Now that things have calmed down here a lot, I´m going to go back to writing blogs about my everyday stuff, which honestly, I often like more than blogs about cultural rituals with which I have limited experience (such as La Purisima). As such, you are about to be treated to a masterpiece on a chore that I once dreaded, but have now come to actually enjoy -laundry! Now I used to be the person who waited to do my laundry until it was all dirty and it was either go to the laundromat or turn my undies inside out (I never did that). But here, washing it by hand, it's different. Yes, it takes time, but there's something about that feeling of accomplishment when a week's worth of laundry is hanging on the line and it all smells so fresh and clean. I also enjoy washing my laundry outside, which I've done here at my host family's house. The new house that I may or may not be renting has the lavandero inside, which I'm a little disapointed about.
First let me start with the pros and cons of laundry by hand:
Pros:
1. Each piece of laundry gets exactly the kind of attention it needs. That's barely dirty, just has a stain, not a problem. That T-shirt is filthy; wash the heck out of it.
2. Line drying saves a lot of electricity.
3. Line drying makes your clothes smell really fresh.
4. Drying in the sun keeps whites bright.
5. You don't need a full load to do laundry.
6. Satisfaction of a job well done.
Cons:
1. This type of washing can be more harsh on your clothes, depending on what kind of soap and force you use.
2. It has rained every single time I've done my laundry here. I am the most dependable weather vane around.
3. Drying in the sun can bleach colors over time.
4. You really can't skip a week of laundry and then just throw it in the wash.
5. It is time intensive.
Ambiguities:
1. I can't figure out which method of washing uses more water. I think handwashing can use less water than a traditional washer, but more than an EnergySaver, water saving appliance. It's possible that this is a matter of perception - when you're pouring the water on the laundry it seems like a lot more water than the water that passes through a machine while the lid is closed. Without actual numbers I'm not certain. I will say however, that the method used by some people here is much more water intensive than the method I use. This is partly exacerbated by the fact that people here don't really feel a need to conserve water because we live in the middle of a big freshwater lake.
And now the process... I know that in the past I have mentioned doing my laundry by hand, as well as posted pictures of lavanderos, but that doesn't mean you actually understand what's involved. Much like any chore that is done by hand, each person has their own preferences for materials, their own methods, and their own little tricks. My tricks run toward minimizing environmental impact and maximizing the life of my clothes.
How to Wash Your Laundry
Materials:
1. lavandero - No washboards here, people have lavanderos with a concrete washboard poured into the surface. Right next to it is a pila, which is basically the big tub part of the lavandero that holds water.
2. soap - Some people use two types of soap, one to soak their laundry which comes in a powder, and another in cake form to actually scrub their laundry. There are about a million different kinds of soap, with varying levels of bleach-type chemicals, scents, and softeners. Most of these cake soaps are made from animal fat, and have very strong scents. Using the wrong soap that has too much bleach in it can also leave your clothes with streaks in them. Exhibit A:
I only use one type of soap. My favorite venta lady helped me figure out which soap I wanted, and it turns out that they have a vegetable-based soap with no colors or scents. While it's probably not organic, I figure this is probably the best choice I can make from the options available here. I use the cake for scrubbing my laundry and for the soaking part, I shave the soap cake and dissolve the shavings in a soda bottle of water to create a concentrated soap solution that I then dilute as needed.
3. a brush - for scrubbin'.
4. panas - I have 3. A big one for soaking, a medium one for rinsing and soaking unmentionables, and a small one for scooping water.
Steps:
1. Separate. Because you are going to be soaking your laundry, it's a good idea to separate because dark clothes that might not normally bleed will if they're sitting in soapy water for two hours. I have darks and darker colors, and then lighter colors and whites.
2. Soak. I pour some of my concentrated soap solution into my big tub, add water and swoosh around until it's all nice and soapy. Then I add clothes one item at a time, inspecting the clothes looking for any spots that need special attention and applying little swipes of cake soap to them, and usually turning clothes inside out. If there're no spots on the outside, most of the gunk that needs to be washed away is on the inside. I usually leave them for about 1.5 to 2 hours. Be sure they're nice and soggy, even if they're not all submerged completely. I usually do this twice with my big tub for my separated laundry and once in my medium tub with my undies.
3. Scrub! As mentioned as a pro above, you can scrub things as much or as little as they need. I take 2 or 3 items at a time out of my soak tub, and attack them differently based on what they are. With shirts, you need to make sure you pay special attention to underarms and collars. If they're long-sleeve, cuffs as well. For pants, pocket openings, cuffs, and the inevitable splashes of mud. For undies, the crotch area obviously. Skirts don't really have specific problem areas.
For problem areas, you apply a swipe of cake soap and with both your hands, rub the fabric against itself, not against the washboard. This allows you to control the force and the amount of friction. This is very important if you don't want holes in all your underarms, or your tank top arms all stretched out.
For general washing, I gently give each side of the garment a rub of the cake soap, splash a little more water on it and then give it the lightest of scrubs. Soaking your laundry first means that most of the general gunk has already been loosened up. All you need to do in this part is knock it off. If there's a lot of soap on the item from washing the problem areas, just a splash of water will do to distribute it throughout the garment. Once again, you don't actually rub the garment over the washboard. Flatten the object out.
With one hand hold down the top half of the garment, and with your other hand rub the bottom half of the garment over the upper part. You're using the texture of the washboard for friction, but you're actually rubbing the fabric against itself. I usually do this to one side, and then flip it over so that the bottom is now the top, and the other side of the garment is facing up. If it's really dirty, you can do this is a lot. If it's not really dirty, a couple of gentle passes will do.
These techniques work well for anything but jeans. I can't do this with jeans. I use the scrub brush for everything on jeans. They're just to bulky and stiff for me to wash any other way. This is not a problem for my Nicaraguan family, who have much stronger laundry muscles than I do.
4. Rinse. Some people just keep pouring water over their laundry and squeezing it until finally the water runs clear. I found that I used A LOT of water when I did this. At first that method is really productive, and removes a lot of soap. But then you need three more panas to really get the rest of the soap out. So I use a hybrid approach. I give the garment a good soaking with one pana of clean water and work a lot of the soap out with my hands. Then I put two or three shirts or items of similar size in my medium pana and put clean water in it, swishing the clothes around like a washing machine would. Usually doing this twice yields nice clear water, and uses a lot less water than the other method.
5. Ring. Fold each item over, grab the two ends and twist. Depending on the item's stretchiness, some things you can twist more than others without stretching them out. If you do your laundry in the morning, you don't really need to ring the life out of your clothes because a full sunny day on the line will dry them even if they're dripping when you hang them up.
6. Hang. Most people here don't use clothespins. I do because I had one of my shirts get to a point of being damp, but not heavy, and blowing off the line into a big pile of horsecrap. Now I use clothespins. Undies are hung by gently looping it over the line and pulling most of the item through a leg hole. At first I was worried that this would stretch them, but if you do it gently it works just fine. Also, colored items should be hung inside out; this includes jeans. This is because sunny days will bleach your clothes over time, and by hanging them inside out, you minimize this.
7. Wait.
8. Remove when dry, being sure to smell them as you go. They are fresh and delicious, like soap and sunshine.
There, now you know how I do my laundry. I usually do this on the weekend, most often Sunday, but occasionally Saturday if it looks like it's going to be sunny. Please note that this doesn't matter, since as I have said, it's rained on me every time anyway. I think I will continue to line dry my clothes when I get back to the US, even if I will probably be pretty excited about having a washing machine again after two years.
First let me start with the pros and cons of laundry by hand:
Pros:
1. Each piece of laundry gets exactly the kind of attention it needs. That's barely dirty, just has a stain, not a problem. That T-shirt is filthy; wash the heck out of it.
2. Line drying saves a lot of electricity.
3. Line drying makes your clothes smell really fresh.
4. Drying in the sun keeps whites bright.
5. You don't need a full load to do laundry.
6. Satisfaction of a job well done.
Cons:
1. This type of washing can be more harsh on your clothes, depending on what kind of soap and force you use.
2. It has rained every single time I've done my laundry here. I am the most dependable weather vane around.
3. Drying in the sun can bleach colors over time.
4. You really can't skip a week of laundry and then just throw it in the wash.
5. It is time intensive.
Ambiguities:
1. I can't figure out which method of washing uses more water. I think handwashing can use less water than a traditional washer, but more than an EnergySaver, water saving appliance. It's possible that this is a matter of perception - when you're pouring the water on the laundry it seems like a lot more water than the water that passes through a machine while the lid is closed. Without actual numbers I'm not certain. I will say however, that the method used by some people here is much more water intensive than the method I use. This is partly exacerbated by the fact that people here don't really feel a need to conserve water because we live in the middle of a big freshwater lake.
And now the process... I know that in the past I have mentioned doing my laundry by hand, as well as posted pictures of lavanderos, but that doesn't mean you actually understand what's involved. Much like any chore that is done by hand, each person has their own preferences for materials, their own methods, and their own little tricks. My tricks run toward minimizing environmental impact and maximizing the life of my clothes.
How to Wash Your Laundry
Materials:
1. lavandero - No washboards here, people have lavanderos with a concrete washboard poured into the surface. Right next to it is a pila, which is basically the big tub part of the lavandero that holds water.
2. soap - Some people use two types of soap, one to soak their laundry which comes in a powder, and another in cake form to actually scrub their laundry. There are about a million different kinds of soap, with varying levels of bleach-type chemicals, scents, and softeners. Most of these cake soaps are made from animal fat, and have very strong scents. Using the wrong soap that has too much bleach in it can also leave your clothes with streaks in them. Exhibit A:
I only use one type of soap. My favorite venta lady helped me figure out which soap I wanted, and it turns out that they have a vegetable-based soap with no colors or scents. While it's probably not organic, I figure this is probably the best choice I can make from the options available here. I use the cake for scrubbing my laundry and for the soaking part, I shave the soap cake and dissolve the shavings in a soda bottle of water to create a concentrated soap solution that I then dilute as needed.
3. a brush - for scrubbin'.
4. panas - I have 3. A big one for soaking, a medium one for rinsing and soaking unmentionables, and a small one for scooping water.
Steps:
1. Separate. Because you are going to be soaking your laundry, it's a good idea to separate because dark clothes that might not normally bleed will if they're sitting in soapy water for two hours. I have darks and darker colors, and then lighter colors and whites.
2. Soak. I pour some of my concentrated soap solution into my big tub, add water and swoosh around until it's all nice and soapy. Then I add clothes one item at a time, inspecting the clothes looking for any spots that need special attention and applying little swipes of cake soap to them, and usually turning clothes inside out. If there're no spots on the outside, most of the gunk that needs to be washed away is on the inside. I usually leave them for about 1.5 to 2 hours. Be sure they're nice and soggy, even if they're not all submerged completely. I usually do this twice with my big tub for my separated laundry and once in my medium tub with my undies.
3. Scrub! As mentioned as a pro above, you can scrub things as much or as little as they need. I take 2 or 3 items at a time out of my soak tub, and attack them differently based on what they are. With shirts, you need to make sure you pay special attention to underarms and collars. If they're long-sleeve, cuffs as well. For pants, pocket openings, cuffs, and the inevitable splashes of mud. For undies, the crotch area obviously. Skirts don't really have specific problem areas.
For problem areas, you apply a swipe of cake soap and with both your hands, rub the fabric against itself, not against the washboard. This allows you to control the force and the amount of friction. This is very important if you don't want holes in all your underarms, or your tank top arms all stretched out.
For general washing, I gently give each side of the garment a rub of the cake soap, splash a little more water on it and then give it the lightest of scrubs. Soaking your laundry first means that most of the general gunk has already been loosened up. All you need to do in this part is knock it off. If there's a lot of soap on the item from washing the problem areas, just a splash of water will do to distribute it throughout the garment. Once again, you don't actually rub the garment over the washboard. Flatten the object out.
With one hand hold down the top half of the garment, and with your other hand rub the bottom half of the garment over the upper part. You're using the texture of the washboard for friction, but you're actually rubbing the fabric against itself. I usually do this to one side, and then flip it over so that the bottom is now the top, and the other side of the garment is facing up. If it's really dirty, you can do this is a lot. If it's not really dirty, a couple of gentle passes will do.
These techniques work well for anything but jeans. I can't do this with jeans. I use the scrub brush for everything on jeans. They're just to bulky and stiff for me to wash any other way. This is not a problem for my Nicaraguan family, who have much stronger laundry muscles than I do.
4. Rinse. Some people just keep pouring water over their laundry and squeezing it until finally the water runs clear. I found that I used A LOT of water when I did this. At first that method is really productive, and removes a lot of soap. But then you need three more panas to really get the rest of the soap out. So I use a hybrid approach. I give the garment a good soaking with one pana of clean water and work a lot of the soap out with my hands. Then I put two or three shirts or items of similar size in my medium pana and put clean water in it, swishing the clothes around like a washing machine would. Usually doing this twice yields nice clear water, and uses a lot less water than the other method.
5. Ring. Fold each item over, grab the two ends and twist. Depending on the item's stretchiness, some things you can twist more than others without stretching them out. If you do your laundry in the morning, you don't really need to ring the life out of your clothes because a full sunny day on the line will dry them even if they're dripping when you hang them up.
6. Hang. Most people here don't use clothespins. I do because I had one of my shirts get to a point of being damp, but not heavy, and blowing off the line into a big pile of horsecrap. Now I use clothespins. Undies are hung by gently looping it over the line and pulling most of the item through a leg hole. At first I was worried that this would stretch them, but if you do it gently it works just fine. Also, colored items should be hung inside out; this includes jeans. This is because sunny days will bleach your clothes over time, and by hanging them inside out, you minimize this.
7. Wait.
8. Remove when dry, being sure to smell them as you go. They are fresh and delicious, like soap and sunshine.
There, now you know how I do my laundry. I usually do this on the weekend, most often Sunday, but occasionally Saturday if it looks like it's going to be sunny. Please note that this doesn't matter, since as I have said, it's rained on me every time anyway. I think I will continue to line dry my clothes when I get back to the US, even if I will probably be pretty excited about having a washing machine again after two years.
Comments