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Travel Laundry: How to Hand Wash Clothes in a Sink

It’s not always possible to access a washer and dryer, laundromat, or hotel “fluff and fold” service, and knowing how to quickly and effectively handwash clothing in a sink can be a vital skill on the road. In this article, I show how I keep my clothing clean during months of long-term traveling with a minimalist travel wardrobe.

These instructions for handwashing clothing go far beyond just a simple refresh: With the right care, your clothes will come out just as clean as if they had been washed in a commercial washer.

Table of Contents (aka, how to navigate this guide):

Laundry: The Worst Part of Minimalist Travel

The one-bag travel style is a minimalist method of travel, but “one bagging” inevitably means having to deal with laundry more frequently. In fact, washing delicates is almost a daily practice when I’m traveling with my plus size capsule travel wardrobe.

Although I love the freedom and spontaneity that traveling with just one bag allows, the unavoidable task of doing laundry while traveling is a hurdle that I have had to learn to navigate. Over months of travel, I’ve practiced and perfected my method for hand washing laundry in a sink.

In this article, I wanted to share some of my best tips for handwashing laundry in a hotel, hostel, or Airbnb.

Pro Tip: Travel with Easy to Clean Fabrics

If you can, create a packing list with your limited access to laundry washing resources in mind. If you plan to travel to places where in-unit washers or laundromats are plentiful, you might not need to alter your packing list by much, but if you are traveling on a budget or in less tourist-centric parts of the world, then laundry facilities or services might be harder to come by.

Planning for easy washing also frees up time for adventuring in your destination city.  When I’m traveling with just a few outfits, it’s hard to justify spending hours at a laundromat just to wash a half-load.

Purchasing and packing travel clothes designed for easy handwashing is one way that I save time and money while ensuring that my clothes can be fresh and clean even during busy travel days.

The following section may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Fabrics that are easy to hand wash and dry:

  • wool,
  • tech fabrics labeled as quick-dry,
  • stain-resistant fabrics, etc.

Fabrics that are hard to hand wash and dry:

  • garments made from cotton,
  • poly-cotton blends,
  • and any thick knit fabric (wool is an exception)

If you know that you’ll be doing a lot of sink laundry while you travel or backpack, then purchasing easy-to-wash clothes is a worthwhile investment. Good travel clothing literally resists stains (my favorite travel leggings seem impermeable by either spills or dirt).

Cotton blend knits, in contrast, can be difficult to wash clean and slow to dry. Both wool and modern poly-blend tech-fabrics easily wash clean with basic soap and dry within hours – even in humid environments.

Laundry Essentials for Hand Washing

Plenty of travel bloggers recommend buying laundry detergent in your destination country, however, it can be difficult to find good options. Typically, the package sizes that detergent is sold in are not traveler-friendly- after all, who wants to carry a bottle of laundry detergent from lodging to lodging as you travel?

Below are some common essentials to pack for travel laundry, with my thoughts added based on my own experience.

Laundry sheets

A homemade laundry detergent sheet.
A homemade laundry detergent sheet. Learn how to make your own here.

Finally, a solution to the travel laundry detergent problem: Laundry detergent sheets are lightweight, dissolvable sheets of laundry soap. They can easily be torn or cut to size for either a full load in a commercial laundromat washer or just a sink basin of delicate fabrics.

You can even make your own detergent sheets using my DIY tutorial.

💡 Hint: Avoid an overpowering odor in your luggage by purchasing unscented detergent for your travels. Both Fels Naptha Bar Soap and unscented powder detergents are a good way to carry laundry soap without concentrated scents permeating your suitcase.

Laundry Bar

Fels naptha is a popular bar soap but too brittle for diy laundry detergent sheets.

Laundry washing sheets are, for now, a special order product. An easier-to-find alternative for washing clothes on the road is a laundry-detergent bar.

25 years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for laundry detergent to be sold in bar form . To use, people would use a cheese grater to grate only as much as they needed at a time. Although laundry soap bars are a bit harder to find these days, Fels Naptha Laundry Bar is one brand still available in many grocery stores and hardware stores.

PRO TIP: Before you head out on your trip, carefully cut the bar into chunks with a sharp kitchen knife and take only what you need. When you’re ready to do laundry while traveling, grate, shave, or rub off the amount you need to wash your clothing in a sink or washing machine

Clothesline

Socks drying on a travel clothesline using an alternative

Even though I travel light, a travel clothesline always comes with me.

When your packing list is limited, getting clothing dry quickly is every bit as important as the washing process itself!

Travelon’s Twisted Elastic Clothesline (pictured above) requires no clothespins. I just insert fabric between the twisted lines. Tension holds wet clothing items in place.

With multiple methods to affix the clothesline to surfaces indoors or out (including two good suction cups) this clothesline has been far more helpful than I expected it to be.

(or) String or Twine

Bandanas drying on a clothesline in valparaiso, chile.

As much as I love my travel clothesline, it doesn’t work for every situation. Sometimes a longer span or lack of places to attach the ends leaves me in need of another way to hang dry clothes. Enter: the humble length of cotton twine.

I recommend travelers cut a 10-15ft section of basic cotton twine and pack it away somewhere out of the way (I keep mine under the lining of my suitcase). I’ve never taken an extended trip where I didn’t end up using my length of twine to solve some problem on the road.

Using a Hotel Clothesline

Many hotels, especially seaside resorts, offer a clothesline in the bathroom. However, many people dry bathing suits and towels on sinks, bathtubs, and shower heads anyway- unaware that a retractable clothesline is hidden in plain sight.

If you see this dome of chrome mounted on a wall in your hotel room’s bathroom, twist the knob and pull. It should pull straight out and attach to an anchor on the opposing wall. Once anchored, twist the knob again to tighten. (Tightening it will allow the clothesline to support the weight of wet clothing instead of pulling more length from the reel and drooping)

Scrubba

Many travelers carry a portable clothing washing bag called a Scrubba. This waterproof sack (which can also serve as a stuff sack to keep dry items dry) can be filled with clothing, water, and detergent and used as an agitator to wash clothing.

Personally, after a brief test, I returned my Scrubba, although I could see where it could be helpful for many travelers. For me, keeping my packing list as minimal as possible helps me travel with more freedom – and I’m happy to exchange doing laundry by hand in the sink for that freedom.

The Best and Worst Soaps to Use for Hand Washing Laundry

Plenty of travelers set out with good laundry-intentions, and then end up handwashing undergarments in a sink with the most convenient soap- hand soap. Unfortunately, hand soap is the worst soap you can use to hand wash laundry in the sink. Here’s why:

worst choice: hand soap

Hand soap is formulated to remove dirt and leave hands not too dry. Because of this, it doesn’t do a good job of removing body oils from dirty clothing. In fact, hand soap can deposit residue on clothing that leaves it dirtier, less breathable, and covered with a thin layer of crud that will attract and capture oil and odors.

Ok in a pinch: shampoo

In a pinch, shampoo made for human hair works much better to hand wash laundry than hand soap. Shampoo, which is designed to break down oils and not leave a residue, works differently from hand soap.

Although shampoo doesn’t produce the deep clean that detergents intended for laundry do, it’s perfectly okay to use shampoo to refresh clothing between laundry cycles.

okay: Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap

Plenty of backpackers and international travelers use Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap to wash laundry (plus hair, dishes, teeth, and just about anything else!) on the road. In fact, the unscented baby soap version linked above is what I’ve used to do laundry in the sink of my hotels and Airbnbs for much of my travels.

The main drawback of using Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap is the additional weight that liquid soap adds to luggage. While the soap is effective, the high water content means that travelers carry less product with more weight than a dry version of laundry soap.

Best: detergent, bar of laundry soap, or laundry sheets

As discussed above (click here to review), there are many forms of dry detergent available for travelers and backpackers to use while doing travel laundry. Bar soap is ultra-compact, and even powder detergent can be simple to pack and carry in small amounts.

How to Wash Laundry in the Sink: Step-by-Step

Now that we have discussed the best way to pack for and plan for doing laundry while traveling, here’s a simple step-by-step guide to washing laundry in a hotel, hostel, or Airbnb sink basin while traveling.

Total Time 15 minutes

1. Fill the sink halfway full with warm water.

Grating soap into a hotel sink for washing clothes

Although modern detergents in commercial washers now work equally well in cold water, you should use warm or hot water for doing laundry in the sink. The heat of the water can help compensate for the limited agitation of handwashing compared to a washing machine.

2. Add soap or detergent and stir

Grating soap into a hotel sink for washing clothes

Add the detergent to the hot water before adding your clothing. Mixing the soap into the water before adding clothing helps to get the soap distributed across the surface of the fabric. If you are using bar soap shavings or powdered detergent, agitate the water to combine and dissolve.

3. Add clothing to the sink

Hands rinsing white shirt in a hotel sink.

Now, add clothing but don’t overfill. To get the best results, you’ll need enough room to slosh and squeeze fabrics without overflowing the sink. A partially filled sink also allows more room for water to move – essential for cleaning.

4. Let clothing soak in the sink for 5 to 10 minutes

Hands washing a white shirt in a hotel sink, holding the shirt under water.

Some of the cleaning action of good detergent is passive – that means you don’t need to actively be agitating during the entire process of hand washing. A brief soak can give the detergent a chance to break down oils. Taking a quick break in the middle of your sink laundry can actually result in cleaner clothing.

5. Squeeze and Agitate

Hands washing a white shirt in a hotel sink.

Now agitate: squeeze your hands into the basin of soapy clothing and begin squeezing, releasing, squeezing, and releasing. Rub one fabric surface against another fabric surface, then shift slightly and repeat. This re-creates some of the agitation that a machine washer would apply to clothing during a wash cycle.

Don’t wring or handle your clothing too roughly, but ensure that water is moving in and out of the fabrics – taking with it dirt and oils.

6. Rinse

Hands soaking a white shirt in a hotel sink.

Drain the sink and squeeze excess water out of the clothing.

7. Squeeze and agitate for 1 to 2 minutes in clean water

Hands squeezing water out of a white shirt over a hotel sink.

Repeat the washing cycle, this time with clean water (that should turn a bit murky as the detergent is removed from the clothing). Drain the sink again and squeeze excess water out of the fabric.

8. Continue rinsing

You may need to refill and drain the sink several times before the soap is fully removed. When stopped up water rinses clear, you’re ready to progress to drying your laundry.

Supply:

  • hot water
  • soap or laundry detergent

Drying Hand Washed Clothing:

Use this method to dry hand washed socks, underwear, and other clothing ultra-fast:

  1. Squeeze all of the excess water out of the freshly washed clothing. Avoid wringing – especially with natural fibers like wool.
  2. Lay each article of clothing flat on a towel and then roll the towel up (with the clothing inside) like you are rolling up a carpet rug.
  3. Now, take the towel roll and twist it tightly. Untwist, and then twist in the other direction.
  4. Unroll the towel and you will find that much of the moisture in the clothes transferred to the towel.
  5. Now, hang the partially dry clothing from a clothesline or repeat the towel-wring with a fresh, dry towel to remove even more moisture.
  6. After rolling tech fabrics in the absorbent towel twice, many tech fabrics will be ready to wear immediately or within an hour. Most other fabrics will be dry by the following morning.

Alternate ways to dry clothes

In addition to the rolling method described above, you can also utilize heat sources to try your laundry.

While clothes hung too close to heaters can be a major fire hazard, there are ways to safely use a heat source to dry clothing – such as using a towel warmer to dry clothing or hanging freshly washed clothing on a folding chair or hanger that is placed 2 to 3 feet away from a heat vent.

A final tip on washing clothes on the road

Although this article has covered best practices on handwashing laundry while traveling, there’s one travel laundry washing practice we haven’t discussed: the shower wash.

When it comes to small everyday essentials that need washed almost daily, simply taking the item into the shower with you when you bathe can be an effective way to do a quick wash of smaller garments like socks and underwear.

Using the pressure from a showerhead – especially if there is a massage setting-  and the shampoo already present in your shower can be an easy, effective way to wash small items of laundry while only adding a minute or two to your daily routine.

How to hand wash clothing in a sink during travel

How do I hand wash clothes in a hotel using bar soap?

Avoid using bars of hand soap to wash clothing. Bar soap designed for hand washing contains a high level of fats and oils (it binds the soap into bar form and leaves a residue that moisturizes hands). These oils make bar soap ineffective at removing body oils and odors from clothing. Instead, grab the shampoo! Unlike bar soap made for hands, a hotel’s complimentary shampoo should do a decent job of washing clothing, removing body oils and odors, and washing clean without a residue.

Although this tutorial does recommend detergent bars for frequent travelers, these bars are compacted detergents, not hand soap, that are specially formulated for clothing.