Decode every wash, iron and dry symbol
A how-to reference that decodes wash, iron and drying symbols with their real temperatures and gives an ordered procedure to read a label before every load.
It is not a laundry service, a garment shop, a care-label certification or a company website — no orders, no prices, no guarantees of results.
Start with the wash tub, then work through bleach, drying, ironing and dry cleaning — each symbol answers one question.
A care label is read as a short sequence, not as a jumble of icons. The wash tub comes first because it sets the machine temperature; everything else — bleaching, drying, ironing, dry cleaning — is a constraint on top of that wash temperature.
The tub carries either a number (30, 40, 50, 60) or a hand. A hand in the tub means gentle hand washing only, not above 40 °C. In the US system the same four temperatures are shown as one to four dots inside the tub.
Next comes the triangle for bleaching: an empty triangle allows bleach, a crossed triangle bans it, and a triangle with one or two bars restricts it to oxygen or non-chlorine bleach. Then the square for drying, the iron for pressing, and the circle for professional dry cleaning.
Four wash temperatures are printed on standard labels: 30 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C and 60 °C, matched by one to four dots in the US system.
The number inside the tub is the maximum water temperature for that garment. 30 °C suits lightly soiled synthetics and dark cottons; 40 °C is the everyday setting for cotton underwear and towels; 50 °C appears on workwear and heavily soiled cotton; 60 °C is reserved for whites and hot-wash cottons that can take the heat.
The US system replaces the number with dots: one dot for 30 °C, two for 40 °C, three for 50 °C and four for 60 °C. The dots and the numbers describe the same four temperatures, so a garment labelled either way gets the same wash.
A hand inside the tub overrides the numbers: gentle hand washing only, and not above 40 °C. A crossed-out tub means do not wash at all — dry clean only.
| Symbol | What it means | Temperature or setting |
|---|---|---|
| Wash tub, 1 dot (US) | Wash at 30 °C | 30 °C / 86 °F |
| Wash tub, 2 dots (US) | Wash at 40 °C | 40 °C / 104 °F |
| Wash tub, 3 dots (US) | Wash at 50 °C | 50 °C / 122 °F |
| Wash tub, 4 dots (US) | Wash at 60 °C | 60 °C / 140 °F |
| Hand in tub | Gentle hand wash only | Not above 40 °C / 104 °F |
| Iron, 1 dot | Low iron heat | 110 °C / 230 °F |
| Iron, 2 dots | Medium iron heat | 150 °C / 302 °F |
| Iron, 3 dots | High iron heat | 200 °C / 392 °F |
One iron dot means 110 °C, two dots mean 150 °C and three dots mean 200 °C.
The dots inside the iron symbol are heat levels, not counts of passes. One dot is 110 °C, the low setting for synthetics and delicate fabrics; two dots are 150 °C, the medium setting for wool and blends; three dots are 200 °C, the high setting for cotton and linen.
A crossed-out iron bans pressing altogether, and an iron with a bar under it means iron without steam. Matching the dots to the dial is the single most common way to avoid scorching a garment.
The same dot logic appears in the tumble dryer: one dot requires drying at reduced temperature and two dots normal temperature. A circle in the square symbolizes the clothes dryer, and a cross prohibits the operation it is drawn over.
Figures and symbol conventions are drawn from standard garment care labelling references and published fabric and market data.