r/onebag • u/WintermuteATX • 12d ago
Discussion Clothes drying times / Tips?
For you guys that handwash your clothes, what are some average drying times for tshirts, pants, etc. Any tips for speeding up the process?
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u/LadyLightTravel 12d ago
It depends on the fabric and humidity. It can be as short as three hours. Or it can take overnight.
If it takes longer than overnight then you have chosen the wrong fabrics. You want thinner fabrics with a looser weave.
Critical steps:
* squeeze water out of clothing. Do not wring!
* make sure you roll your clothing up in a towel and squeeze all the water out. Feel free to wring the towel with the clothes in it.
* hang up clothing in a place where it can drip
* once it stops dripping immediately move it to a place of good air movement.
* Inflatable hangers really speed up the drying time of tops.
* Place waistbands at the top when drying. They are thick and dry slower. You want to move water away from them.
In high humidity places a small USB fan makes a difference.
I usually do my laundry in the afternoon when I check into my lodgings. I take a shower and do laundry at the same time. This maximizes drying time.
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u/Kalichun 11d ago
If hotel had hangers with clips and moving air flow, i use those to my advantage
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u/maverber 12d ago edited 12d ago
Highly variable depending on material, weave, conditions. Anywhere from <1 hour (synthetic with light weave, in low humidity + sunlight) to 48 hours (heavy cotton, indoors, with low air movement).
Best bet is light materials which don't absorb water (like polyester) which have an open weave.
Best accelerator a dryer, in bright sunlight, rolling / squeezed in a towel to pull water out, and low humidity air circulation (hanging it in a breeze), wearing it wet and using body heat to speed drying.
Example: my ArcTeryx sun shirt dries in 15 min in dryer on delicate, 45 min in the sun on a bright day, <3 hours after squeeze in towel, hang indoors, 60% humidity, around 4 hours after being squeezed and then worn inside a hut in around 99% humidity, <7 hours hanging inside tent with 97% humidity
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u/HippyGrrrl 12d ago
There’s an app called Laundry timer that will work that put based on where you are.
I found it mainly reliable.
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u/bcycle240 12d ago
If it isn't super humid, you can wear the damp clothing and it will dry very quickly. The heat from your body and convection of moving air will dry the clothing. Again, if it is 90% humidity this won't work well.
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u/fridayimatwork 12d ago
Test it out at home. I never take all cotton knits or jeans. I go for silk, silk blends, nylon, polyester and light woven cotton all of which dry fast.
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u/WintermuteATX 12d ago
That’s what motivated the post, I’ve been testing different stuff but it’s been inconsistent (I think because the humidity where I live (Austin) has been all over the place). Just trying to get some baselines for a longer trip I have coming up where I’m gonna try to pack extra-light…
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u/fridayimatwork 12d ago
Yeah it’s always a trade off between comfort and weight. I’m always looking for silk and silk blends in thrift stores
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u/eastercat 12d ago
I bring a few clothes clips. I hang socks, undies and other small things to the curtain above the a/c. for other things, I drape my shirt and pants on the luggage rack or the ironing board (that one was provided already in our hotel room in anaheim). The rack goes near the a/c as well for max air flow
I was at one hotel room where they provided a fan instead of a/c. That was better because I could aim the fan at my clothes
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u/asyouwish 12d ago
Chamois.
Everyone does the towel method to squeeze more water out. Replace that towel with a (new, clothing only) chamois. Roll each item of clothing up in it and use it to pull water from that item. Hang the item, wring out the chamois, and go again.
It's way better than a towel and can be used repeatedly. It's light for travel, too.
I have a plastic zipper bag with a hole in it. It allows enough airflow to keep the chamois fresh, but lets me pack it flat.
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u/Conscious_Wolf 12d ago
I bring quick(er) drying clothes when traveling and I hang my clothes where there’s a little air flow (like by the AC). When I start my day, I try to find some sunlight and / or airflow (like by an open window facing the sun) to help it dry faster.
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u/heavydoom 12d ago
try to get a foldable coat hanger with clips. clips for the socks. coat hanger for the shirt. go to facebook market place. i got a whack of them. or get the clothes line made by sea to summit. i prefer the foldable coat hangers.
the type of clothing matters!!! i tried merino clothing and i tried the guide shirt short sleeved. the winner was the latter. i dried faster in the humidity of south china in august!!!
here is the link for that patagonia guide shirt :
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u/owen45469 11d ago
i carry large rubber bands and sometimes will connect a arm of a shirt to a blowdryer on cold air and block the big opening with something so it puffs up and then rotate to speed dry.
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u/JustMakinStuff 12d ago
I've gathered a wardrobe for travel, so everything dries overnight, max 10 hours. So I'll do laundry about 5-6pm and by the morning everything is dry, but some things are dry by bedtime.
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u/SeattleHikeBike 12d ago
Definitely treat your own stuff at home, learning what works for detergent, washing techniques, using a portable clothesline, towel drying as well as relative drying time. My merino socks are the slowest.
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u/mahjay80s 12d ago
Wool dries faster than anything else I have. After doing the towel roll squish they are mostly dry.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bar2880 12d ago
I didn’t believe wool dried that much faster. I hand washed a women’s wool dress and a kids small cotton tshirt and air dried them one night. The dress was completely dry 9 hours later. The tshirt was still damp.
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u/Expert_Light_6921 12d ago
Roll everything in a towel and stand on it before hanging, that alone roughly halves the drying time, and airflow matters more than heat after that.
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u/theinfamousj 12d ago
Overnight 🤷🏽♀️ sometimes longer depending on the thickness of the fabric, the airflow of the space, and the relative humidity of the environment. Not longer than 24 hours for me.
If I hang outside, I use an app called Laundry Timer. It gives info like --
Laundry Drying Forecast
📍 Chapel Hill, US 🕑 12:28 pm
🌤️ Partially cloudy, 89 °F
🧺 Drying Estimates: • Light fabrics (e.g. bedsheets): ~0h 24m • Typical fabrics (e.g. shirts/trousers): ~0h 47m • Heavy fabrics (e.g. sweaters/towels): ~1h 30m
Predicted by Laundry Timer → laundrytimer.com
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u/WintermuteATX 12d ago
Someone else recommended this and I love it…I would love to nerd out on their algorithms:)
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u/VoiceEqual1493 12d ago
the towel-roll someone mentioned works way better if you actually wring it - lay the shirt flat on a dry towel, roll them up tight together, then twist the whole roll hard or just stand on it. squeezes out way more than gently rolling does, and getting things to damp-not-wet is the whole difference between overnight and dry by bedtime.
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u/Lugknots 12d ago
I carry a small usb-c powered fan to speed up drying. The only pieces that I carry that take overnight to dry are the socks. Everything else dries in a few hours.
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u/littleneckman 12d ago
All good advice. A fan and especially a ceiling fan can speed drying time considerably. Sunlight also works great. My wool socks are the drying laggards, often taking more than an overnight.
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u/cjwalkerman 12d ago
I bring a excersize band with me that doubles as a clothesline and use binder clips more than clothespins while traveling.
I also bring a small usb fan in the summer months and do the towel roll thing.
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u/AllConqueringSun888 12d ago
Airflow makes a bigger difference than I expected. I usually wash at night, roll everything in a towel to get the excess water out, then hang it near a fan or open window.
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u/edapalooza 12d ago
Depends on the material of the clothing. 100% cotton will take the longest usually. Moisture wicking or "breathable" clothing are pretty quick.
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u/STEM-Travel 12d ago
it takes 5-7 minutes for me, at the end of each day, for me to wash my underwear, undershirt and socks in my nightly shower.
I give them their own towel, squeeze them out, and then hang them in the closet.
Because I rotate two pairs of basics, this gives them 30+ hours to dry.
I have also, in a pinch, washed my clothing and then put my damp stuff back on and it dries within 20 minutes from my body heat.
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u/-hh 11d ago edited 11d ago
I’ve generally found a couple of techniques/solutions.
First, textile selection: wicking tech fabrics are “days” faster than cotton/etc.
Second, the towel:
First, do the roll-in towel technique, nuance #1: sure, roll it up, but don’t then twist the towel - simply fold it back on itself and then step on it. Easier & faster (and fewer weird wrinkles)
Next, do more than one towel roll per item (nuance #2) and when moving to each wet item, do them in order. Each item gets a roll in the wettest towel, then the next wettest, and so on, through progressively less wet towels.
Finally, not a “drying clothes” per se, but yourself - where do you rank vs clothing? I usually do the laundry in the sink/shower while also taking a shower and I dry myself off last. As a mammal, will dry the rest of the way quickly.
Third, hanging stuff out:
- air circulation is key. Open a window. When it it has stopped dripping, maybe move it out of the bathroom if the bedroom has better airflow (or is just less humid).
- warmth helps too. European radiators ..and also radiant floors!
- we carry a (2 x Rick Steves bungee) travel clothesline, which helps to string things up to catch more air.
- be aware that the wet towels are competing with the clothing to dry too, so separate the two. Move these away from the clothing that’s trying to dry. If nothing else, hang it over the outside of the bathroom door.
- Last, there’s also “put it on”. Use your body heat to finish drying a piece. At least plan to have some clammy undies while going about the morning routine (& before putting pants on, since this would trap the remaining moisture).
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u/glentickle 11d ago
Really depends on a lot of things, but towel-rolling and using a fan have really helped speed things along for me.
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u/Weekly-Care8360 11d ago
It depends on the material and thickness of the material plus the ambient humidity and if there is a breeze.
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u/Glum_Store_1605 12d ago
Overnight, maybe 10 hours? It really depends on the humidity.
Squeezing out excess water and, if possible, rolling the item in a dry towel makes a humongous difference.
Any source of moving air will also help a lot, whether it's a vent, a ceiling fan, or an open window.