How to Make Your Old Sheets Look Like They Were From a 5-Star Hotel
Luxurious hotel sheets and towels are somehow always superior to any other bedding. It may be the thrill of a vacation, but good hotel bedding is always thick enough to swaddle you like a baby and soft enough to lull you into a restful sleep. As a kid, I was often tempted to shove hotel towels in my suitcase because they were simply better than the ones we had at home (although hotels are often wary of this and will politely add a fee to your bill for any bedding you choose. ” chose to leave “). But instead of resorting to stealing, why not figure out how to achieve the same feeling using existing sheets and towels? Here are some ways to turn regular sheets and towels into 5-star hotel bedding.
Why is hotel bedding so much better?
Hotels tend to purchase high quality linens , usually from 300 to 500 thread count Egyptian cotton, as they are durable, machine washable and hypoallergenic, making them the obvious choice in terms of comfort and efficiency. A full set of Egyptian cotton bed sheets can cost around $ 270 at a department store, which is definitely more than the average person’s bed sheet budget.
Meanwhile, hotel towels have a high GSM level (value in grams per square meter). GSM is like a thread counter on a sheet: it measures the strength, absorbency and softness of the towels. High gsm is 400 to 600, while low gsm towels (like gym towels or beach towels) have gsms of 200 to 300. Hotels buy these high quality fabrics to withstand overuse and constant washing without compromising the integrity of the garment. the cloth. You can replicate this feeling without prohibitive expense by adding a couple of ingredients to your laundry detergent.
Wash towels as soon as you buy them.
This is one new rule of laundry that many people forget: washing before use will remove any remnants of the manufacturing process or packaging, giving them a softer look than if you just used them right away.
Towel Supercenter, a towel company, explains, “Many towels have a coating that gives them an attractive shine when they’re on the shelf. Throw them in the wash to remove that chemical finish … This finish also prevents the towels from being as absorbent as possible. “
Hotel style bed linen washing
You might think hotels are using high quality detergents to keep linens so soft and white. It turns out that hotels use the same commercial detergent that you and I do, since regular commercial laundry detergent has a neutral pH, which is necessary to keep fabrics clean. “The commercial version [of the detergent] is usually harsher, with a basic pH that can compromise the essential qualities of a luxury hotel towel,” notes Towel Supercenter . You don’t need to change detergent to make your sheets feel like a hotel. What you should do is add the starch to the rice water.
Cleaning blogger Shannon Lush tells the Daily Mail that replacing fabric softener with rice water starch will give your bedding a luxurious feel. “Just leave [leftover water] after cooking the rice, add one cup of rice water starch to two cups of plain water, and mix thoroughly,” she said. Take the rice water solution, pour one cup into the fabric softener slot on the washing machine, and half a glass straight into the wash. Rice starch keeps fabrics smooth, crunchy and wrinkle-resistant.
Use vinegar as a fabric softener.
After trying the rice water trick, add two tablespoons of vinegar and two tablespoons of baking soda to your laundry instead of your regular fabric softener. “Fabric softener is just an oil based oil and all it does is stick the oil to the wash. Add vinegar to the air conditioner slot, ”advises Lush. The mild acidity of white vinegar softens fabrics while baking soda removes odors. And don’t worry – the vinegar smell will be washed off during the rinse cycle. For extra freshness, add a few drops of lavender or tea tree oil to the mixture; it will leave behind a light, soothing scent.