Laundry Pros Say This Viral 'Unshrinking' Hack Is a Myth

The Viral Unshrinking Hack Everyone Is Trying — And Why It Doesn't Work

It has happened to nearly everyone at some point: you pull a favorite sweater, beloved T-shirt, or perfectly fitted pair of jeans out of the dryer only to discover they have transformed into something that would fit a child. In a panic, you turn to the internet and stumble upon a viral solution that promises to reverse the damage — usually involving baby shampoo, conditioner, or a similar formula soaked in lukewarm water. The before-and-after videos are convincing, the comments are full of grateful followers, and the method seems almost too simple to fail.

There is just one problem: laundry professionals say it is largely a myth.

Despite the millions of views these videos rack up on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, textile experts and professional cleaners are pushing back, warning consumers that soaking shrunken clothes in a baby shampoo solution will not truly restore them to their original size. Understanding why requires a brief look at what actually happens to fabric when it shrinks — and why the damage is often permanent.

What Actually Causes Clothes to Shrink?

To understand why the hack fails, you first need to understand the science of fabric shrinkage. Not all shrinkage is the same, and different types of fibers behave very differently under heat and agitation.

Felting Shrinkage

This type primarily affects animal-based fibers like wool, cashmere, and angora. Under the microscope, these fibers are covered in tiny scales. When exposed to heat, moisture, and mechanical agitation — exactly what a washing machine provides — those scales interlock and tangle together permanently. The fibers essentially mat into one another, making it structurally impossible to pull them back apart. This is the same process used intentionally to make felt fabric. Once felting shrinkage has occurred, the damage is irreversible. No amount of baby shampoo is going to un-tangle those fibers.

Relaxation Shrinkage

This type is more common in cotton, linen, and synthetic blends. During the manufacturing process, fabric is stretched and held under tension on large industrial looms. That tension remains built into the fibers. The first time the garment is washed and subjected to heat, the fibers relax and return to their natural, shorter state. This kind of shrinkage tends to happen once and stabilizes after the first or second wash. While less catastrophic than felting, the result is still a garment that no longer fits as it did when you bought it.

Consolidation Shrinkage

A combination of moisture and heat causes fibers to swell and then contract as they dry. Repeated washing and drying cycles can cause gradual, cumulative shrinkage over time that many people attribute to wear and tear rather than identifying it as shrinkage.

Why the Baby Shampoo Hack Seems to Work — But Doesn't

So where does the viral hack come from, and why do so many people swear by it? The typical method involves filling a basin with lukewarm water, adding a generous squirt of baby shampoo or hair conditioner, submerging the shrunken garment for about 30 minutes, then gently stretching the fabric by hand while it is still damp.

The key phrase there is "stretching by hand." Laundry professionals point out that any perceived results come almost entirely from the manual stretching — not from the baby shampoo formula itself. The soap or conditioner may help relax fibers very slightly and reduce surface tension in the water, making the wet fabric marginally more pliable. But the chemical solution is not reversing structural fiber damage. You are simply pulling wet fabric into a new shape, and once it dries and is washed again, it will likely return to its shrunken dimensions.

In other words, the hack does not unshrink your clothes. It temporarily distorts them.

What Laundry Experts Actually Recommend

Professional cleaners agree that prevention is the only truly reliable strategy. Once serious shrinkage has occurred — especially felting in wool — there is no home remedy that will undo it. Here is what the experts recommend instead.

Read the Care Labels

This sounds obvious, but most people skip it. Care labels exist for a reason. Wool, cashmere, silk, and delicate blends will almost always specify cold water washing, gentle cycles, or dry cleaning only. Ignoring these instructions is the number one cause of preventable shrinkage.

Use Cold Water for Most Loads

Hot water is the enemy of fabric integrity. Modern laundry detergents are formulated to work effectively in cold water, so there is little reason to use a hot setting for the majority of your laundry. Switching to cold can dramatically reduce shrinkage risk across all fiber types.

Skip the Dryer When Possible

The dryer is arguably more damaging than the washing machine when it comes to shrinkage. The intense, sustained heat combined with tumbling is a perfect recipe for felting and consolidation shrinkage. Air drying garments flat — especially knitwear and cotton — preserves their shape far better over time.

Use a Mesh Laundry Bag

For delicate items that do go in the machine, placing them in a mesh laundry bag reduces agitation significantly, lowering the risk of felting shrinkage in wool and fragile blends.

Know When to Take It to a Professional

For truly irreplaceable or high-value garments — a cashmere coat, a tailored blazer, a vintage piece — professional dry cleaning or wet cleaning is worth the investment. Professional cleaners use specialized equipment and solvents that minimize the thermal and mechanical stresses that cause shrinkage at home.

The Bottom Line

Viral laundry hacks are appealing precisely because they promise a simple fix for a frustrating problem. But the science of textile shrinkage is unforgiving: once fibers have felted or permanently contracted, no soaking solution will restore them. The best thing you can do for your wardrobe is to treat fabrics correctly before something goes wrong. Check your labels, lower your temperatures, and embrace air drying. Your clothes — and your wallet — will be better for it.

Next time you see a satisfying unshrinking video in your feed, appreciate it for the entertainment it is. Just do not expect the same results at home.