Laundry Symbols Explained: A Complete Care Label Chart
· 7 min read
Care labels use five basic shapes: a tub means washing, a triangle means bleaching, a square means drying, an iron means ironing, and a circle means professional cleaning. Dots inside a shape mean temperature (more dots, more heat), lines under a shape mean gentleness (more lines, gentler), and an X over any shape means do not do it at all. Learn those five rules and you can read any label in the world.
Care symbols matter more at a laundromat than at home, because commercial machines run hotter and spin harder than the machine you may be used to. A garment that survives a gentle home cycle can shrink noticeably in a commercial dryer set to high.
The Wash Tub: Water Temperature and Cycle
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Tub with one dot | Cold wash, about 30 °C / 85 °F |
| Tub with two dots | Warm wash, about 40 °C / 105 °F |
| Tub with three dots | Hot wash, about 50 °C / 120 °F |
| Tub with one line beneath | Permanent press, medium spin |
| Tub with two lines beneath | Delicate or gentle cycle |
| Tub with a hand in it | Hand wash only |
| Tub with an X through it | Do not wash with water |
| Number inside the tub | Maximum temperature in Celsius |
When in doubt, cold water on a gentle cycle is the safe default. It never shrinks anything, holds colour better, and modern detergents clean well at low temperatures.
The Triangle: Bleaching
- Empty triangle: any bleach is allowed.
- Triangle with two diagonal lines: oxygen (non-chlorine) bleach only.
- Triangle with an X: no bleach of any kind.
The Square: Drying
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Square with a circle inside | Tumble dry allowed |
| Circle with one dot | Low heat |
| Circle with two dots | Medium heat |
| Circle with three dots | High heat |
| Filled circle | No heat / air dry setting |
| Square with a horizontal line | Dry flat |
| Square with a curved line at the top | Line dry / hang to dry |
| Square with three vertical lines | Drip dry, do not wring |
| Square with an X | Do not tumble dry |
The dryer is where clothes are actually destroyed, not the washer. If a label shows one dot or a filled circle, use the lowest heat your laundromat dryer offers and add time instead of temperature.
The Iron and the Circle
- Iron with one dot: low, up to about 110 °C, for synthetics.
- Iron with two dots: medium, up to about 150 °C, for wool and blends.
- Iron with three dots: high, up to about 200 °C, for cotton and linen.
- Iron with an X through the steam lines: do not use steam.
- Plain circle: dry clean.
- Circle with a letter P or F: solvent type for the cleaner, not for you.
- Circle with an X: do not dry clean.
- Circle with a W: professional wet cleaning.
Reading Labels at the Machine
Sort by the strictest label in the pile, not the average. One two-line delicate tub in a load of cotton means the whole load runs on the delicate setting, or that garment comes out and goes into a mesh bag on its own.
- Photograph the label of anything expensive before the print wears off.
- Group by dryer symbol as well as wash symbol; drying is where the damage happens.
- Put anything marked "dry flat" aside and take it home damp.
- If a label is missing entirely, treat the garment as cold wash, gentle, hang dry.
When Dry Clean Only Really Means It
Structured wool coats, tailored suits, silk with sewn linings, sequins, beading and pleated garments genuinely need a dry cleaner, because water relaxes the interfacing and the shape never returns. Labels that say dry clean only on unlined cotton, polyester or acrylic are often manufacturer caution rather than a hard rule, but that is your risk to take. Anything you cannot replace should go to a cleaner.
What does a tub with two lines under it mean?
Delicate or gentle cycle: reduced agitation and a lower spin speed.
What temperature is one dot?
Cold, about 30 °C or 85 °F. Two dots is warm, three dots is hot.
What does a filled black circle in a square mean?
Tumble dry with no heat, using the air-fluff setting.
Do commercial laundromat machines match these symbols?
Roughly. Commercial dryers run hotter than home units, so choose one heat level lower than the label allows and run longer.
What if the care label has been cut out?
Default to cold water, gentle cycle and hang drying. That combination is safe for nearly every washable fabric.