Perfumes are one of the best fashion items to have ever been invented, they make a great outfit, perfect. Being told “you smell nice” is a top-tier compliment that can leave you blushing for days unending, but at what cost?
Perfumes are great but many of them are not so friendly to your clothes. They can cause discolouration and even weaken the strength of the fabric. Here are a few ways in which perfumes can affect your clothes.
Stains
Some of the materials used to make perfumes include fragrance oil, alcohol, and colour dyes. Perfumes that contain one or more of these materials can stain your clothes if applied directly.
The stain might not be visible immediately but can darken over time showing up as an oily spot. This can really be an outfit destroyer especially if you’re wearing brightly coloured clothes. The stain stands out and can draw all the attention from your wonderful outfit.
There’s no way to directly tell if a perfume would leave a stain or not but darker-coloured perfumes are more likely to leave stains than their lighter counterparts.
Weakening
Some fabrics have been found to be easily weakened when perfumes are applied directly to them. One of such fabrics is silk.
In a recent study conducted to assess the effects of mechanical and colour properties of silk, it was concluded that perfumes can cause a slight reduction in the tensile strength of the silk fabrics, making them weaker and more susceptible to wear and tear. A similar result was also achieved for cotton fabrics.
Apparently, continuous application of perfume on your cotton and silk clothes can make them weaker over time, reducing their quality and durability.
Discolouration
Perfumes can not only stain clothes, but they can also discolour them forever. This discolouration is mostly evident in white and light-coloured clothes. White clothes begin to turn yellow in areas where the perfume has been applied.
A study was published in the International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology which revealed that perfumes negatively affected the colour characteristics of cotton fabrics to a large extent.
Who would have thought that apart from making us sneeze when someone in close proximity uses too much of it, perfumes would be able to cause this much damage?
Interestingly, most perfumes are not meant to be applied directly to clothes but to the skin instead. Although, if your skin is sensitive, you can apply it to your clothes but in small quantities.
You should go for lighter-coloured fragrances whenever you’re wearing brightly coloured outfits. This will reduce any chances of stains or discolouration.
However, if you notice any stains, you should immediately send your clothes to Eden Life. Eden Life offers a laundry service that picks up and delivers your clothes in 48 hours.
The laundry team is experienced and can get rid of any stains from perfumes, scents and fragrance oils. You can download the app to start a laundry plan today.