A bra is an essential undergarment for most women. It plays an important role in securing your breasts and, since you wear it daily, washing it can be tricky.
It is no secret that comfortable bras are usually costly and some people cannot afford to have one for each day of the week, so they have to rotate the same three or so bras.
Seeing how most women struggle to care for their bras, lingerie expert Pour Moi has launched a Clean Bra Calculator tool to calculate how often your bras should be washed.
“The calculator considers your personal lifestyle factors, like how many days in a row you wear the same bra and how active you are on an average day, through to how often you shower or bathe and if you’re a fake tan-wearer or body lotion user.
“By calculating over 15 data points, the tool will generate bespoke advice for how often your bras need to be washed,” said Emma Woodrow, an in-house bra expert and lingerie buyer at Pour Moi.
“As a general rule, bras should be washed every three wears to ensure the cleanliness of your garments, without overwashing and compromising the integrity of your items.”
Woodrow added that hand-wash was best for bras, rather than machine-wash.
Woodrow’s best care guide for hand-washing bras:
- Fill a sink with cool water and add hand-wash mild detergent.
- Pop in your dirty bras (ideally with the clasps fastened) and give them a little swirl around in the water.
- Soak for 10 minutes, then gently rub them all over, concentrating on the underarms and back band.
- Rinse in cool, clean water, then give a gentle squeeze to remove some of the water (but don’t twist or wring as this will damage the bra).
- Lay the bra on a clean, dry towel and roll it up to soak up even more excess moisture. Then reshape the bra ready for drying.
- Hang your bra either on the line or hang it on a coat hanger to fully dry. To avoid stretching, don't hang it by the straps.