Luxury silk bedding is surprisingly easy to care for when you choose the right detergent! This article will explain Heritage Park's gentle, enzyme-free detergent is the best choice for washing your silk. It will also offer expert tips for washing and caring for your luxury silk bedding.

Silk Bedding is Washable by Hand or Machine

Along with looking and feeling fabulous, silk bedding is a wonderful investment in your health and wellness. Luxurious silk sheets and pillowcases keep hair and skin moisturized; regulate body temperature; and are hypoallergenic and gentle on sensitive skin. There’s more good news: high-quality silk bedding can be surprisingly simple to care for! Your luxury silk bedding from designers such as Mulberry Park, Blissy, Lilysilk, and THXSILK can easily be hand- or machine-washed at home with Heritage Park Luxury Silk, Wool, and Cashmere Detergent.

Washing Silk: The Right Detergent Makes the Difference

Dry cleaning silk is not necessary. Every one of the fine silk bedding manufacturers mentioned above recommends washing silk at home with a detergent specially formulated for silk. There's good reason for that. Silk is a natural, protein-based fiber (this why it's so great for hair and skin); washing it in detergents that are either too acidic or too alkaline will cause those fibers to harden. Along with harsh detergents, you should also avoid using bleach, fabric softener, or any type of optical brightener when laundering your silk bed sheets and pillowcases. These are not good for the silk and can even discolor or damage the silk fibers. Finally, don't use an enzyme-based detergent; laundry enzymes dissolve protein-based stains but can also degrade the quality of protein-based fabrics like silk, wool, and cashmere over time.

It all comes down to choosing the right detergent: Luxury Silk, Wool, and Cashmere Detergent from Heritage Park Laundry Essentials.

Heritage Park: Made to Clean and Protect Fine Silk

Our Luxury Silk, Wool, and Cashmere Detergent is the best choice for safely washing silk bedding. We've formulated it to gently and effectively clean delicate fabrics like silk sheets without causing damage. With unique cleaning agents blended specifically for wool, silk, and other natural fibers, Heritage Park Fine Silk and Wool Detergent will clean and preserve your luxury silk bedding for years to come. It’s everything you need in a fine laundry detergent:

• CONCENTRATED. Formula for high efficiency, front load, and traditional top-loading washing machines. Wash more loads of laundry with every bottle.
• EFFECTIVE STAIN REMOVER. Perfectly balanced powerful cleaning ingredients are capable of removing tough odors and set-in stains while remaining gentle on your favorite linens.
• SAFE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY. Heritage Park Fine Silk and Wool Detergent contains no sulfates, phosphates (optical brighteners), chlorine bleach or caustic chemicals. Heritage Park liquid laundry detergent is Biodegradable making wash water acceptable for even grey-water systems. A Neutral pH means our detergent is safer on delicate fabrics. Only necessary ingredients are used, no fillers or excess water.
• SCENT FREE. Heritage Park liquid detergent is fragrance-free and a perfect detergent for sensitive skin or those prone to an allergic reaction or skin irritation from harsh chemicals in other laundry products. (Note: for those who prefer a subtle scent, we also offer our Luxury Silk, Wool, and Cashmere detergent in a delicate lavender mist.)
• ENZYME FREE. Detergents that contain enzymes are very effective at breaking down stains (many of which, such as food or blood, are protein based). However, using detergent enzymes on protein-based fabrics such as silk or wool can break down the integrity of their natural fibers over time. Heritage Park Silk and Wool Detergent is made to clean without these damaging enzymes.
• ETHICALLY PRODUCED. All Heritage Park Laundry Essentials products are Leaping Bunny Approved. They are 100% cruelty-free and never include ingredients tested on animals.
• VERSATILE. This specialized gentle detergent can be used to machine wash home linens and garments made not only of silk, but also wool, cashmere, fur, and other natural fibers.

How to Care For Silk Sheets, Pillowcases and Bedding: An Overview

When you unbox your sheets, read and follow the care directions. You'll discover that silk is actually quite simple to care for, and requires only a bit of extra attention.

• Wash your new sheets before using, preferably by hand in cold water; a machine wash on a cold delicate cycle is also acceptable.
• Silk should always be laundered separately in a SILK-ONLY LOAD. All silk items should be washed in mesh laundry bags using a gentle detergent (preferably one formulated for silk).
• Line dry your sheets outside or hang indoors but in either case, keep them OUT OF SUNLIGHT. We don't recommend putting sheets in the dryer; if you must do so, use only the “air” setting. Silk dries quickly; check every few minutes and add only the time necessary to dry.

How to Wash Silk Bed Linen

How to machine wash silk bedding

Wash silk in a separate, silk-only, load. Turn silk pillowcases inside out before laundering, and place all silk items in fine mesh laundry bags to help keep the silk from tearing. This is particularly important if your machine has an agitator mechanism. Silk is light and delicate; it can sometimes get caught under the agitator and tear and pull. The agitator and the inside of your washing machine can also have tiny nicks, burrs, and rough edges caused by other laundry items like zippers or buttons. A mesh laundry bag will help protect your sheets from damage.

• Always launder silk separately in a 'silk-only' load
• Turn pillowcases inside out
• Use mesh laundry bags when washing your silk bedding

Choose the best wash cycle for silk

Wash silk in cold water. Temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius) can damage silk significantly. It is best to wash all silk products in cold water. Don't use bleach, which will harm the fabric and cause it to yellow, or fabric softener which can leave residue on the fabric. The natural thread fibers of silk and the charmeuse weaving technique used on luxury silk bedding create the softest silk available. Fabric softener and dryer sheets are unnecessary and will leave an unpleasant residue on the fabric. Pre-treat any stains with fabric wash prior to laundering.

• Wash sheets and pillowcases in cold water
• No bleach or fabric softener
• Pre-treat stains with fabric wash prior to laundering.

How to hand-wash silk pillowcases and silk sheets

You can absolutely hand wash your silk sheets and pillowcases. In fact, hand washing is preferable to dry cleaning. Wash your silk items by themselves in cold water. Use a capful of Heritage Park Luxury Silk, Wool, and Cashmere Detergent.. Submerge items and gently agitate with your hand; don't rub or scrub. Thoroughly rinse out all soap.

How to Dry Silk Pillowcases and Silk Sheets

Never wring out your silk items. Roll them in white towels to blot, or lay white towels out on the bed and blot sheets on top of them. Line or hang dry your silk -- outdoors or inside -- to preserve the fabric. Use a clothesline, a non-slip hanger, or a drying rack out of direct sunlight. Never put silk in direct sunlight, outdoors or inside. Exposure to sunlight can damage the silk fibers and may cause colors to fade, especially in darker colored silk.

Avoid wooden drying racks that can leech dyes or stains into silk. Your silk should dry in about 45 minutes depending on temperature and conditions. Don't put silk items in the dryer. Heat can damage delicate silk fibers. If the dryer is absolutely necessary, use only an 'air' setting and tumble dry for 15 minutes or less with NO fabric sheets or dryer balls. Remove sheets before completely dry.

• Don't wring or twist silk - blot with white towel instead
• Line or hang dry AWAY from sunlight
• Avoid direct sunlight -- indoors or out
• Don't use dryer

How to Iron Silk Bedding

Ironing is not always necessary. All silk products wrinkle after washing, but the threads will start to relax and straighten after a few nights' uses. If you prefer to iron, we recommend ironing just your pillowcases (since they're all that show!) on the lowest setting available.

If you choose to iron silk bedding, be extremely careful so as not to damage the fabric. Always iron sparingly, only on the coolest setting with sheets and pillowcases inside out. A light steam will enable the iron to glide smoothly over the fabric. You can also place a cloth between the iron and your silk item.

• Ironing not always necessary
• Consider just pillowcases
• Iron sparingly, coolest setting, inside out

How to Store Silk Bedding

Store silk carefully in breathable plastic bags, away from direct sunlight, with moth repellent lavender sachets or cedar balls.

• Breathable bag
• Away from sunlight
• Lavender sachets/cedar balls

About Heritage Park Laundry Essentials

Here at Heritage Park, caring for fine fabric is our passion. As lifelong collectors of luxury sheets, towels and table linens, we found that while many of the commercially available “gentle detergents” could still harm fabrics, or they didn’t get the job done, leaving tough stains such as lipstick, coffee, gravy, and salad oil stains. We believed we could do better and decided to fill that need. After more than a year of intensive research and product development, we created Heritage Park Laundry Essentials.

Our unique formulations have the perfect balance of powerful, yet safe, ingredients to remove tough, set-in stains while remaining gentle on clothing, bedding, towels, synthetic fabrics, and even heirloom linens. Heritage park contains NO sulfates, dyes, phosphates, chlorine, bleach, or caustics. It has a neutral pH and our Original Fragrance-Free wash has been dermatologist and pediatrician approved for those with sensitive skin or allergies. It is biodegradable and is Leaping Bunny approved to be 100% cruelty-free and never tested on animals. Suitable for regular and HE machines, and proudly made in the United States.

Thank you for visiting us here at Heritage Park! We are delighted to have you as a client and welcome your feedback, questions, and comments. Email us at info@heritageparklaundry.com or call us toll-free at 800-977-1841. We’re here and ready to chat with you about all things linen- and laundry-related!