Washing labels aren't always the most straightforward to read, and if you don't know what they mean you could end up ruining your clothes. Thankfully the symbols they use are (mostly) universal, so ...

A bucket with lines underneath – This symbol should be followed carefully. This tells you what spin cycle to choose for your ...

Almost all the washing symbols will be based on an image that looks like a bowl of water. The only one that doesn’t look like this is the do not wring symbol, which resembles a twisted garment ...

Here are the other clothes symbols and what they mean: Washing The washing symbol is usually the first symbol on your care label. It is easy to spot as it looks like a water-filled bucket.