Scrub-A-Dub Those Scrubs

Navy_blue_scrubs_top_on_hanger2

Our laundry bag has seen things. It speaks of horrors of the tomato-lined entrails of jeans pockets, shaken loose just a little too late. Or that piece of chewed-up gum that fell out of someone’s mouth in the car—and no one found it—but somehow the laundry bag did.

Now it appears that our laundry bag has lived long enough to see scrubs for the first time.

Actually, I was more shocked than the laundry bag. I found some dark blue pajama-like things and remembered that Alex got scrubs as part of his new summer job. He’s working at an optometrist’s office as a doctor’s technician, and that’s the uniform—some sturdy navy-blue scrubs—and I didn’t know how to wash them, and I did not want to screw this up.

Here’s what I imagined:

–Shredded scrubs

–Shrunken scrubs

–Disease-infested scrubs

My first instinct was to boil the heck out of them in really, really hot, sudsy water, but apparently, that is not what you do. Hot water will set stains into the scrubs. (For the record, I have not seen any stains on Alex’s scrubs, not even from an impromptu barbecue run he did for lunch one day.)

So, depending on which internet article you read in a panic (there are plenty), you can wash scrubs, turned inside out, in warm or cold water with a heavy-duty detergent and add a little white vinegar to the mix as well. They can then be dried on low heat to prevent shrinking. There are also separate instructions for disinfecting scrubs, but I’ll leave those up to Alex. AND: the scrubs should be washed separately and not with the other laundry—though it’s super tempting to throw everything together. Wearing surgical gloves is probably recommended as well.

But I won’t have to rinse and repeat, so to speak. Alex only has a few sets of scrubs, so he’s washing them on non Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks laundry days. That way, I never have to touch those things again—though they don’t seem to get too dirty because it’s rare that anyone’s eye suddenly vomits—at least not during Alex’s shift. I can only hope that eye-vomiting doesn’t happen during his shift.

Your Turn: Do you have a favorite laundry day tip, trick, or nightmare? Share it!

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Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

25 thoughts on “Scrub-A-Dub Those Scrubs”

    1. Interesting observation–I’m scanning articles on the web that say they’re used for sterile environments in many health professions–and sometimes to stand out and be more visible to others in a health environment.

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      1. Didn’t nurses’ uniforms do the same thing back in the day? That said, I can see how wearing nonrestrictive clothing would make caring for patients a bit easier.

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  4. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I am the laziest laundry-doer in the History of humanity. My “method” is pretty simple (consider that I only do my own laundry, so): I’ll handwash sensitive items, and throw everything else but towels in the quick cycle. I’ve never had to wash scrubs, though, so there’s that! Also, congrats to Alex on his new job! I hope he’s enjoying it!

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  8. I’m very familiar with scrub washing because Kate has tons of scrubs from being in vet tech school . Now that she’s working in a vet clinic though, she has to wear the clinic scrubs so all the cute ones we gave her are languishing in the closet. Congrats to Alex–what a cool-sounding job!

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  9. They have to be washed separately from everything else? That does sound like a pain. I’d be tempted to forego that because how infested with disease can they be at an optometrist’s office? And, does that imply that your washing with other clothes would infect other clothes? Does the washing not get ALL the clothes clean and disease-free? Why are scrubs made with the material they’re made of? Does it somehow repel germs? If so, why aren’t all clothes made that way? Why doesn’t everyone wear scrubs all the time? Think how easy that would be to impersonate a doctor when you want to visit a hospitalized loved one after hours? Or sneak out the good guy on a gurney before the hitmen arrive? This post is bringing up so many questions!

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    1. I didn’t know this post could spark so many questions, but hey! These are all good ones. Alex is washing his own scrubs on non-official Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks laundry days, so I guess he’ll figure these things out. 🙂

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