Your undies are precious - and fragile! They're often made of delicate cotton, lace and silk, and you need to take care of them to keep them pristine for as long as possible. Here’s how to look after your lingerie.
Storage
Keep your lingerie separate from the rest of your clothes, preferably in silk paper or other fabric. If you keep them in a drawer, cover it with paper or fabric to prevent the wood from pulling on them.
Tips to help maintain your underwear
- If you want to keep the colour of your underwear longer, after you wash it for the first time soak it in white vinegar for 10 minutes and then rinse again.
- Don't wash silk and wool in your washing machine.
- Dry your underwear naturally, never on a radiator, in a tumble-dryer or with a hair dryer (we're not quite sure why anyone would, but there you go).
- Don't iron your knickers and bras.
- Never use bleach to whiten your underwear: it discolours the fabric, makes black look yellow and destroys lace. Use washing powder with whitening agents.
- Always read the care labels on your lingerie, especially if it's fine silk or lace.
- Avoid dry cleaning your undies, especially silk ones.
- Bustiers, corsets and basques should always be washed by hand.
Washing your underwear
It’s better to hand-wash your undies, but you can machine wash them for speed. Either way, you need to take special care of them.
Hand-washing
- Separate colours, whites and blacks for each wash.
- Run the water, make sure that the water is less than 30°C, then soak your underwear for a few minutes.
- Only use gentle washing powder that lathers up without the need for rubbing. Wring out the wet pieces.
- Always rinse with hot water then cold water.
- Gently wring and dry flat on a towel or something that will absorb the water. Light pieces like muslin dry easily on a clothes line, outside or in.
- To dry a bra that you need quickly, use your salad spinner! It’s quick, efficient and won't ruin it, unlike a tumble dryer!
Machine-washing
We don’t always have time to wash our underwear by hand and it’s always tempting to mix it with other dirty clothes. Washing lingerie in a washing machine is possible, as long as you follow certain rules.
- Use washing powder for delicate fabric and make sure it doesn't contain chlorine or perborate.
- Put your underwear in a net or a pillow case to protect it before putting in the machine. Without any protection, your bra underwiring can tear fabric and ruin your washing machine.
- Don’t use tumble dryers. They ruin fabric, fade colours and shrink underwear.
- Always wash at a low temperature and select short programmes for delicate fabric.
Taking care of your underwear
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