Have you ever wondered what makes dry cleaning different from hand washing or normal machine washing? I know I have.

So I set out on some investigative blogging to reveal what really happens when you send your garments off to the dry cleaners.

Dry cleaning is a cleaning process for clothes and other textiles without the use of water, although, in this laundering method, clothes actually get wet. Tricky little name.

As opposed to soaking the clothing and textiles in water, dry cleaning uses a special chemical solution, called perchlorethylene (abbreviates as perc), that washes away all dirt, stains and other messes.

During the dry cleaning process, the clothes go into a large capacity machine (normally with a maximum capacity of 50 pounds). The clothing and textiles tumble around in the main cleaning basket with the dry cleaning solution. The machine starts by removing the surface soil then rotates to penetrate deeply into the fabric fibers.

After completing the cleaning process, the clothes remain in the same machine and dry completely in the tumble dry setting. Once dry, the clothes and textiles receive a professional pressing to remove all creases and wrinkles.