Will earphones work after they’ve been through the washing machine?

Will earphones work after they've been through the washing machine?

Now this is a totally unscientific study, based on just two pair of earphones,  but so far we can confidently state that, yes, earphones will work just fine after they’ve had a spin with your dirty undies and socks.

They may well smell mountain fresh and feel nicely conditioned after a 40 degree non-coloured cycle, but the trick is to dry them out before plugging them straight back in.

In our case, we just stuck them on a radiator and let them dry out over night, and the next morning everything worked just fine, including the in-line remote control.

You may not be so lucky, but it definitely worked for us – which is a relief because the earphones weren’t cheap.

Blokes still dropping their phones down the toilet en masse - help on hand

For a more detailed guide in getting water-soaked electronic items back to life, check out our guide here: Dropped your phone down the loo? Don’t panic!.

In case you were wondering, the headphones in question were a pair of  Dr Dre in-ear headphones forHTC Sensation XE XL and RHA MA-350 In-Ear Earphones.

About mike s

Editor, wirefresh.com

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16 Comments on “Will earphones work after they’ve been through the washing machine?”

  1. My pair of headphones went through the wash today.. and I tried using it. One side is dead and I put it inside a bag of rice. Will it survive?

  2. My Klipsch earbuds that cost me $100 got washed then dried. They were in the nylon case that came with them. They still work fine

  3. I washed and dried my apple earbuds on accident because they were in my pocket… Tangled as hell but worked completely fine… Plus all the earwax was gone and it smelled nice and was clean

  4. Mine survived hopefully, I was scared my Apple earphones wouldn’t work thankfully nothing happend to bad at least it smelt really good afterwards I guess 🙂

  5. I had a similar situation I had no idea that my s6 edge earphones was still in my pocket and that washed and left for a few days and they are working totally fine.

  6. I just washed my earphones in the afternoon then immediately put it in a bag of uncooked rice…. will it work after? Should I leave it overniggt or more then that??

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