Maintaining & Washing Sarees in Our Wardrobe

Maintaining & Washing Sarees in Our Wardrobe

The most fascinating thing about Sari is that it is the most preferred and cultural clothing for all generations of women. Even the most modern and fashionable woman all over the world will have at least one sari (or several) in her wardrobe. Sarees are always as precious as diamonds for women in a women's wardrobe. At the same time, it also requires special care for it runs the risk of getting ruined through improper storage or cleaning process.

Here are some important tips that most women will already know and can be used as a refresher for washing and taking care of their saree.

1. Most sari users do not know the process of washing or dry-cleaning saris frequently unless it is very dirty; especially silk or cotton sarees. If they find any unwanted and difficult stains to go, they just clean the spot of the dirt carefully. But it is very important to clean your saree a minimum of once after using it 2 times. At first, you will have to check that the stain remover would not damage the fabric of your sari by doing a test on the inside portion of the sari first or you can read the care label of the saree otherwise you can go to an expert to dry clean your saree according to its fabric. Please stay away from liquids like curry; even spraying perfumes that can stain silk saree which stain is very difficult to remove.

2. Use only mild type detergent as much as you can to wash the saris. Many of us use mild Shampoos or baby shampoos for cleaning saris. If it is possible, wash all saris by hand; Chiffon and Georgette fabric sarees can be machine washed in a delicate cycle but hand wash is preferred most by expert cleaners. There are many delicate fabrics like voile saris with embroidery work, chanderi saris, etc which will surely damage the fabric because of the tumble inside a washing machine.

3. Do not use a dryer for drying the Chiffon and Georgette saris. Do not use any dryer drying for silk saris and cotton saris as well. If line drying is suitable, do not hang it directly under the sunlight. Get somewhere with shade so that sunlight direct does not fade colors.

4. After using your saris, if you are not washing it immediately or hang it out in shade to dry any perspiration, moisture, etc, and then only store it inside the wardrobe. But do not repeat this after 2nd use of the saree!

5. Imperfect folding is always a boon and a problem for sarees. If the folding process is left undisturbed, the sari will start to disintegrate near the folds – slowly but surely. So if you have many sarees and do not wear many of them for a long, long time, make sure that you change the way they are folded at least twice a year because an unorganized folding can also damage the saree. 

6. Please avoid storing saris in plastic covers. Especially sarees that are made of natural fibers like cotton and silk. Otherwise, mildew spots and fungus may develop on the saris. Try to use tissue paper to wrap the saris or store them in fabric sari bags. Normally sari bags are made out of thin cotton cloth.