The short and simple answer to this question is that you should be washing your laundry in cold water 90% of the time. Here’s why.
Stains
When it comes to stains, cold water is your best friend. Cold water can remove stains from accidental makeup smudges on your top to sweat and grass stains from a long day or yardwork. Although hot water does a faster job at removing your stains, it can also cause certain stains to set into your clothes permanently like blood and sweat. So when it comes to stains, cold water wins this one.
Fabrics
Regarding fabrics, cold water wins this one as well. When washing delicate fabrics such as silk, lace, or synthetic fabrics (polyester, nylon) cold water is best. Hot water could cause damage to these fabrics as well as shrink them. Cold water should also be used when washing colorful fabrics as hot water could cause the colors to fade or even run. This being said, hot water is still a good choice if you want to kill germs and aren’t washing delicate materials. If you are washing sheets, towels, or curtains hot water would be better than cold in these situations.
Economy
Whether you are trying to help the environment or just trying to save a couple of bucks, washing with cold water can greatly reduce your energy consumption. When you wash with hot water it takes energy to heat it up. This energy not only will cost you a couple of extra bucks, but it also doesn’t help the environment as this extra energy is often produced by non-renewable resources. So in this category, cold water wins again as it is simply more eco-friendly as well as just cheaper than washing with hot water.
Conclusion
To summarize, it is best to wash with cold water 90% of the time. Cold water is better at getting rid of certain stains, it is more gentle on fabrics, it is more gentle on colored clothing, and it's cheaper than hot water. So when should you wash with hot water? Hot water works better at killing germs so if you are washing sheets, towels, or curtains hot water would be better in these types of situations. Here at Laundry Pop, if you are using our wash and fold service, we wash all of our clothes with cold water by default. However, you are always able to customize and change the water temperature should you want to.