“Casual” and “permanent press” are the same cycle. Some washer and dryer manufacturers label it “Permanent Press,” others call it “Casual,” and a few use “Wrinkle Control.” Regardless of the name on your machine’s dial, the cycle does the same thing: it washes your clothes in warm water with gentler agitation and finishes with a cool rinse to keep wrinkles from setting into the fabric.
How the Cycle Works in the Washer
The permanent press (or casual) wash cycle has three defining features that set it apart from a normal wash. First, it uses warm water during the wash phase, which is hot enough to clean effectively but not so hot that it bakes creases into synthetic or blended fabrics. Second, it runs a slower spin speed than the normal cycle, which means clothes come out less twisted and compressed. Third, and most importantly, it ends with a longer cool-down spray rinse. This extended cool rinse gradually lowers the temperature of the fabric so wrinkles don’t lock in during the transition from warm water to the spin.
A normal or heavy-duty cycle, by comparison, uses hotter water and a faster, more aggressive spin. That combination is great for heavily soiled towels or cotton work clothes, but it can leave dress shirts, blouses, and synthetic fabrics looking like they were balled up and stuffed in a drawer.
How It Works in the Dryer
On the dryer side, the permanent press or casual setting uses medium heat for most of the cycle, then automatically switches to a cool-down period at the end. This cool-down phase tumbles clothes in unheated or low-heat air for several minutes before the cycle finishes. The idea is the same as the cool rinse in the washer: bringing the fabric temperature down gradually prevents heat-set wrinkles from forming while the clothes sit still in the drum.
If you’ve ever pulled a load from the dryer and found everything creased because it sat in a hot, motionless pile, the cool-down phase is designed to avoid exactly that. Removing clothes promptly when the cycle ends still helps, but the built-in cool-down gives you a buffer.
Why the Cycle Exists
Wrinkle-resistant fabric treatments have been around since 1929, when cotton was first treated with chemical finishes to reduce creasing. By the 1950s, synthetics and treated cotton were marketed as “wash-and-wear,” meaning you could skip the iron. In the 1960s and 1970s, improved chemical treatments made permanent-press fabrics widely available at low cost. Washing machines and dryers added dedicated cycles to match, protecting those wrinkle-resistant finishes by avoiding the high heat and rough agitation that could undo them.
Older machines sometimes sprayed moisture during the spin cycle to keep permanent press fabrics above a certain moisture threshold, reducing wrinkling even further. Modern machines achieve a similar result with the extended cool rinse and gentler spin speeds.
What to Wash on This Cycle
This cycle is built for everyday clothing that you’d rather not iron: button-up shirts, blouses, dresses, khakis, casual business attire, and most items made from synthetic fabrics or cotton-polyester blends. If a garment’s care label says “no iron” or “permanent press,” this is the setting to use.
It’s also a good default for anything made from nylon, polyester, rayon, or acrylic. These materials are sensitive to high heat, which can cause them to shrink, pill, or develop permanent creases. The warm wash and cool rinse combination cleans them without the thermal shock that a hot normal cycle delivers.
Fabrics that don’t belong on this cycle fall into two camps. Heavily soiled items like muddy jeans, grease-stained work clothes, or towels need the hotter water and stronger agitation of a normal or heavy-duty cycle to get truly clean. On the other end, delicate items like silk, lace, lingerie, and knitted sweaters need even less agitation and cooler water than permanent press provides. Those go on the delicate or gentle cycle, which uses cool water throughout and the slowest possible spin.
Permanent Press vs. Normal vs. Delicate
- Normal: Hot or warm water, full agitation, fast spin. Best for sturdy, heavily soiled fabrics like cotton towels, sheets, and everyday basics.
- Permanent press (casual): Warm water, moderate agitation, slower spin, cool-down rinse. Best for wrinkle-prone synthetics, blends, and office-ready clothing.
- Delicate: Cool water, minimal agitation, lowest spin speed. Best for sheer fabrics, silk, knits, and anything fragile.
A typical permanent press cycle runs about 45 minutes in the washer, similar to a delicate cycle. The normal cycle often runs shorter because it doesn’t include the extended cool-down rinse phase. In the dryer, permanent press cycles may take slightly longer than a normal timed dry because of the added cool-down tumble at the end, but the tradeoff is noticeably fewer wrinkles when you pull clothes out.
Getting the Best Results
The cycle does most of the work, but a few habits make a real difference. Avoid overloading the drum. Clothes need room to move freely during the wash and tumble, and cramming too many items in defeats the purpose of the gentle agitation. Fill the washer about two-thirds full at most.
Remove clothes from the dryer as soon as the cycle ends. Even with a cool-down phase, leaving clothes sitting in the drum for hours will produce wrinkles that the cycle was designed to prevent. If you can’t get to the dryer right away, many machines have a wrinkle-prevention option that periodically tumbles the load until you open the door.
For items that are especially wrinkle-prone, shaking each piece out before tossing it in the dryer helps it tumble more freely and dry more evenly. Hanging shirts and blouses immediately after the dryer finishes can eliminate the need for ironing entirely, which is the whole point of the permanent press concept.