowledge of the home and kitchen space to help readers get the most out of their money. When she's not changing duvet covers or washing towels twice a day for articles, she loves talking about and trying the newest snacks, drinks, and food gifts. You can see more of her testing process and other behind-the-scenes of being a product journalist on her Instagram @connayreviews. Connie joined Insider Reviews as an early member in 2017 and has also reported on products and services in the style, tech, fitness, travel, and e-learning spaces, with a particular interest and expertise in emerging startups. She has represented the team at CES and moderated panels on media business and the future of retail. Connie graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in media studies and business administration, which help inform her perspective on and coverage of industry trends, as well as the competitive e-commerce landscape at large. Read some of her work: The 4 best cocktail shakers in 2021 The 7 best women's bathrobes in 2021 The 5 best wine openers and corkscrews we tested in 2021 The 5 best bed sheets we tested in 2021 The 5 best cordless vacuums we tested in 2021 12 direct-to-consumer kitchen startups that are changing the way we shop for cookware and knives 8 tableware startups changing the way we shop for dishes Even chefs experience cooking burnout — here's how they get re-inspired in the kitchen How businesses create successful virtual experiences 50 cookbooks from famous restaurants across the US that will help you recreate their best dishes at home Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here. Learn more about how we test kitchen products.

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What is the best detergent to wash cashmere with?

What you need. Wool wash or baby shampoo: Soak, a no-rinse detergent, will save you time and effort when you're hand-washing cashmere and other delicates. Baby shampoo is also gentle enough to use on cashmere.

Is The Laundress worth it?

Absolutely! Even thought it's plant-based, it cleans well while being gentle on your clothes and linens. I still pre-treat if I'm trying to remove tough stains, but for everyday wear, The Laundress detergent works great! They have a Stain Solution that I have yet to try, but the reviews are really positive.

Is it better to wash or dry clean cashmere?

Unfortunately, dry cleaning is just as harmful – if not more so – than a vigorous wash in soapy water. The chemicals in the dry cleaning fluids will attack the delicate structure of the cashmere twine, and it could lose its softness and warmth as a result.

Are The Laundress products safe?

Two months ago, the Laundress recalled many of its SKUs after identifying "a potential presence of elevated levels of bacteria." But according to the CPSC—the United States' Consumer Product Safety Commission—the brand's formulas contain a cancer-causing impurity called ethylene oxide.