You Can ‘Dust’ Curtains in Your Dryer

Curtains can go a long way toward making a room feel homier, while helping to regulate the amount of natural light coming in. But given that they’re long pieces of fabric hanging in the same place for months, or in some cases, years at a time, they tend to collect dust.

Depending on the material they’re made out of and the amount of dust that has accumulated on them, you may have luck using a vacuum attachment to remove most of the dust from your curtains. Or, you might try that method and find that it only makes matters worse, spreading the dust around so it’s an even bigger mess than before rather than getting rid of it.

Either way, there’s another method you may want to consider the next time your curtains need to be refreshed: Using your dryer to “dust” them. Here’s what to know.

How to ‘dust’ your curtains in the dryer

Even if your curtains aren’t machine-washable, you should be able to “dust” them in the dryer without a problem. According to the cleaning experts at Consumer Reports, you can simply toss the curtains in the dryer and run them through the no-heat cycle.

Other sources suggest putting the curtains in the dryer with a damp towel, and using the air-fluff setting with the heat turned off for about 20 minutes. The idea behind including the damp towel is that it should attract all the dust, human and pet hair, and other debris and particles, removing them from the curtains.

Regardless of which method you choose, set a timer or turn on the machine’s signal so you know when the cycle is done, and can remove them from the dryer and hang them up right away. Allowing them to sit in the dryer could cause them to wrinkle.