How to Properly Hand and Machine Wash Your Bras with Video Tutorial
One of the most frequently asked questions we get about bras is how you should wash them. For many women, investing in bras is a big deal financially, so they want to know how to prolong the life of their bra. How you wash your bra will make a HUGE difference in how long your bras will last.
There are two ways you can wash your bras. You can either hand wash or machine wash your bra. We recommend one over the other, but we know life gets busy and sometimes we don’t have the time. Courtney's going to show in this video tutorial how to properly hand wash and machine wash your bra effectively and safely, without them getting worn out faster from washing. Let’s get started!
There are two ways you can wash your bras:
1. Hand wash (highly recommend)
Hand washing is the best way to ensure that your bra isn’t going to get destroyed or stretched out. It takes more time to go this route, but Courtney can testify that she has bras that have lasted her longer than five years! Granted, she has a lot of bras and rotates through them daily, but also she hand washes them.
So how do you hand wash your bras? It’s pretty easy. You’ll need the following items:
- dirty bra(s)
- a sink or bucket
- cool water
- lingerie wash
- towel
Fill up the bucket or sink with cool water. If you have multiple bras, make sure you wash them with like colors. (Don’t wash your white bra with your purple bra.) Wash the light colored bras together and the dark colored ones together.
Pour the lingerie wash in the water. DON’T USE WOOLITE. This will break down the elastics in your bra. I use my hand to mix the water up and to make it sudsy.
This next step is easy … let your bra(s) soak for about 15 mins to a hour. After you let them soak, if you have some hard deodorant or sweat stains on the bra, take some wash and lightly scrub the stain out of the bra with a soft toothbrush or washcloth.
Drain water out of sink or bucket. If using a wash that requires rinsing, rinse with clean, cool water. Softly squeeze the excess water out of the bra.
Hang the bra by the gore or lay it flat on a towel. Let it dry for a couple of hours or overnight until completely dry and you’re done!
2. Machine Wash (for those pressed for time)
You can wash your bras in the washer machine and they may be fine, but there’s a couple of things you’ll want to make sure you do to make sure they’re not going to get caught, tangled, mangled, and mauled by the washer.
We don’t recommend just throwing your bra in the washer. You need to protect it from other items of clothing. We HIGHLY recommend you putting your bras in a lingerie bag or a lingerie ball. You can wash multiple bras at the same time with these two.
When you use the lingerie bag, make sure you hook the hooks in the back of the bra. By doing this you’re preventing the hook from snagging on other clothing in the wash cycle.
Add the right amount of lingerie wash into the detergent dispenser.
Make sure the washer machine is on a delicate cycle and the water temperature is on cold.
After the bras are washed, take them out of the bag or ball, or whatever you used and hang dry them.
NEVER PUT YOUR BRAS IN THE DRYER!!! This is the cardinal sin of washing bras. Your bras will literally fall apart if you do this. The heat of the dryer will make the elastic in the bras break and bras will stretch out faster.
Let your bras hang dry or put on a towel and lay flat.
*IMPORTANT, if you’re washing a molded cup bra, make sure to smooth out the cups with your hands so no dents or wrinkles are left in the cups. If there are and the bra dries like this, it will be really hard to get them out.
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