Why Not Give Home Dry Cleaning A Shot

If you’ve never tried it before, why not give home dry cleaning a shot.

DO IT YOURSELF | So this is what it feels like to be taken to the cleaners. For the tidy sum of $17.25, I had a beloved blouse ruined by the professionals. It came home from the dry cleaners with an unusually strong chemical smell that no amount of airing out seemed to diminish—it was enough to finally make me try a home dry cleaning product.

When I decided to try Dryel, my stinky blouse was an obvious choice for testing.  It had been hanging sadly packed away since its return from the cleaners, not dirty, just unwearable. However, it was hard finding other clothing to test; who wants to risk delicate clothes to a spin in the dryer (Dryel uses the heat of your dryer to steam clean your garments). I finally convinced my daughter to donate a rayon cardigan and, against my better judgment, decided to throw in one of my favourite black dresses.

What’s In The {Dryel} Bag?

The Dryel Starter Kit ($16.99 at London Drugs) comes with a zip-up fabric bag, four dryer-activated moist cloths, a bottle of stain remover and four absorbent pads, and promises to safely clean 16 dry-clean-only garments if used as directed. I followed the instructions to a T, and happily the clothes emerged from the dryer 30 minutes later fresh smelling and soft to the touch. Since all the clothes were black, it was hard to tell if they were clean exactly, but my blouse was wearable again, and my daughter, an instant convert, was rifling through her closet looking for more clothes to donate to the experiment.

Next in were four light-coloured sweaters of various materials—cotton, silk, rayon and wool. One had an old stain of undetermined origin that I pretreated with the stain remover included. All four sweaters were noticeably brighter after the treatment and all visible dirt around the cuffs was gone. The stain had lightened somewhat, but I must concede that serious stains may be best left to the professionals.

Dryel is fast and easy to use—you toss up to four garments into the fabric bag with a moist cleaning cloth and dry for 30 minutes on medium. It’s perfect for lightly soiled clothing or anything you dry clean often. The refills are six to a pack (also $16.99), so after the initial purchase of the kit you can clean roughly 24 garments for the price of one. Reader, that’s spending smart.—Terri Brandmueller

The Dryel Starter Kit is available at London Drugs for $16.99, londondrugs.com. We also found several websites offering Dryel coupons: search “Dryel coupons.”

Photo: Casey Phaisalakani