Laundry tools, equipment and care labels

22 min

Let's begin

Mugisha washed his new football shirt in very hot water and then ironed it, number and all. The printed "10" on the back cracked and part of it melted onto the iron. Inside the collar, a small label had told him what to do: a washtub with "30" in it, an iron with one dot, and the words "do not iron on print". The label speaks a picture language that is the same in Kigali, Nairobi and Paris. Reading it, and having the right tools ready, prevents most laundry accidents.

This lesson covers the tools and equipment used at each stage of laundry, how to look after them, and how to read a care label.

Definition

Laundry equipment: the tools and machines used to wash, dry, iron and store fabrics, from a basin and a scrubbing brush to a washing machine and a steam iron.

Care label: a label sewn into a garment that shows, in symbols and sometimes words, how it may be washed, bleached, dried, ironed and professionally cleaned. Most countries use the symbols of the international standard ISO 3758.

Colourfast: describes a fabric whose dye does not run into the water or onto other clothes when it is washed. Example: a good-quality kitenge is usually colourfast; a cheap red T-shirt often is not.

Tools and equipment for each stage

Stage	Tools and equipment	Care after use
Collecting and sorting	laundry basket or bag, separate bags for whites and coloureds	empty and air the basket so damp clothes do not go mouldy
Washing by hand	basins or plastic tubs, buckets, a soft scrubbing brush, a washboard, gloves	rinse, dry upside down, keep the brush bristles dry
Washing by machine	top-loading, front-loading or twin-tub washing machine	leave the door open to dry, clean the filter and the detergent drawer
Drying	clothesline, pegs, hangers, a folding drying rack, a tumble dryer	wipe the line; bring pegs indoors so the sun does not make them brittle; empty the dryer's lint filter after every load
Ironing	charcoal, electric dry or steam iron; ironing board or a padded table; sleeve board; spray bottle; pressing cloth	let the iron cool standing on its heel; empty a steam iron; clean a sticky sole plate while cool
Storing	wardrobe, hangers, drawers, shelves, storage boxes	store only clean, completely dry clothes; air the wardrobe

Choosing an iron. A charcoal iron needs no electricity but its heat cannot be set, so it is easy to scorch synthetics. An electric dry iron has a thermostat dial marked with dots or fibre names. A steam iron also pushes steam through holes in the sole plate, which relaxes creases in cotton and linen quickly.

Reading a care label

Every symbol belongs to one of five families: a washtub for washing, a triangle for bleaching, a square for drying, an iron for ironing, and a circle for professional cleaning. A cross through any symbol means "do not". The number in the tub is the highest safe water temperature in degrees Celsius.

Iron setting	Highest sole-plate temperature	Typical fibres
one dot (cool)	110 °C	acrylic, nylon (polyamide), acetate, elastane
two dots (warm)	150 °C	wool, silk, polyester, viscose
three dots (hot)	200 °C	cotton, linen

American labels sometimes show the wash temperature with dots in the tub instead of a number, but the meaning is the same: more dots, hotter water.

Jeeves NY: how to read a care label, family by family (washing, drying, ironing, bleaching and dry cleaning). As you watch, note what the bars under the washtub mean. The video uses American dot symbols for wash temperature; most labels in Rwanda show the number instead.

Worked example

Worked example 1: one machine load, three labels. Keza wants to wash three items together: a white cotton sheet (tub with 60), a polyester school skirt (tub with 40 and one bar), and a cotton-blend T-shirt (tub with 30 and one bar). What setting is safe for all three?

The safe temperature is the lowest number on the labels: 30 °C.
The safe cycle is the gentlest one shown: one bar, a mild (synthetics) cycle.
Answer: 30 °C on a gentle cycle. The sheet will be washed less thoroughly than at 60 °C, so a better plan is to wash it separately with other whites.

Worked example

Worked example 2: the order of ironing. An iron heats up faster than it cools down. You must iron a nylon blouse (one dot), a wool skirt (two dots) and a linen tablecloth (three dots). In what order?

Start cold: iron the nylon blouse first at one dot (110 °C).
Turn up to two dots for the wool skirt, using a damp pressing cloth on wool.
Finish with the tablecloth at three dots (200 °C), with steam or a spray of water.
Answer: nylon, then wool, then linen. Ironing in the other order would mean waiting for the iron to cool, or melting the nylon.

Warning

Iron and machine safety

Charcoal gives off carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas with no smell. Light and fan a charcoal iron outdoors, and iron in a room with an open window or door.
Keep hands dry when touching plugs and switches; never fill a steam iron while it is plugged in; unplug the iron as soon as you finish and stand it on its heel to cool, out of reach of small children.
Keep the cord away from the hot sole plate and off the floor where people walk.
Never open a washing machine during the spin, and never put a child or pet inside to play.
For a burn, cool it at once under cool running water for about 20 minutes, remove rings or tight clothing near it, cover it loosely with a clean, non-fluffy cloth or cling film, and get medical help for any burn larger than the person's palm or on the face, hands or genitals.

Tip

Memory hook: "Dots for heat, bars for gentle, cross for never." The five shapes follow the order of the work: tub (wash), triangle (bleach), square (dry), iron (iron), circle (send away).

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Practice

Name the five families of care symbols and say what each one is about.
Give two tools used for drying and one way to look after each.
What do one, two and three dots on an iron symbol mean? Give one fibre for each.
A label shows a washtub with a hand in it. What does it mean?
Draw or describe the symbols for "do not bleach" and "dry flat".
A load contains towels (tub 60), a blouse (tub 40, two bars) and a shirt (tub 40, one bar). Choose a safe temperature and cycle for one load, and explain the drawback.
A tailor in Nyamirambo uses only a charcoal iron. Evaluate this choice for a shop that handles both cotton suits and polyester dresses, and suggest one way to reduce the risk.

Show answersHide answers

Washtub: washing; triangle: bleaching; square: drying; iron: ironing; circle: professional (dry or wet) cleaning.
For example: clothesline (wipe it before use); pegs (store indoors out of the sun); tumble dryer (empty the lint filter after each load); hangers (keep them dry and unbroken).
One dot: up to 110 °C, e.g. nylon or acrylic. Two dots: up to 150 °C, e.g. wool, silk or polyester. Three dots: up to 200 °C, e.g. cotton or linen.
Hand wash only, in water no hotter than 40 °C.
Do not bleach: a triangle with a cross through it. Dry flat: a square with a horizontal line inside.
40 °C on the gentlest cycle shown (two bars). Drawback: the towels are washed cooler and more gently than they could be, so they may come out less clean; washing them separately at 60 °C is better.
The charcoal iron works without electricity and is hot enough for cotton, but its heat cannot be controlled, so polyester (two dots, up to 150 °C) can scorch or melt. To reduce the risk: test on a hidden seam, let the iron cool a little for synthetics, and use a damp pressing cloth; or buy an electric iron with a thermostat for the delicate work.

Sources and credits

Lesson text, Figure 2, tables, worked examples and practice: written by Ganzaa. Care symbols drawn by Ganzaa after the ISO 3758 system described by GINETEX, the international association for textile care labelling.
Burn and carbon monoxide safety: European Resuscitation Council Guidelines 2025: First Aid, Djärv T. et al., Resuscitation 215 (2025), with the ERC Guidelines 2021: First aid, Zideman D.A. et al. Summarised in Ganzaa's own words.
Photo: Charcoal iron open, Vincent de Groot, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Laundry symbols on a care label attached to a shirt, Mk2010, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Video: How To Read The Care Label - Care Label Symbols Explained, Jeeves NY, embedded from YouTube.

1Tools and equipment for each stage

2Reading a care label

Tools and equipment for each stage

Reading a care label