Poll: Bra Washing

iamjoesgurl · December 2009

An advice columnist (Prudie) recalls some of her worst and best advice of the year in the following link:

http://www.slate.com/id/2240073/?GT1=38001

One of the worst was in regard to a man who wrote in about how infrequently his girlfriend washes her bras. Now I wonder if I'm normal - how many days do you wear a bra before washing (I figure that since this is completely anonymous, hopefully I'll get some honest answers).

danieliza1127 · December 2009

I couldn't even tell you. I only wash them when I do laundry, which is maybe once a week or once every two weeks. I wear the same four bras over and over.

Nebb · December 2009

I am not sure how accurage my vote is, I have quite a lot of bras and I dont normally wear the same one two or even three days in a row. I also wear sports bras a lot or no bra at all if im being lazy so even if I do wear them its only for 8 hours max.

sucrets4 · December 2009

When I was in college, I only wore them once. Now I wear them a few times. It does kinda gross me out because it's so close to my skin, but I just don't have the money to buy more and I don't want them to get the wear and tear from frequent washing.

buddhagouda · December 2009

I wash them when they start to smell.

goheels05 · December 2009

Whew, thank God I'm not alone. In my defense, I have eleventy billion bras.

anna.oskar · December 2009

I said 4-7 but that's only a guess. In the summer or if I have a high stress (sweaty) day it gets washed immediately. It also depends upon whether it's an utilitarian cotton bra or one of my nicer, spendy ones.

beatlesgirl25 · December 2009

Wow, I feel like a gross individual saying this, but I rarely wash my bras, like ever. I'll just buy new ones. But I also wear extremely padded stuff from VS that you can't just wash every day (even once and it's never the same). So I wear them only if I'm out, and I don't super-sweat most of the time, so I don't think of them as filthy. I have a bunch that I rotate wearing, and then after a couple months I'll throw the old ones out. Sports bras I wash after every use though.

laurenclaire1386 · December 2009

Beatles, thank God. I was starting to feel gross and freaky. But I also wear super padded ones from VS and they don't retain their shape if you wash them frequently. And I needs them to retain their shape or I kind of look like a 12 year old boy.

sarabellam · December 2009

Depends on the bra. I pretty much wash my sports bra after every wearing, but that's because if I didn't, my smell would offend myself, much less everyone else around me.

beatlesgirl25 · December 2009

Eye to eye, lauren. Right now I have one of the discontinued padded bras in 4 colors, plus some of last year's Dream Angels padded push up. So I have a crap-ton of stuff to alternate wearing. I tried on the new VS "Miraculous" one and holy hard padding! I looked like a circus freak, plus if I ever bumped into anyone I would take an arm off. I did take pics on my phone for H in the dressing room though, because for once in my life I had huge knockers.

laurenclaire1386 · December 2009

I bought several of the Dream Angels ones a couple years ago. I think I have one in every color they made. Then they stopped making the satin ones, which pissed me off something awful.

SarahPLiz · December 2009

Sports bras get washed every use, but every day bras for work and casual use get washed whenever I do laundry.. usually used 2-3 times before that, but could be more depending on how many i can find when I am getting dressed in the morning.

Unless you are nursing or sweating a lot, you aren't really excreting anything. Its mainly for support. Guys sweat in undershirts and we all know what happens to undies, so those should be washed frequently, but I don't see any reason to wash bras frequently.

EDIT: Daily washing of bras would be like washing your gloves every time you wear them.

Nebb · December 2009

I dunno about you but if I get hot i get under boob sweat so I dont think the glove thing is the same. Your back also has the ability to sweat more than your hands if you get hot or exert yourself.

mocha beans · December 2009

I think I wash mine about once a month. I just do a whole mini load full, it's about 8 or 9 with the handwash cycle. I don't sweat in my everyday ones, and rotate them so I only wear each one once a week or so, if that. In the summer it's more often. Obviously sports bras go in after each wear on the gentle cycle with the rest of my shirts and jeans.

I used to wash them after every wear or so, and then I had a few months where one would fall apart in the wash every.single.time. That got expensive even with cheap Target bras, so that ended frequent bra washing for me.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · December 2009

When I lived with my parents (in high school) I used to wash my clothes more than I do now. Now, I wash socks, underpants and shirts after 1 wearing. Heavy pants, like jeans, I'll wear a few times. Pajamas I wear for like a week at a tine. Bras get more than one go too, unless I'm really sweaty one day for some reason.

Right now I own about 5 good bras - 2 white, 1 nude color, 2 black. I alternate when I wear them, depending on what I wear over them, so I might wear the same one twice, but 3 days apart, then wash it. I checked 2-3 times. I also line dry them, but I do wash them in the regular washing cycle.

I remember reading that Prudie letter/response and thinking it was weird. I mean, bras are durable, but they are next to your skin and do accumulate sweat and skin cells after a while.

Sometimes I'll go to grab a bra and think, "You know what? I wore this for 20 hours yesterday and it was hot out. I think I'll go with a fresh one."

danieliza1127 · December 2009

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_poll-bra-washing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:2a7cc020-7a57-4ac5-a614-6f7f9982fd4bPost:1877a3ed-8377-4009-bfbd-4c15e31c34ea">Re: Poll: Bra Washing</a>:
[QUOTE]I dunno about you but if I get hot i get under boob sweat so I dont think the glove thing is the same. Your back also has the ability to sweat more than your hands if you get hot or exert yourself.
Posted by Nebb[/QUOTE]

If I happen to sweat a lot that day, then I'll definitely wash the bra before wearing it again but that doesn't happen very often for me at all.

Nebb · December 2009

Depending on how sweaty I will wear it once or twice more - I was just pointing out those areas DO sweat, more so than hands.

ButtonsPepper · December 2009

I have roughly 20 bra's, and they are all the VS padded one's with underwire, so you can't wash them all the time, but I wear different one's every day... so I can't really say how many times I wear one before it's washed. Every once in a while I'll do a bra load... where it is on hand wash, and then line dry.... or if I sweat in one I'll wash it... other then that back in my drawer it goes!

eastunder1 · December 2009

I wash my sports bra every single time I wear it because well.. it's gross. I just ran in it.

My every day bras I probably wash every three wearings or so. I don't wear bras back to back though. I have five or six that I switch around. Do people wear the same bra for five days straight? Because aside from the ick factor, wouldn't they stretch out doing that?

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · December 2009

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_poll-bra-washing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:2a7cc020-7a57-4ac5-a614-6f7f9982fd4bPost:687fd965-2036-4152-b41c-14f8f4d30cdb">Re: Poll: Bra Washing</a>:
[QUOTE]Do people wear the same bra for five days straight? Because aside from the ick factor, wouldn't they stretch out doing that?
Posted by eastunder1[/QUOTE]

Personally, I don't usually because I at least want to air them out a little, even if they are bad enough to wash.

Galaxy8227 · December 2009

I always wash my sports bras every time, but that's cause they are really gross aftewards.

My regular bras I wear a few times (I picked 4-7) before I wash them unless I feel they are dirty or starting to smell. I just don't want them to fall apart, if they didn't fall apart I'd wash them more often.

SarahSmile23 · December 2009

honestly? i can go weeks without washing my every day bras. i was my sports bras after every use.

sucrets4 · December 2009

I wish verona was here to tell us that we're all dirty and gross for not washing them every single time.

Oh wait.

I disagree with whoever said that they don't sweat - you totally do, I'm just lazy and don't wash them as much.

And yes, sports bras always get thrown into the laundry after I use them.

mocha beans · December 2009

I won't wear them back to back. I have them laid out like the VS stores do, so the one I just wore goes in the front and I grab one from the back of the drawer the next morning. I could switch it around to make it make more sense, but this works dandy. I'll give things a quick spritz of fabric freshener if I feel like it.

*Mrs.CPH* · December 2009

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_poll-bra-washing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:2a7cc020-7a57-4ac5-a614-6f7f9982fd4bPost:4fcd591a-dbef-455f-8896-5a44f9289494">Re: Poll: Bra Washing</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Poll: Bra Washing : Personally, I don't usually because I at least want to air them out a little, even if they are bad enough to wash.
Posted by msmerymac[/QUOTE]

You are actually supposed to give your bra 24-48 hours to "breathe" and reshape itself.

I wash them when they are dirty, same with my jeans, jackets, and dress pants... I spend way too much money on these things to let them get ruined by too much washing

MissLeahM · December 2009

The older my bras get, the more I wash them because I was them on a 'feeling' basis, they don't get stinky but if I feel droopy, I'll wash them. I suppose its time to buy a couple more. Its just a pain in the butt to find my size, without padding and has under wire.

SarahSmile23 · December 2009

this thread reminds me of when calypso wanted to buy a bra, leave the tags on, where it to her wedding, and then return it. haha.

sorry, calypso, to bring that back up.

ootmother2 · December 2009

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_poll-bra-washing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:2a7cc020-7a57-4ac5-a614-6f7f9982fd4bPost:ecc7313b-8532-4730-9863-0c77552a05fc">Re: Poll: Bra Washing</a>:
[QUOTE]I wish verona was here to tell us that we're all dirty and gross for not washing them every single time. Oh wait. I disagree with whoever said that they don't sweat - you totally do, I'm just lazy and don't wash them as much. And yes, sports bras always get thrown into the laundry after I use them.
Posted by sucrets4[/QUOTE]

Sorry, verona's over on the fashion and beauty board on the nest.

Bras are washed after 2 wearings unless I melted in the heat wearing one.

When I wore sports bras, they went in the wash right after one wear

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · December 2009

I meant even if they *aren't* bad enough to wash. Airing out a little due to minimal under-boob sweat is one thing, full on back sweat is another.

thesuninherhead · December 2009

I have about 4 or 5 bras on high rotation (haha). Usually I'll wear them once or twice before throwing them in the wash. At a push, I'd wear them three times, but that's where I draw the line. I figure it's just like any other item of clothing- and perhaps worse because of the sweat factor- and I wouldn't wear them any longer than that without washing. I can't imagine going two weeks, although in travelling overseas with limited access to washing machines I think the longest I've worn the same bra for without washing was a week, and I found that pretty gross.

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