How to Wash Wool tzitzis

NotInNJMommy

Wed, Feb 28 2007, 11:47 am

I soak them in OxyClean...pretty concentrated, either in a shissl or in the bathtub...if they are bad, I do it a few times (for a few hours at a time)...rinse in between soaks and after final soak, hang dry. When we got married, dh's bochur tzitis were gross!!!! The oxyclean (or some oxidizing agent like it) works wonders!

I know people do take to dry cleaners too.

greenfire ↓

Wed, Feb 28 2007, 11:57 am

You could use baking soda - way cheaper and allows for oxidation.
You need to own more than a couple so that they do not get so dirty. When my ds was little he wore cotton except on shabbos in winter - now he just wears wool. The cotton ones I threw in was with whites - wrapped up the strings in a sock so didn't get ruined. The wool he washes by hand.

chocolate moose

Wed, Feb 28 2007, 1:00 pm

Put in mesh bag and wash in machine with light colors or whites.

mummy-bh ↓

Wed, Feb 28 2007, 3:59 pm

My boys wear only wool. I put them in a pillow case, then knot the pillow case and wash in the machine. My machine has a 'hand wash' setting, but I guess any really gentle setting would be okay.

I found that dry-cleaning tends to make them turn a bit yellow.

↑ greenfire

Wed, Feb 28 2007, 4:01 pm

don't the "strings" get knotted if you don't tie them down?

↑ mummy-bh

Wed, Feb 28 2007, 4:36 pm

greenfire wrote:

don't the "strings" get knotted if you don't tie them down?

No, I don't find that that happens. I only put one pair of tzitzis in each pillow case. It's tied really tight so there's not much room to move around.

withhumor

Wed, Feb 28 2007, 5:28 pm

A friend shared this trick with me. You take a knee-high or nylon sock. And you drop the tzitzis strings INTO the tube of the sock, then you tie it into a knot all the way up on top by the beginning where it comes out of the tzitzis. That is the coolest trick ever. My mother used to use silver foil to wrap the tzitsis but the wash machine repair guy told her that little bits of the aluminum goes into the mechanism and in the long run kills it. I’ve also purchased a special bag for washing tzitzis but it’s such a pain, I love the nylon sock idea. Idea

ButterflyGarden

Thu, Mar 01 2007, 6:17 am

Whatever you do, just DONT use bleach!! I learned that one the hard way. embarrassed

S.Shcwartz

Sat, Mar 17 2007, 10:23 pm

Put into washing machine in a mesh bag. Use 'woolite', oxi cleaning or whatever u have...then ADD MILK, and soak it overnight. Supposed to come out beautiful. good luck.

Seraph ↓

Sun, Jul 29 2007, 5:06 am

For those of you who's husbands or sons wear wool tzitzis, how many pairs do they own?
How often do you wash them?
How do you wash them?

momofgold

Sun, Jul 29 2007, 7:30 am

my husband has quite a few but not all of them are kosher, the strings have fallen.
I don't think there are any rules about how often to wash them- I would say if you think it needs it based on its smell or look.
I wash it in a basin with reg detergent and hang it to dry. they have in the stores a wool whitener for tzitzis and talesim which yo can use to whiten the tzitzis. good luck!

Mimisinger

Sun, Jul 29 2007, 8:11 am

Dh only wears wool on shabbos so I wash them whenever he puts them in the laundry which is not that often. However, I wash them like his other tzitzis and they come out fine - I put them in a mesh bag into the wash with the reg. laundry and take them out before the dryer and hang them to dry.

↑ Seraph

Sun, Jul 29 2007, 8:20 am

My husband has one pair and omg, after realizing how smelly it was, I made him go one day with non wool tzitzis, and I handwashed them and hung them to dry...

ILOVELIFE

Fri, Aug 03 2007, 2:10 am

I plead the fifth on the first two questions..... shock

I wash them in a netbag in a regular washer on warm or if I get really in the mood, I give it into the cleaners for 4-6$

Ruchel

Fri, Aug 03 2007, 9:35 am

My dh has tons of tzitzis. Maybe 10 in wool and 20 in cotton? He was raised with the wool ones, switched to cotton because they itched, and now he's switching back to wool. I don't know how he washes them but I can ask. I would suppose in the washing machine?
Am I the only one who thinks wool tzitzis make the whole closet smell weird even when they're new and never worn? lol

amother

Thu, Oct 11 2007, 11:36 pm

I dont think you can wash Wool tzitzis in a wash machine. I soak it in wisk. comes out very nice and fresh.