Women only wash their bras six times a year?!

Being a whopping 36H my bra's cost in excess of $100 per item and at that price I'd like to make them last a while. I hate handwashing, it never seems clean enough for me (I'm obsessive about being clean and presentable) so against manufacturers instructions I wash very delicately in the machine. To go so long without washing a bra is just nasty, to the women who rotate their collection: Please do the world a favour, destroy/burn the old ones you have, buy new ones and wash them correctly, thoroughly and often!

Ladies, let me offer you some lyrics from Jack's Mannequin that I think sums up the situation nicely:

I wake up to find it's another
Four aspirin morning, and I dive in
I put on the same clothes I wore yesterday.
When did society decide that we had to change
And wash a tee shirt after every individual use:
If it's not dirty, I'm gonna wear it.

My goodness people! Constant washing will break down your clothing as well. Find a happy median and stick with it. Not too far in the past, people were bathing once a week or month! If I haven't sweated in a bra or jeans, I do not wash them each time. I usually wash them once every 1-2 weeks. I never smell bad, and my clothes last a very long time.

I have no time or patience for hand wash! I love wearing sexy undergarments, but even the regular bras wear out in the washer. And never, ever do I put them in the dryer! Just one turn through the dryer and the bra is done. no support--it kills the elastic.
I'd say it depends on the time of year, but for sure a bra that's worth it is also worth wearing at least 3 times before washing---or more. There's simply no other way!

Lazy Lady you should wash your bra everytime you take a bath.

I'm guilty of it, I shower everyday like everyone and I'm a very clean person, but I could care less about washing my bra everytime a wear it. I'll go a week or so before I wash it, so I don't know what that comes to in a year.. but it's just a bra!!!

I don't have very many clothes. I am tall and hard to fit. I wash laundry once a week because that is the only time I have access to a washer for as long as it takes to do a load. I cannot hand wash bras because I have no where to hang them. I live with other people (that I am not related to, close to, or dating) and cannot hang them in a common space. The only other option is to tack them to a wall in my room and never have anyone over. I have two bras. I frequently wear the bra for two weeks straight unless I can go without on laundry day (as in doing nothing where someone else will not see me). I am a 36 D, so going braless is not pretty or comfortable. I also wear my jeans and sweatpants for about the same period of time as I only have two pair of jeans and two pair of sweatpants (which I wear the two days a week I work from home). I would love to be one of those ladys that have a bra for each day but I don't. I don't smell and I don't have skin reactions or yucky bras even though all my clothes are at least three years old.

eew that's gross! i have to wash each bra at least once a week or else i get grossed out.

I can understand tossing your bra in the hamper after each day's use, but showering more than once a day (unless you ran a marathon) is just wasteful. We're running out of fresh water as it is.

I wash all of my bras once a week and wear 2-3 per week. My mom taught me to put them inside a laundry bag and then to spread them out over the top of the dryer as your other clothes dry and they'll be dry at the end of the cycle. Works for me...and that's disgusting only washing your bra 6 times a year!!!! I wish I could buy a bra for every day of the week. Speaking of that, why are bras SO DAMN EXPENSIVE???

I'd like to wash them more often, but I don't have a washing machine, and I only do laundry every two weeks. I also only have a few, so they definitely have to be worn a lot more than once. That said, my bras all look like new, and some are quite old. They never smell, or look anything less than clean. I can say that the survey is accurate for me, so maybe the posters don't represent an accurate portion of the population; a lot of people may be posting because they are particularly disturbed by the article.

Women washing their bras only 6 times a year is REPUGNANT, yet sadly in my experience with other women’s undergarments, TRUE!

As I’ve mentioned previously on Shine, I have formerly worked for a clothing company. In my work there I came in CLOSE contact with many women, fitting them for jeans and bras and such. Most of the customers I dealt with came into our store in bras that were grey and stained. Around the edges of some of these women’s bras there would be tiny balls of material from other pieces of clothing rubbing on the bra, which I know come off of my bras when washed. It was horrific. I couldn’t imagine getting undressed in front of a mirror and seeing my dirty, stinky bra let alone exposing it to my significant other or the woman getting dressed next to me at the gym or my doctor during a check up, or WHOEVER else might see me in my bra. Yuck.

I personally own many bras... maybe 15? I wear each bra once, unless I need the bra for a specific outfit the day after I originally wore it and have to wear it again. I do a few loads of laundry each night and my bras are always in the mix getting laundered along with everything else. Who really baffle, me are the women who say they don’t wash their bras for 4 months or so…ugh… so what do you do with your bra during those 4 months? Wear it and stick it back in your lingerie drawer?!?!? That is (probably)-(because I’m not a doctor) so bad for you! Your dirty bra mingling with your clean underwear? What kind of bacteria are you transferring from one private area to another?

And having a non-physically demanding day to day is no excuse for not washing consistently. Germs/Bacteria exist on every woman’s body. I can’t imagine getting out of the shower all clean and fresh and sticking on a bra I washed 2 weeks ago, essentially with last weeks deodorant still hanging onto the arm pit.

Please, for all that is fresh and clean about a woman, wash your bras more often!!!

If your bra is falling apart after a few washes, you are buying the wrong bras. Look for something with back up- not a scrap of material with a few straps and hooks. Boobs are one of our God given physical attributes. Let’s take care of them and their garments.



Lin F.- Check out Cacique, an undergarment line by Lane Bryant, stores often found next door to a Lane Bryant store. They carry a great selection of bras and I believe their smallest size it a 36DD.

PS- For this reason amongst others: WASH EVERY PIECE OF CLOTHING YOU BUY, BEFORE YOU WEAR IT. If some people only wash their bras every few months, they might not have washed other things before trying on that shirt the week before you bought it and wore it. Think about it.

If someone is only washing a bra 6 times per year, then they need to be shot! I just don't think that is an accurate reflection of the majority of women. This survery MUST BE off- A LOT!

"through in the washing machine"

Home Bloggers...

Yuck! I wear my two favorites all the time (I do have more). I handwash one at the end of the day and wear the other one the next. Ugh! A dirty bra is like walking around in the clothing you've worn for 7 months. Gag me...!

yuck: I wear a clean bra every day and I don't even sweat. I just put mine in the wash with other undergarments and line dry. God Bless those who do the same.

Hmmmm.....latina princess, before we go calling other people stupid, how about we take a look at your spelling skills?

Ew, so not true. My bras go in my hamper and get washed along with everything else. Thats why you always buy two of each bra.

I hear you. I wash my sports bras every time I wear one. But my black lacey numbers? Heck, about five-six months can go by before I wash them because I don't wear a black bra every day. The remainder of my bras are beige and I rotate them as well. About every four months I throw them all in a lingerie bag and toss them in the wash.

Ihave about 12-15 regular bras and about 5 side mastectomy bras (which save my life) Praise God -however I wash once a week 14 bras wash a week because I work except for the week end- So when I get home bathe up I'm putting on a freshclean bra now you think that because of losing one of the twins that I could afford not to wash as often-I beg the different. I still get hot and sweaty and change regularly. On the weekend inside the home chilling and dorment -I will wear a bra two days.

I wouldn't dream of wearing the same bra twice without washing it! Disgusting! Do you feel comfortable being intimate with someone with a dirty bra on???