How to Wash Your Lab Coat When You Live in a Share House
There's no family washing machine at the end of the hallway anymore — there's a $4 coin machine in the basement, a laundromat three suburbs away, or a dryer that eats socks. Here's how to keep a lab coat clean when the laundry situation is, frankly, chaos.
Why the Wash Actually Matters More at Uni
Your lab coat isn't uniform — it's PPE. It absorbs whatever you worked with: chemical splashes, biological samples, food residue. Washing it regularly isn't about looking tidy in your 9am prac, it's about not carrying this week's chemistry experiment into next week's — or into your bedroom.
The rule most unis give: if it's been splashed, wash it before you wear it again. A coat that looks clean but isn't is worse than a visibly dirty one, because you trust it.
The Basic Wash, Student Edition
- Wash it separately — especially a white coat, and especially the first few washes. Nothing ruins a white lab coat like your housemate's new black hoodie
- Check the care label on the coat and follow it — it's sewn in for a reason
- Hot wash after chemical or biological labs — when your prac involved anything you shouldn't be wearing home, use the hottest cycle the care label allows
- Skip the fabric softener on workwear — it can coat the fibres and reduce how well the fabric handles future spills
- Hang it to dry where you can — a coat on a door handle overnight beats a rushed dryer cycle that shrinks it
The Laundromat Playbook
- Take your own detergent — laundromat dispensers are expensive and you don't know what's in them
- Wash the coat with whites only — or on its own. One coat is a small load; you don't need a big machine
- Check the machine drum first — leftover dye from someone's red sheet wash and your white lab coat are a tragedy waiting to happen
- Don't overload — a crammed machine cleans badly, and a badly rinsed coat can hold residue
Keeping a White Coat White (in a World of Shared Machines)
White coats go grey from three things: washing them with colours, washing them dirty (stains set), and hard-water grime in old machines. The fixes are simple — wash it with whites, wash it promptly after labs, and hang it in daylight to dry rather than baking it in a coin-operated dryer every time.
Navy coats ($27) hide the wear much better — if your course allows navy, it's the lower-maintenance option for the laundry-averse.
When a Coat Is Done
A lab coat is a consumable, not a forever garment. If a coat has chemical staining you can't wash out, damage to the fabric, or a smell that survives three washes — replace it. At $24 ex GST, a fresh coat each year of your degree costs less than one textbook chapter.
Quick Answers
Can I wash it with my normal clothes? Not ideal — lab coats should be washed separately from everyday clothes so anything picked up in the lab doesn't transfer to what you wear to class.
How often? After any lab where it got splashed, and otherwise every couple of weeks of regular wear.
Coin dryer or air dry? Air dry when you can. If you must use a dryer, use a low-heat cycle and check the care label first.
Where to Get a Fresh Coat
Browse the Shop — white and navy lab coats from $24 ex GST, XXS to 3XL, shipped anywhere in Australia. Questions? Contact us.