Soften Crunchy Air-Dried Jeans With This Quick Trick

Slipping on freshly cleaned clothes is usually a pleasant experience, and often makes doing laundry worth the effort. However, it's less than ideal when your clothes come out of the wash stiff and scratchy. This is exactly what can happen if you air-dry your laundry, especially when it comes to jeans. Although the denim may be clean, it can also be uncomfortably hard and crunchy. Fortunately, you can fix this problem by taking advantage of a laundry-related hack involving a dryer. 

There are two ways to do this. The first requires letting your jeans air-dry completely before popping them into a dryer. When you take them out after just five minutes, you'll notice that the denim fabric has become softer. The process may also have gotten rid of wrinkles and isn't likely to shrink anything (at least not drastically). On the other hand, you can also try tossing them into a dryer for 5 or 10 minutes before you've put them out to air-dry. Then, give them a quick tumble and your jeans should end up feeling a heck of a lot softer.

Granted, this technique may not work for everyone. Or, you might have found yourself with a particularly stiff pair of jeans that are too stubborn to soften up without some extra help. In that case, here's what you need to do.

Although we have no doubt that this hack will help make your air-dried jeans much more comfortable to wear, you might also notice that some tend to be crunchier than others. This might be because the material is thicker or the item is newer and hasn't been worn in yet. If that's the case, then a little tumble in the dryer may not be enough to make a difference. Instead, you can add a little something to make the process more effective.

When you toss your stiff jeans in a dryer, you should also throw in a fabric softener sheet. Or, if you prefer, you can use a dryer ball or wool ball for the same effect. If you don't like using any kind of fabric softener, then a hand towel will do the trick. Just like before, put your jeans and whatever you're using for softening purposes in a dryer for around five minutes and you should find yourself pleased with the results.

If you choose to test out this method, you can let your jeans dry completely before you add them and your dryer ball or towel to the dryer. Or, you can use a fabric softener or a wool ball when the jeans have started to dry but are still somewhat damp. Either way, this process affects the fibers in the clothing, leaving them feeling comfy instead of crunchy.