How to wash and maintain silk sarees

Here are some useful tips to maintain silk sarees

Washing

• Do not use soap for the first three washes. Gently rinse in plain cold water.
• For the subsequent washes, use a mild detergent.
• Wash the pallu, border and body separately.
• Avoid washing the saree with inferior quality material or bright colours.
• You can use a protein shampoo with warm/cold water. The shampoo protein will feed the protein in the silk.
• Avoid using chemicals – these may damage and reduce the lifespan of the silk.
• Do not brush or lash the silk saree; it might lead to tearing the zari.
• Avoid twisting or wringing the silk.
• Do not bundle and keep wet for long durations.

Drying

• After washing, the saree must be dried immediately.
• First, roll the saree in a dry towel to remove the excess moisture.
• Then, hang it on to a padded hanger.
• Ensure that the silk saree is out of direct sunlight.

Dry-Cleaning

• In dry-cleaning, fluids are used to remove stains from the fabric.
• The fluids contain little or no water and do not penetrate the fibre as water does.
• Dry-cleaning is the best way to care for silk, since the solvents used do not affect silk.
• The following points must be kept in mind when taking your silk clothes to the dry-cleaner

Ironing

• While pressing, keep the iron in medium heat only.
• Press silk while it is still damp with a warm iron, or use a steam iron.
• Take special care to iron starched material.