How to Care for Your Linen Bedding (and Make It Last)

100% high-quality linen is made to last, and last. In fact, the longer you sleep in your linen sheets, the softer they’ll get, but that doesn’t mean they don’t require a little love and attention.

Read on for our top tips on caring for linen; from washing and drying, to ironing and storing.

How often should I wash my linen bedding?

Ah, the dirty secret most people are afraid to ask… Depending on the breadth of your bedtime activities (ahem), we recommend changing your bedding at a minimum, every other week.

We may be biased but hopping into clean bed sheets is one of our favourite things to do and at Bedfolk HQ we operate on a strict, once a week changeover.

Bedfolk 100% Linen in Rose

What temperature should I wash my bed linen?

When washing linen sheets, it’s tempting to stick it in the machine and blast it on a hot wash at 90 degrees to kill nasty germs and bugs – but this can actually do more harm to your bedding than good.

To avoid shrinkage, care for your linen, and it will care for you. Linen bedding loves cooler temperatures so stick your sheets on a normal cycle in warm water (a gentle 40 degree cycle does the trick) and this will be better for the planet too.

How to soften linen sheets

This might surprise you but we’d start by giving that bottle of fabric conditioner a swerve. It can have the opposite effect on your linen bedding by coating and weakening the natural fibres.

High quality bedding, like our 100% linen, softens naturally during washing. Use a small amount of liquid detergent for ultimate meringue-peaked softness.

Bedfolk 100% Linen in Snow

How to dry bed linen

Linen is at its absolute cloud-like best un-ironed, after a gentle tumble and we recommend using Wool Dryer Balls (or as we’ve nicknamed them, ‘The Game Changers’). They reduce drying time and naturally soften your bedding. Win, win.

Remove whilst slightly damp and put directly onto your bed to finish drying flat, smoothing out wrinkles with your hands.

If you prefer a slightly crisper hand feel, you can line dry or dry over a rack.

However you dry it, your linen will continue to soften with every wash and as you sleep in it.

Can I tumble dry linen sheets?

Before tumble drying, always check the care label for suitability:
A square with a circle inside = can be tumbled.
A square with a circle inside and a cross through it = shouldn’t be tumbled.
 
If tumbling, make sure it’s on a low heat as excessive heat can damage the threads, causing your linen to become rough and scratchy. This is the type of linen that keeps us tossing and turning at night - not cool.

Bedfolk 100% Linen in Ink and Rose

Can I iron linen?

If you’re the sort of person that prefers to be dozing than ironing (hear, hear), one of the benefits we love most about linen is its “just woke up like this” scrunch. It’s the kind of bedding that looks good thrown on the bed; no styling, tucking or folding required.

If you want to treat yourself to a more polished look, that’s okay too. You can iron linen; just remove it from the dryer whilst slightly damp and iron inside out to avoid any heat damage.

 

Ready to sleep in the perfect linen sheets?

Shop linen here.