How to Wash Scrubs — The Complete Care Guide for Medical Scrubs

Your scrubs take a beating. Between 12-hour shifts, clinical contamination, high-temperature washing and daily wear, a set of scrubs that isn't properly cared for will fade, shrink and fall apart within months. A set that is properly cared for will last two to three years of daily clinical use — saving you hundreds of dollars in replacement costs and keeping your uniform looking professional throughout.

We've been supplying Australian healthcare workers with Dickies, Cherokee and Wink scrubs since 2001. This guide covers everything — wash temperatures, detergent choices, drying methods, stain removal and what actually happens to scrubs in hospital laundry cycles. The advice is brand-specific where it matters, because Dickies EDS, Cherokee Infinity and Wink W123 are made from different fabrics and have different care requirements.

What temperature should you wash scrubs?

Scrubs used in clinical environments should be washed at a minimum of 60°C to meet infection control standards. At 60°C, most bacteria, viruses and fungi are effectively inactivated — this is the temperature recommended by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and referenced in Australian Standard AS/NZS 4146 for healthcare linen processing. If your facility requires you to launder your own scrubs rather than using an institutional service, 60°C is the minimum standard to work to.

However, not all scrub fabrics handle 60°C equally well. The key variable is fabric composition:

Which detergent should you use for scrubs — and what to avoid?

A standard laundry detergent — powder or liquid — is all you need for scrubs. There is no need to use specialist healthcare detergent for home laundering; the combination of detergent chemistry and wash temperature does the infection control work. Use the normal recommended dose for your machine and load size. More detergent does not mean cleaner scrubs — it means detergent residue in the fabric, which can cause skin irritation and dull the colour over time.

The most important thing to avoid is fabric softener. This applies to all scrubs, but especially to performance polyester fabrics like Cherokee Infinity and Wink Boundless. Fabric softener coats fibres with a waxy residue that degrades spandex elasticity, reduces moisture-wicking performance, and over repeated washes creates a build-up that makes fabric feel heavy and look dull. If your scrubs have lost their stretch or moisture-wicking properties, fabric softener is usually the culprit.

Avoid bleach on coloured scrubs entirely. Chlorine bleach will strip colour, weaken fabric fibres and degrade elastic over time. If you need a sanitising boost beyond standard detergent, add a hospital-grade laundry sanitiser (like Dettol Laundry Sanitiser) to the wash cycle rather than reaching for bleach. For whites and lights where bleach has historically been used, consider an oxygen-based whitener instead — it achieves a similar result without the fibre damage.

Also avoid washing scrubs with heavily soiled household items — towels that shed lint, denim that transfers colour, or items that require a cold wash cycle. Scrubs should go through their own dedicated wash at the right temperature.

Step-by-step scrub washing process

Follow this process for every clinical wash to get the longest life from your scrubs and meet infection control requirements.

Stain removal for medical scrubs — blood, iodine, betadine and clinical stains

Clinical environments produce stains that domestic laundry guides don't cover well. Here's how to handle the most common ones healthcare workers deal with.

Drying scrubs — tumble dry vs line dry

Both tumble drying and line drying are appropriate for scrubs — the difference is in what each method does to the fabric over time.

Tumble drying on medium heat is convenient and produces scrubs that come out soft and relatively wrinkle-free. The risk is heat damage over repeated cycles — particularly to spandex fibres in stretch scrubs, which gradually lose their elastic recovery with repeated high-heat tumble drying. Always use medium heat rather than high, and remove scrubs promptly when the cycle ends to avoid heat sitting in the drum. For cotton-rich scrubs, tumble drying at medium heat also causes gradual shrinkage that compounds over time.

Line drying in shade is the gentlest option for scrub longevity and colour retention. Shade is important — UV exposure from direct sunlight fades coloured scrubs faster than washing does. Navy, Teal and Charcoal scrubs are particularly susceptible to UV fading. If you line-dry, smooth seams and pockets flat before hanging to minimise wrinkles, and turn scrubs inside out for the same reason.

Which scrubs survive hospital and commercial laundry?

If your facility launders your scrubs through an institutional or commercial laundry service, the conditions are significantly more aggressive than home washing. Commercial laundry cycles typically run at 70–85°C with industrial detergents, chlorine-based sanitisers, high-speed extraction and industrial tumble drying. Most home-use scrubs are not designed for this — and the fabric breakdown that results is not a manufacturer defect, it's a compatibility issue between the fabric construction and the laundry process.

The scrubs that handle commercial laundering best share two characteristics: high polyester content and high-quality dye fixation. Polyester holds colour and shape under elevated temperatures and chlorine exposure far better than cotton. The dye fixation matters because commercial laundry detergents are more chemically aggressive than domestic ones — scrubs with reactive dyes or lower-quality pigment dyes will fade noticeably faster in commercial cycles.

If your workplace uses a commercial laundry service and you're choosing new scrubs, Cherokee Infinity and Wink Boundless are the right choice for longevity. For home laundering, all brands perform well when cared for correctly.

Brand-by-brand care guide — Dickies, Cherokee and Wink

Each brand has specific care considerations based on its fabric construction. Here's what you need to know for the scrubs you're actually wearing.

How long should scrubs last — and when to replace them?

High-quality scrubs from Cherokee, Dickies and Wink, cared for correctly, should last two to three years of daily clinical use — that's 250–300+ wash cycles. The key variables are fabric quality, wash temperature compliance and whether fabric softener is avoided. Scrubs washed at higher temperatures than their care label specifies, or regularly washed with fabric softener, will degrade in half that time.

The professional standard for uniform rotation is three to four sets per person in active clinical use — enough to always have a fresh, laundered set available without running any individual set through daily washing. With three sets rotating, each set is washed roughly every three days rather than every day, which extends garment life significantly.

For clinic teams managing a uniform program, a practical replacement schedule is to replace each staff member's full set of scrubs every 18–24 months regardless of visible wear — this keeps colour consistency consistent across the team and eliminates the gradual drift of individuals wearing scrubs at different stages of fade. Contact our Business Orders team for bulk replacement pricing and account management for ongoing clinic programs.

Frequently Asked Questions