Care Guide

How to Prep and Wash Your First Cloth Pad

If this is your first reusable pad, the washing routine is probably the part you're most unsure about. Good news: it's simpler than it sounds — and once it's part of your routine it takes maybe two extra minutes a day.

N
Nilam — Wonder Pads Reusables 10 years on cloth pads · 8 years making them for others · Based in Singapore
Once it's part of your routine, this takes maybe two extra minutes a day. That's genuinely the whole thing.

Wash it before you wear it

Wash or soak your new pad once or twice before its first use. This isn't just about cleanliness — it actually activates the absorbency of the natural bamboo and organic cotton fibres. Straight out of the packet, the fibres haven't fully opened up yet, so that first wash makes a real difference in how well it performs from the start.

Three steps. That's it.

1
Rinse first — in cold water

As soon as you take the pad off, rinse it in clean, cold water until the water runs clear. This is the single most important step. Cold water stops stains from setting. Hot water does the opposite — it can cook the stain right into the fabric, making it much harder to remove later.

❄️ Cold water only for this step — always
2
Toss it in with your normal laundry

Once rinsed, it can go straight into your regular wash with your normal detergent. No special cycle needed, no separate load required. It lives alongside everything else.

3
Dry low and slow — or hang it up

Tumble dry on low, or hang dry if you can. Either works. Hang-drying is gentler on the fabric over time and costs nothing, but low heat is absolutely fine.

No fabric softener — ever

⚠ Important

It's tempting to toss in a softener for that fresh-laundry feel, but don't — not with cloth pads. Softeners work by coating fibres with a thin waxy layer. That's what makes towels fluffy. But on a pad, that coating quietly blocks the fabric's ability to absorb, reducing performance wash after wash without you ever noticing why. Normal detergent, no softener, and your pad will keep performing exactly the way it did on day one.


The whole routine at a glance

First use
Wash or soak once or twice to activate absorbency
After every wear
Rinse in cold water until clear
Wash
Normal detergent, regular laundry load
Dry
Low heat tumble dry or hang dry
Skip

That's genuinely the whole routine. If you've got a specific fabric or stain question that isn't covered here, feel free to reach out — happy to help.

Wonder Pads Reusables is a home-based, one-woman handmade cloth pad business based in Singapore. Custom orders open. Minimum order: none — try just one if you'd like to start.

Wonder Pads Reusables Singapore 🌿

×