Use hot water for whites, towels, and heavily soiled items

Wash white cotton basics, towels, bed sheets, underwear, and heavily soiled work or sports clothes on hot (130-140°F / 54-60°C). Hot water provides the deepest clean and best sanitization for items that need it most.

Why It Works

Hot water dissolves detergent more completely, breaks down body oils and sweat effectively, and kills most bacteria and dust mites. For items that contact skin directly (towels, sheets, underwear) and for heavily soiled garments, hot water provides a level of cleaning that lower temperatures cannot match.

Tips

• Many home water heaters default to 120°F, so a true hot wash may require adjusting your heater or using a machine with an internal heater
• Check care labels first -- some white synthetics and blends are not hot-water safe
• Hot water uses significantly more energy than cold, so reserve it for loads that truly need sanitization
• Pre-sort hot-wash items from the rest of the family's laundry to avoid accidental shrinkage of delicates