Is there anything softer or cozier to wear than cashmere? A sweater that is made of this ultra soft material is great to have, but there are many people who will avoid buying anything made of cashmere because they think it will be too hard to care for. While caring for cashmere does certainly take more time and patience versus other materials, it doesn’t have to be a major chore and it is anything but impossible.

Though almost any article of clothing that is made of cashmere is likely to say dry-clean only, you can effectively wash your own cashmere clothing and it really isn’t as hard as you might think. Here are steps to properly wash and care for cashmere:

1.    Prepare the water: Anything that you have that is cashmere should be washed by hand and the perfect place to do this is the sink or bath tub. Begin by filling the sink or tube with warm, not hot, water and then add some gentle detergent. Swish the detergent around gently with your hand and try to avoid the soap sudding up too much.
2.    Wash the cashmere: Now, one article at a time, place the cashmere clothing into the warm water mix and gentle swirl the clothing around. Do not agitate or wring the clothing while in the water as this may cause lots of unwanted harm to come to the clothing. You can now let the clothing sit for a couple of hours.
3.    Prepare the rinse: Once the clothing has been sitting in the water mixture for a little while you can lay out some fluffy towels and empty the sink or tub. Again, do not wring the clothes out. Once the tub or sink is empty fill it back up with warm water only and place the clothing back in the water. Do not swish this time but just let the clothing sit. After a while you will see remnants of soap and you will then know it is time to put the clothing back on the towel and empty the water once again. Most articles of clothing will require at least two rinse sessions but you will know they are ready to be completely dry when the water contains no more soap residue.
4.    Dry: Now that the washing is done, all that is left is to dry the cashmere garment. Lay out regular clean towels and place the clothing on top. Then roll the towel and gently press downward on the towel to help absorb the water. Repeat this a couple of times with different towels and end by laying the clothing on another fluffy towel. From here, the air will finish the job. Never hang the clothing to dry because the weight of the wet cashmere will almost certainly cause stretching to occur.

If this all seems too much for you then you can always take the garments to a dry cleaner and have them clean them for you. Whatever you decide to do, don’t try to get tricky and use your washing machine and dryer to get the job done. All that will leave you with is a clean article of clothing that you can no longer wear.