How To Remove Static From Clothes

Picture this — you put on your favorite outfit and head out for a fun Friday night. As you leave the house, you notice the garments sticking to your body in all the wrong places. You try to shake it out, but it won’t work. What a nightmare!

One of the most annoying laundry-related problems you’ll face is static cling. From causing mayhem in your wardrobe to leaving your hair standing on end. Static cling has been the source of far too many horror stories just to ignore it. Luckily, with a few clever tips and tricks from Jack’s Cleaners, you can prevent and put an end to static cling once and for all.

So, how do you get rid of static and prevent it?

What Causes Static in Clothes?

To better understand how we can remove and prevent static in clothes, we need to understand how it’s caused. When different fabrics rub against each other, like in the dryer, an electrostatic charge gets built up in your clothes. This is especially true when drying synthetic fabrics.

In more scientific terms, your clothes develop static charge as an effect of electrons moving from one material to the other. This results in an imbalance between negative and positive charges in the two fabrics. As objects with opposite charges attract each other, the two fabrics will become inseparable, kind of like peanut butter and jelly. Static in clothes is especially noticeable in low humidity environments. When the air has a reduced moisture content which acts as a natural conductor for any potential static charge.

Tips For Preventing Static in Clothes

How do you prevent static in clothes? Easy! Here are 7 tips and tricks:

1. Fabric Softener: Fabric softener leaves your garments smelling fresh and feeling soft. Additionally, it lubricates your clothing, which dispels electricity by reducing friction.
2. Dryer Sheets: Adding an anti-static dryer sheet can stop electrons from building up when your clothes rub together in the dryer.
3. Air Dry: Instead of using the dryer, try air drying or line drying instead. Laying out garments on a flat surface or hanger can prevent static from building up. Due to the dryness and heat of a traditional dryer, static is much more common.
4. Separate Fabrics: When cotton fibers rub up against synthetic blends, it can cause static electricity. Washing and drying different fabric types separately can prevent static cling.
5. Shake it Off: As you remove each item from the dryer, give them a quick shake. Doing so prevents static from setting in as your clothes are placed on other surfaces.
6. Grounded: Touching grounded metal objects, such as water pipes, will discharge the electricity from your body.
7. Humidifier: Because humidity and heat is one the biggest static cling culprits, placing a humidifier near your laundry room can help prevent it.

Tips on How to Remove Static From Clothes

Now that you know how to prevent that dreaded static, let’s talk about how to remove static from clothes for good! Here are 5 tips and tricks:

1. Water: Lightly wet your hands and then gently brush them over the surface of your clothing. Be cautious however, as using this trick on delicate fabrics, like silk, can be risky.
2. Anti-Static Spray: Yes, this exists! Anti-static spray is made from a mixture of water and alcohol that neutralizes static electricity on-sight.
3. Wood & Metal Hangers: Using velvet clothes hangers can increase static in clothing. However, using wooden or metal hangers can reduce static.
4. Lotion: Using lotion before getting dressed can prevent and eliminate static by increasing the humidity in the surface layers of your skin.
5. Dryer Balls: Dryer balls have tons of uses, from acting as a fabric softener to reducing drying time. Sticking a couple safety pins into the dryer balls can eliminate static before even pulling clothes out of the dryer. The metal pins will discharge electrons when touching the metal in your dryer.

Jack’s Cleaners & Static

There you have it, now you know how to remove static from clothes! If you’re still having trouble getting rid of static electricity on your garments, don’t stress! Here at Jack’s Cleaners, our professional dry cleaning services will leave your clothes static-free 100% of the time. And with our Eco-Friendly Dry Cleaning techniques, you’ll help save our planet at the same time.

If you have any questions regarding our Eco-Friendly services, please feel free to give us a call at 626-797-7323, or stop by our store at 2465 E Washington Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91104 and we would be more than happy to answer any and all questions you may have!