You just bought new bras and you love them! Like a lot of women you might be unsure how to care for your recent purchase. Here’s a list of simple things you can do to keep your bras in good shape and provide you with long lasting support.
Put your bras on rotation!
Make sure you let them rest at least one full day in-between wears– 3 or 4 well-fitting bras will help with this.
Clean them often!
It’s best to wash your bras after you have worn them once or twice, three times at most. This prevents the oils from your skin breaking down the fabric and elastics in your bras and also keeps them from getting dingy.
Hand-wash your bras!
Gentle cycles are not that gentle. Washing machines are extremely rough on your bras, tights and other delicate items. Both top-loading and front-loading machines can ruin bras: catching, stretching, and twisting straps and bands. Delicate items can become stained with dyes or damaged if washed with heavier clothes like jeans and sweaters.
Never put bras in the dryer!
Bras are made of a variety of materials all of which can react differently in varying temperatures. Elastics in bands and straps, metals in under-wires, and synthetic fabrics or padding in cups may be damaged by heat—weakening bra structure and breaking down the integrity of the fabrics.
More on hand-washing…you will need the following items:
- Your dirty bras
- A large basin or a plastic tub (depending on how many bras you own, you can also use the bathtub)
- A gentle laundry soap (we recommend Soak wash but any laundry detergent will do it just might be a tad harsh)
- Bath towels (for gently squeezing out any excess water)
- Something to hang-dry your bras on.
Begin by clasping the backs of your bras together, this will prevent the hooks from catching on any delicate lace or your bras from catching on each other.
Fill your tub about 2/3-3/4 of the way full with about room temperature water, if you’re using the bathtub fill it about 3 or 4 inches full of water. We used a 12 quart tub for 5 bras and a pair of panties.
Add in your detergent, since I used Soak wash I only needed 2 tsp of detergent. If using a regular liquid detergent use about ¼ of a cup. Give the water a good stir to mix in the detergent, and add in your bras.
If you’re using soak wash give the bras a quick submersion to make sure they are fully wet and let them sit for 15 minutes, gently agitate after 6 or 7 minutes if you’d like but it isn’t necessary. If using a regular detergent gently agitate the bras by pressing them up and down or gently swirling them in the tub once every few minutes.
After the 15 minutes are up simply drain the water out. If you used regular detergent, refill the basin with fresh water and allow your garments to soak for about 10 more minutes to ensure there isn’t any leftover detergent in the fabric.
Gently squeeze out the excess water with your hands, reforming the cups if washing a molded cup bra. Set in a row on a clean bath towel, place another towel on top and gently press to extract extra water.
Another way of getting the excess water out of your bras is with a salad spinner; yes it does use the same spinning method that a washing machine has. However, it is a much slower spin, you aren’t spinning it with very heavy items on top, and you have control to prevent your bras from getting caught on anything.
Hang your freshly cleaned bras up to dry!