It is common among hikers or walkers to pass through paths with grown weeds, and burrs are one of them. They badly stick to the clothes and even irritate the skin. It is hard to keep yourself safe from these sticky weeds, and the pain that comes with removing them is even more complicated.
The process is time-consuming and causes damage to the fabric of your clothes, but you can’t leave a burr on your clothes. In this guide, we have shared some effective and simple methods to get burrs out of clothes without ruining the fabric.
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How To Get Burrs Out of Clothes?
These sticky seeds, also known as burrs, grow on various plants, including burdock, cocklebur, Queen Anne’s lace, foxtail, and beggar's ticks. You can avoid getting in touch with these plants to prevent burrs from sticking to your clothes, but you may confront them unknowingly during hiking.
Even if, with great care, some burrs stick to your clothes and shoes, we have some methods to get rid of them. Follow any of these methods, and if one doesn’t work for you, try the other one but don’t forget to learn about safety tips.
Method 1: Wash Clothes With Hot Water
Undoubtedly, burrs are annoying, and removing them is more frustrating. Without getting rid of them, your entire skin will get itchy, causing rashes and skin irritation. But can you get burrs out of clothes in a washer? Let’s find out.
Though burrs stick to clothes with tiny hooked prongs that aren’t easy to detach, washing clothes seems a good initiative. Here are a few steps to follow to wash clothes:
- Before putting clothes into the washer, remove as many burrs by hand as possible. But be careful not to hurt yourself.
- Turn on the delicate cycle on your washer by keeping the water level and temperature high.
- Add a good detergent suitable for the cloth fabric.
- Turn on the wash cycle and remove clothes to put inside the dryer.
- Once dried, find the remaining burrs, if any, for removal.
If a bunch of burrs sticks to your clothes, washing may not be helpful. Instead of soaking clothes in the machine, get a large tub or bucket to fill with hot water. Add clothes to it for some time, and you will see burrs floating on the water.
Later allow clothes to dry under the sun, and burrs will fall on their own after drying. If it doesn’t help, try the next method.
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Method 2: Use A Plastic Toothed Comb
It might seem weird, but a toothed comb can do wonders in removing burrs from clothes. We do not recommend using a metallic comb to avoid damaging your clothes. Here is how you can get burrs out of clothes with a comb:
- Place your clothes on a flat surface.
- Hold the cloth tightly and gently run the comb over the fabric to loosen the burrs.
- Burrs with get inside the teeth of the comb, and you can flick the comb to remove them.
- Grab a paper towel or tissue paper to clean the comb and throw burrs at a place from where they can not get back on your clothes.
- Keep repeating this till all burrs are removed from clothes.
Method 3:Use Duct Tape to Remove Burrs
You might have never considered using duct tape for purposes other than repair. But the sticky nature of duct tape can also help you pick out burrs. If some spikes of burr are left on clothes after the comb method, duct tape will remove any tiny piece of them.
- Place your clothes on a flat surface.
- Trap a piece of duct tape around your hand by keeping the sticky sides outside.
- Once duct tape is looped around the hand, start dabbing it over the burrs.
- The burrs will stick on the tape, and the whole cloth will get cleaned.
- Remove tape from your hand and throw it somewhere you can’t get burrs back.
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Method 4: Get Burrs Out of Clothes With Pliers Or Tweezers
Though this is a time taking method, as you will pick burrs individually, you can try it at your convenience. You can do it by following ways.
- Place your cloth on a flat surface.
- Keep a bucket or bin to collect burrs after picking them out of clothes.
- Use pliers or tweezers to pick burrs one by one without touching them.
There is the possibility that some burr spikes may leave behind. We recommend using this method as a finishing touch after trying other methods.
Method 5: Invest In A Burr Removal Tool
If you didn’t get rid of burrs from clothes after trying all tips and tricks, grab some special burr-removing tools from the market. These tools are specifically designed to remove burrs without disrupting the fabric.
Some most common tools are Burzoff and Burr Paw. Burzoff should only be used on rough clothes, shoes, and socks. On the other hand, Burr Paw is safe to use on any cloth due to its non-abrasive mitten and puncture resistance.
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Things You Should Avoid To Get Burrs Out of Clothes
The methods we have described to get burrs out of clothes are highly effective. Still, we have some additional safety tips for you, too, so you can continue the process without getting negative consequences. Here are a few things and methods you should never try to remove burrs from clothes:
Metallic comb
Never use a metallic comb to remove burrs, as it will badly damage the fabric of your clothes. However, if the fabric isn’t delicate, such as removing burr from shoes or rags, you can use a metallic comb.
Razor Blade
You may think using a sharp object will help in the easy removal of burrs, but this isn’t right. Razor will only remove some parts of burrs while leaving spike behind. Also, if you rub the razor harder, it will cut your clothes.
Tearing Clothes By Aggressive Pulling
Be careful when removing the tape from clothes using the duct tape method. If you pull it with extra force, you will tear your clothes, which might not be what you want.
Keeping Clothes With Or Without Burr Together
If your hiking clothes have burrs, do not put them with other clothes, as these sticky seeds will stick to other clothes too. Keep such clothes separate, and arrange them together once all burrs are removed.
How To Avoid Burrs Getting On Your Clothes?
Getting burrs on clothes can ruin your hiking experience, and removing them is also troublesome. The best practice is to avoid contacting these weeds containing sticky seeds.
Here are some tips that can help you avoid burrs getting on your clothes:
- Choose a path for hiking where such plants are not present. Stick to that path, and you will not find these plants.
- Though there is the possibility of any one kind of these plants, you must educate yourself about the plants to avoid them during your journey.
- You can also try burr-resistant or less susceptible clothes to avoid burrs getting on them. Though no cloth is 100% burr resistant, at least you can wear something less fluffy to catch burr.
- Denim is good due to thickness and will remain damage free even if burrs get on it.
- Mud suits or rain jackets are also safe to use that repel burrs. But you can not wear such clothes in hot weather.
- Leather shoes are also better and more durable in preventing invasion by burrs.
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FAQs
How To Get Burrs Out Of Skin?
If a tiny spike of burr gets into your skin, use duct tape, packaging tape, or anything sticky for removal. You can also use hair-removing wax for this purpose. Tweeters are also helpful in picking out spicules from the skin.
Do Burrs Wash Out Of Clothes?
Washing clothes in a washer will help remove burrs from clothes. Setting your washer on a delicate cycle and keeping the temperature and water hot will help the easy removal of burrs.
Wrapping Up
As soon as burrs get on your clothes, try to get rid of them. Wash your clothes and leave them to dry so burrs get easy to remove. You can use a comb or duct tape to get burrs out of clothes for more convenience.
Next time you go hiking, try your best to avoid plants with sticky seeds. You must also keep your pets safe from getting infected by these tiny spikes. We hope the tips and tricks will help you maintain your fluffy clothes after removing the burrs.
