This came up in a thread that went south, and we never got the answer. If anyone knows- speak up.

(I don't like dry cleaning because it never seems clean to me- just chemically sprayed...)

I don't like the smell... or the idea of continually breathing in the chemicals JMHO :D:D:D
I wonder how hard the chemicals will be on the fabric itself, over time?

The items don't seem as "clean" to me as when washed in water with detergent

There are some fibers that say "do not dry clean" - I think they melt in the solvents used or something.

It could be the use of the dry cleaning chemicals and the heat during the process that people are worried about. If you think about it, many of the dress shirts that men get cleaned regularly are cotton - so cotton can definitely be dry cleaned.

Cheers, K

For the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would dry-clean cotton. What am I missing???

it has always been my opinion that dry cleaning might set some of the stains.

Cotton retains the chemicals as does wool and all natural fabrics.Wearing it close to your body it is absorbed into your skin. Not good. Men's shirts are not drycleaned they are laundered, starched and ironed at the drycleaner.

If I have something that says 'Dryclean Only' I throw it in the goodwill bag. I am not paying their price to dry clean anything!!!

I have never dry cleaned anything...my ex-husband used to use that Dryel stuff for his suit once in a while but anything else I was iffy about I just hand wash & hang or lay to dry. Never had any big laundry mishaps.

I have only sent our boys suits to the drycleaners. Anything else delicate gets hand laundered and if it doesn't survive "unlucky". Like emptyshellamy I haven't had any major mishaps.

Dry cleaning is actually quite a harsh process, very strong chemicals and not to good for health either. I think some fabrics could have the fibres damaged if dry-cleaned. As cotton is a natural fibre, perhaps the cotton would not last as long if regularly soaked in harsh chemicals.