How To Care For Your Lingerie/Swimwear

For the perfect fit every time, ask the Brafessor
Lingerie
HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR LINGERIE AND OTHER DELICATE ITEMS. Written by Anna Reid

In this blog we will try to answer most common product care questions.

How often should I wash my lingerie?

Where everyone agrees that underwear must be washed daily, there are different opinions on how often we should wash our bras.

We recommend wearing your bra for no longer than 2-3 days before washing it.

Do I have to use a special detergent?

Most manufacturers recommend using mild detergents for lingerie and swimwear.

If you are an environmentally conscious consumer (bless your cotton socks!) chances are your current detergent is perfectly suitable for lingerie. Environmentally friendly products use gentle formulas helping keep both your lingerie and our planet safe.

Do I have to handwash my lingerie and swimwear?

You must wash your lingerie and swimwear by hand unless the instruction on the product suggests otherwise.

Just few years ago hand washing was the only product care option offered by the lingerie and swimwear manufacturers. However, the increasingly busy lifestyle of modern women, paired with recent technological developments (better quality fabrics, advanced washing machines etc) pushed for a change.

Whilst hand washing remains the most common care option, recommended by most suppliers, some are starting to offer an alternative.

They explain it is safe to wash your lingerie and swimwear in a washing machine, as long as you can follow these important RULES :

  • Washing machine setting: Delicate/hand wash
  • Temperature: at or below 30 degrees Celsius
  • Close the back of the bras to avoid hooks catching the fabric
  • Wash inside a lingerie wash bag
  • Wash with similar colours only
  • Wash with items of similar (light) weight, heavy load may damage the product
  • Use mild detergent, do not use fabric softeners.
  • Air dry flat. Do not tumble dry. Do not dry your lingerie and swimwear in direct sunlight.
  • If swimming in chlorinated water, wash as soon as practically possible after swimming.

If you choose to machine wash your lingerie and other delicate items, please remember, each of the above points is a RULE and not a recommendation!

Is machine washing my lingerie safe?

As a person who has been machine washing all her lingerie exactly as described above for at least a decade and with 100% success rate, I can confidently say it is safe to machine wash your delicate items as long as you can strictly follow the rules of it.

Having spent many years in the industry and having assessed many products, returned by the consumers as “faulty”, I know it is enough to neglect just one rule to end up with a ruined bra. These returns are never credited or replaced as they are not faulty products.

If discipline is not your thing, we recommend hand washing as the safest option.

How long should a bra last?

How long is a piece of string? It is not an easy answer and needs to allow for a range of things – the quality of the bra, the type of fabric, how well it fits you, how often you wear it and how you care for it….oh, and whether you have a puppy or not…

Assuming good care and an average rotation of 4-5 bras, the bra should last you without failure for a minimum of one year.  As a general rule, smaller size bras last longer as they experience less pressure.

We often advocate for higher quality (typically more expensive) bras, simply because apart from obvious benefits, they often prove to be the cheapest when you divide their price by an approximate number of days you wore them. Give this calculation a go, you might be surprised!