The INSIDER Summary:
• You should wash your bra after wearing it twice, or three times at most.
• It's not that your bra is dirty, per se, but because natural oils from the body will break down its elasticity and fabric.
• You should hand wash your bra or wash it in a lingerie bag on your machine's delicate cycle.
Here's something most females probably don't know: You should be washing your bras almost as regularly as you wash your underwear.
According to Nicole Kivitz, who works for French lingerie brand Chantelle, you should only wear a bra twice , or three times at most, before washing it.
While this may seem like overkill, there's good reason for keeping your bras clean.
Kivitz says that during each wear, natural oils from your body accumulate on your bra. These oils contribute to the break down of your bra's elasticity and delicate fabric.
In other words, these oils slowly make your bra unwearable.
So if you want your bras to last as long as possible, you should be washing them regularly — very regularly.
However, washing them doesn't mean throwing your bras in the machine on a regular cycle with the rest of your laundry. Kivitz says the ideal way to wash bras is to hand wash them in the sink under cold water with a delicate lingerie wash.
If that's too time consuming, the second best way to wash your bras is to put them in a lingerie bag (one of those mesh bags you can find at stores like Bed, Bath, and Beyond) and wash them on your machine's delicate cycle. Be sure to clasp your bras' hooks so that they doesn't snag on each other.
And whatever you do, never put your bras in the dryer. They're just not made to sustain that kind of tumbling.
