Laundry guide
Laundry symbols, decoded
Five shapes carry the whole system: a tub for washing, a triangle for bleach, a square for drying, an iron for ironing and a circle for dry cleaning. Dots mean heat, bars mean gentleness, and a cross through anything means don’t.
The 20-second version
- More dots = more heat. One dot is cold or low, three is hot or high.
- More bars = more care. One bar is permanent press, two is delicate.
- A cross = never. Ignore one cross and you will normally ruin the garment.
The wash tub: temperature and cycle
A tub of water means machine washable. What is inside and underneath it tells you how hot and how gentle.
| Symbol | What it means |
|---|---|
| Tub, one dot | Cold wash, around 30°C / 85°F |
| Tub, two dots | Warm wash, around 40°C / 105°F |
| Tub, three dots | Hot wash, around 50°C / 120°F |
| Tub, four to six dots | Very hot, 60–95°C. Whites, towels and bedding only |
| Tub with a number | The maximum temperature in Celsius |
| Tub with one bar underneath | Permanent press: gentler spin, cooler rinse |
| Tub with two bars underneath | Delicate cycle: slow agitation, slow spin |
| Tub with a hand in it | Hand wash only — do not put it in the machine |
| Tub crossed out | Do not wash. Dry clean or spot clean only |
The triangle: bleach
The triangle only ever talks about bleach.
| Symbol | What it means |
|---|---|
| Empty triangle | Any bleach is safe |
| Triangle with two diagonal lines | Non-chlorine (colour-safe) bleach only |
| Triangle crossed out | Do not bleach |
The square: drying
A square is drying. A circle inside the square means a tumble dryer; lines inside mean air drying.
| Symbol | What it means |
|---|---|
| Square with a circle | Tumble dry is fine |
| Circle in square, one dot | Tumble dry low heat |
| Circle in square, two dots | Tumble dry medium heat |
| Circle in square, three dots | Tumble dry high heat |
| Circle in square, filled in black | Tumble dry with no heat (air fluff) |
| Circle in square crossed out | Do not tumble dry — this is the one that shrinks things |
| Square with one horizontal line | Dry flat |
| Square with three vertical lines | Drip dry, do not wring |
| Square with a curved line at the top | Line dry |
| Any drying symbol with two diagonal lines in the corner | Dry in the shade |
The iron and the circle
The iron is an iron. The plain circle is the dry cleaner’s instruction, not yours.
| Symbol | What it means |
|---|---|
| Iron, one dot | Cool iron, up to about 110°C. Synthetics |
| Iron, two dots | Warm iron, up to about 150°C. Wool, polyester blends |
| Iron, three dots | Hot iron, up to about 200°C. Cotton and linen |
| Iron with crossed-out steam lines | Do not steam |
| Iron crossed out | Do not iron |
| Plain circle | Dry clean — letters inside tell the cleaner which solvent to use |
| Circle crossed out | Do not dry clean |
Reading a label at the machine
Commercial machines do not offer twelve programmes. In practice you are choosing between cold, warm and hot, and between normal, permanent press and delicate. Map the label like this:
- One dot, or any colour you care about → cold, normal.
- One or two bars → permanent press or delicate, and use a mesh bag.
- Three or more dots on white cotton → hot. This is what the big machines are for.
- Crossed-out dryer → take it home damp and dry it flat. No exceptions.
If you are new to all of this, start with how to use a laundromat, which covers machine sizes, payment and timing.
The labels people most often get wrong
Wool with a crossed-out dryer symbol shrinks in a single cycle and never comes back. Activewear with a low-heat symbol loses its elastic at high heat. Anything with a hand-wash tub should not go near a commercial washer, however gentle the cycle looks. And a plain circle is not permission to machine wash gently — it means dry clean.
Specific items with their own rules: hats and caps, pillows and weighted blankets, and shoes and suede.
Frequently asked questions
What do the dots on laundry symbols mean?
Dots mean temperature and more dots mean hotter. In a wash tub, one dot is cold (about 30°C), two is warm (40°C), three is hot (50°C). In a tumble dryer symbol, one dot is low heat, two medium, three high. On an iron, one dot is cool and three is hot.
What do the bars under the wash tub mean?
They mean gentleness, not temperature. One bar is the permanent press cycle: a cooler rinse and a slower spin. Two bars is the delicate cycle. No bar means a normal cycle is fine.
What does a crossed-out square with a circle mean?
Do not tumble dry. This is the single most expensive symbol to ignore — it is the one that shrinks wool jumpers and destroys the elastic in activewear. Line dry or dry flat instead.
What does the triangle mean on a laundry label?
Bleach. An empty triangle means any bleach is safe; a triangle with two diagonal stripes means non-chlorine bleach only; a crossed-out triangle means no bleach at all.
What if there is no care label?
Treat the garment as delicate: cold water, gentle cycle, and air dry. Cold water and low heat rarely damage anything, and almost every laundry accident comes from heat that was too high.
Do laundromat machines match these temperatures?
Roughly. Commercial machines label cycles as cold, warm and hot rather than in degrees, and their hot is genuinely hot. When a label says one dot, choose cold; when it says three, warm to hot is safe for cotton.