Wooden hangers are long lasting and look great in any wardrobe, because of the great quality of the wood used (compared to plastic). But do wooden hangers stain your clothes?
Here Is How Wooden Hangers Do Stain Clothes:
Wooden hangers can stain clothes in certain circumstances, this includes:
If you don’t use any wood conditioner on the hanger
Different types of wood used- walnut and oak are darker woods and are more prone to staining
Clothing is placed wet onto the wooden hanger
Unfinished wood used on the hanger
Bad wood conditioner used
Below we have researched and written this article explaining in detail how wooden hangers do stain clothes and what you can look out for when using wood, so this doesn’t happen to you.
Ways Wooden Hangers Do Stain Clothing
No Wood Conditioner Used On Hanger
Wood conditioner is a special product made specifically for wooden hangers. It is designed to keep the hangers fresh and chemically free so that no impurities can build up on these items.
As such, it prevents stains of any kind, including food and drink stains, bacteria, and dead skin cells. It also ensures that the wooden hanger will look clean as if it was just cleaned (although this doesn’t always apply to wooden hangers).
If not treated with a wood conditioner, woods like cedar, oak, birch, and pine can give off natural oils over time which will become absorbed by your clothes. Not only does this lead to a yellowed wardrobe habitually, but certain woods can also stain your clothes!
Cedar wood will noticeably leave green marks on dry clean only garments (dry clean only garments are more sensitive. That’s why when no wood conditioner is used on a wooden hanger, dampness and warmth from musty smelling closets or wardrobes may cause any color-fast natural fiber clothing items in storage to turn grayish-brown.
Wearing natural fiber clothes like cotton, linen, or silk, which are prone to yellowing or staining from this musty smell and dampness. Remarkable wood hangers can be used to protect your clothes from any harm or damage.
Types Of Wood Used
Some hangers are made from wood, like walnut and oak. As the clothes hang on these hangers for long periods, they can “absorb” some of the oils in the wood, which will result in darkening or staining light-colored clothing over time. Walnut and oak are especially notorious in this regard.
The oils from the wood can get on the threads of the clothing and work their way into the fabric, possibly stain it or cause it to fade over time. Even if you don’t have clothes washed regularly, a dark hanger could potentially result in darkening or staining your clothes. The same thing can happen with plastic hangers, but wood is worse because it has more oil than could transfer to your dress shirts.
Clothing Is Wet When Placed On Wooden Hanger
Wood is porous, and water rapidly moves through the material, which can lead to fibers absorbing the water in a material. That would be true for any wood, including plywood.
When you place the dry fabric onto a wet surface such as a hanger, this fiber-rich surface soaks up any liquid you might have on your clothing’s fibers too. The moisture then attracts dust, hair, or other particles from the air it comes into contact with. That causes small amounts of liquid to be transferred from your clothing into the wood, creating unsightly stains over time.
Typically, clothes will not stain when put on a dry hanger, and these stains usually come from clothing that has been washed in a detergent made with phosphates. The problem is that detergent and other substances often find their way onto the wooden hangers through soaking wet clothing placed on them after washing. That is because wood absorbs these substances.
If these clothes are then dried on a clothesline, the detergent and other substances that have been soaked into the hangers can then run down onto the clothing, causing it to stain. As the surface of a clothesline is usually made of a material not as absorbent, this won’t happen there. That is one reason why people who use wooden hangers to dry their clothes are more likely to experience stained clothing.
Unfinished Wooden Hanger
Many times, when a garment is left on an unfinished wooden hanger, the fabric of the clothes will leave a stain on the wood. That is because these types of hangers don’t have any coating to protect against liquid staining. Usually, this can be easily washed off with soap and water or a different kind of cleaning agent safe for wood use.
Another reason is that they are often made of particleboard and other forms of highly absorbent materials which absorb staining agents. Certain finishes on the wood like polyurethane or varnish can also be a possible cause because they have a much higher absorptive capacity than untreated wood.
The best way to avoid this problem would be to use plastic or metal hangers, as they have a protective coating that helps prevent staining. If you want to remove the stain, you must soak the hanger in warm soapy water for about thirty minutes and then use a soft cloth or brush with mild soap and water to rub away the stain.
Use a clean cloth with the cleaner solution to remove any stains on your wooden hangers. Or, if this does not work, you can try using a light abrasive cleaner that is safe for use on wood, such as TSP.
These products usually come in a powdered form which can be mixed into water. After cleaning them, ensure that you dry them off completely before using them again so as not to allow any moisture inside of the hangers, as this may cause further damage to your garments.
Wrong Wooden Conditioner Used With Bad Ingredients
The main ingredient in drying wood is sap from the tree, a pure substance with a high boiling point. When it comes into contact with water and humidity in the air, it starts to boil. This process releases chemicals that get into the wood itself, and the chemicals are what cause stains.
They have to make their way through your clothes and fabric to deliver the stain on your clothes. Different chemicals are used to treat wood to create a durable finish on hangers, such as linseed oil or tung oil (both can be found at hardware stores). These chemicals can be used by themselves or as a mixture together. The staining can happen within 30 minutes, so it’s important to air dry your freshly washed clothes as quickly as possible.
The chemicals used in wooden hangers should not affect your skin, but using hangers with unfinished wood will leave a stain on your clothes. This stain is not caused by the chemical released from the heat but rather from a residue left on the clothing when it comes into contact with the raw wood. Depending on which chemicals have been used to treat the wood and what ingredients have been mixed will determine whether or not you are likely to experience run-ins with stains.