The history of launderettes

Washing clothes has a history of its own. For those who grew up with a washing machine at home, or the option of sending clothes to the dry cleaner's, it may sound like a tall story. And a Chinese one at that — because it was indeed Chinese immigrants who drove the concept of launderettes, both industrial and personal, in the mid-19th century in the United States.

Many years later, and on the other side of the world, the self-service launderette in Adeje, Tenerife, opened its doors. But first, a little history.

How we went from washing in rivers to loading the laundry into a machine

It seems so simple: sort the clothes, load them into the machine, add the detergent and softener, set the wash to suit the load and press a button. Done. After a relatively short while, the clothes are clean and ready to dry. An absolute marvel. But it wasn't always this way.

Of course every region or country has its own laundry history, but most agree it was in the mid-20th century that washing machines appeared on a mass scale.

In earlier times, the places to wash were on the banks of rivers, and there was a person whose job this was; generally they were women, and they were called washerwomen. The areas began to be marked out, and so public wash houses were established. The washerwomen collected the laundry from family homes, washed it, dried it in the sun and then returned it.

Soap was made by hand. Many peoples claim to have invented it. One legend has it that it was discovered in Italy, on Mount Sapo, near Rome. There on that mount they performed ritual animal sacrifices on ceremonial pyres.

When it rained, the water washed the animal fat and the ashes from the fires down to the foot of the mount through countless little streams. The slaves, who were the ones who washed their masters' clothes, did so in these waters and discovered that the fabrics came out far cleaner. With a little observation, they hit upon the formula: fat + ashes. Later they used fermented urine, honey, flour, saltpetre and so on.

As time went on, the rivers were channelled, the wash houses changed their appearance and communal wash houses sprang up in every village and town. Those who could afford it hired a woman to do this work.

By the mid-19th century the whitening properties of chlorine had already been discovered, and by then the wash houses also had more advanced washing tools, such as washboards or large stones specially chosen for the purpose. There were also very primitive manual mechanical washing machines within these wash houses.

In the United States, for example, the wave of Chinese immigration concentrated in this line of work and displaced the domestic washerwomen, since they offered the service at very competitive prices. With the electricity grid, these establishments proliferated and, although originally intended for single men and large hotels, they gradually won over housewives.

But the arrival of electricity changed both everyday life and industry; personal washing machines were devised, and by 1940 almost 60% of families in the United States had one at home, and after the Second World War the marketing was very aggressive.

So much so that, as well as families having a washing machine at home, coin-operated launderettes — the self-service kind — began to spring up.

Tenerife is an island in the Canary Islands archipelago, and its capital — Santa Cruz de Tenerife — is one of the capitals of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands (the other is Las Palmas de Gran Canaria).

Their geographical location and volcanic origin make them a privileged area for both biodiversity (there are 4 national parks) and tourism. El Teide is one of their great attractions. But the islands are also an appealing place to live.

Tenerife is the largest and most populated island in the archipelago, with almost 1,000,000 inhabitants. Its distinctive climate stays fairly stable all year round, allowing large numbers of tourists to visit the island in any season — more than 14,000,000 a year — and forming the basis of its economic prosperity.

The self-service launderette in the south of Tenerife opened precisely in this thriving area to give both tourists and residents a fast, efficient and eco-friendly clothes-washing service, cheaper than anything you could hire at a hotel.

As for residents, it's even more practical and cheaper to wash your clothes at Lavandería Azul than to own a washer and dryer at home.

It includes the self-service launderette in Adeje and the self-service launderette in El Fraile, both located in the south-west of the island. It offers industrial, energy-efficient washers and dryers, and the detergent and softener are included in the service.

The huge range of hotels, restaurants and leisure is one of the best in all of the Canary Islands. Thanks to this, services multiplied, and so the self-service launderette in Adeje opened, in the municipality of the same name.

It's located in the town centre, right opposite Plaza César Manrique. From the launderette you can keep an eye on your children while you do the washing, which, incidentally, will take you barely 22 minutes.

It's open every day from 6:30 in the morning until 22:30.

It's located in the municipality of Arona, in the south-west of Tenerife. There's a large range of hotels in this area, as well as notable tourist infrastructure. El Fraile is a small neighbourhood within the municipality, 350 metres from the coastline.

Small as it is, El Fraile has seen impressive population growth: from 4,000 inhabitants in 2000 to 10,000 in 2019.

This was one of the reasons for opening the self-service launderette in El Fraile, along with the thousands of tourists who stay nearby. Using the launderette is very handy and practical, as it works out much cheaper than the service at any hotel.

It has free parking, sits on El Fraile's main avenue and has a bakery, a pharmacy and a supermarket right beside it. As in the Adeje branch, here the service includes detergent and fabric softener.

It's open every day, from 8 in the morning until 21:30.