People are only just learning how 'dry clean only' clothes actually get cleaned

While some people abide by the 'dry clean only' labels stitched into their clothes, others ignore them and throw their favourite garments on a believing everything will be OK.

For the lucky ones, this works every time and saves them a trip and an extra expense at the dry cleaners. However, it prompted user Bar 7 Ranch to share how dry cleaning actually works.

Apparently, there are benefits it has over a regular at-home wash on your expensive clothing items. Speaking in their video, a worker said: "We get the question 'what is the true dry cleaning process?' Dry cleaning is just like washing except you're doing it in a solvent versus water."

Just like at home, he says you need to separate your light colours from your darks before placing them into a machine to be washed. He then pans the camera to a dry cleaning machine - commenting on how it looks like a large washing machine you'd have at home.

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Once the items are placed into the machine, it washes them on a spin system, evaporates the added solvent off them, and dries them. From there, the items are moved over to the presses before they're ready to be returned to the owner.

Expanding on this, a How Stuff Works statement reads: "The term dry cleaning is a little misleading, in that it isn't actually dry. Instead, it means that instead of using soap and water, dry cleaning employs chemical solvents that remove dirt and grease and eliminate stains. "

Commenting on the video, one user asked: "Why is dry cleaning preferred over conventional water/detergent? Efficiency? Effectiveness?"

In response, another user answered: "I worked at a dry cleaner and dry cleaning is for clothes that shrink if they are washed in water. The dry cleaning chemical doesn’t shrink the clothes. The cleaners use water for shirts and pants that don’t shrink in water."

Another user said: "I am 53 and never knew how dry cleaning was actually done. Thank you for the education!" One more user added: "How cool. I never knew what dry cleaning entailed. Thank you."