Underwear is a delicate part of everyday wardrobe that requires especially careful handling. Panties and bras made from elegant lace or thin material, when washed in the general mass of things, will quickly turn into unusable rags - they will fade, shrink or stretch. Therefore, it is very important to know about the features of cleaning such intimate toiletries from dirt in order to extend their service life. Our article will tell you about all the nuances and secrets of careful care.
Rules for washing clothes
General rules for caring for panties and bras:
- Always follow the manufacturer's recommendations on the label.
- If there is no information, wash according to the recommendations for this material.
- All things are divided into groups - from natural materials (durable and wear-resistant), from synthetic (delicate), colored and white. Wash all groups separately!
- If washing by machine, take no more than half a tank of clothes, do not add anything with zippers or hooks. If you put a full tank, the clothes will not be washed well, the detergent will not be washed out of the fibers properly and the clothes will become more wrinkled.
- It is good to wash with baby powder, it is hypoallergenic, safe for the skin and respiratory system.
- It is optimal to wash intimate items in special containers or bags.
- The new set must be washed before use.
- Dirty laundry cannot be stored - it must be washed immediately.
- Do you have any doubts about how to wash? For intimate items, hand washing is always preferable to machine washing.
- It is better to dry it flat on a flat surface - spread a white base on the table and lay out your favorite set.
- If the fabric from which the panties are made can be ironed, then it is better to start doing this with a warm iron on the wrong side, in an inconspicuous place, increasing the temperature if necessary.
By adhering to these simple rules, you can be sure that your favorite item will last a long time and will always look amazing, as if it came straight from the store.
Before you proceed, you need to get rid of stains directly to washing.
Is ironing required?
You can iron women's underwear sets only if this is permitted by the manufacturer and is indicated in the form of symbols on the label.
Mostly, cotton or linen products that are not afraid of high temperatures may need ironing. This will make them fresher and tidier after washing. It is advisable not to iron items made from other materials - nylon, silk, viscose, etc. But if such a need arises, then the procedure should be carried out carefully, from the inside out, with a slightly warm iron, without touching the seams, elastic bands and lace.
Knowing how to properly wash “intimate” wardrobe items and provide them with proper care, you can maximize their service life. At the same time, the linen will always look new, fresh and attractive, giving the owner a feeling of confidence and irresistibility.
We wash off stains
You should wash it immediately after staining - the older the stain, the harder it is to get rid of it.
Washing at a high temperature if they are cotton will help restore the whiteness of your panties. If it is a different material, then it is better to pre-soak it in ammonia water (3 tablespoons of ammonia per half bucket of water).
Important! Blood stains can be removed by hand immediately. The water is cool, the detergent is ordinary laundry soap, for white fabric you can use bleaching soap. The area of contamination is rubbed with soap, left for a couple of minutes, then gently rubbed and rinsed. If traces of blood remain on the first try, you need to repeat hand washing several times.
General rules
When thinking about how to properly wash your underwear, you need to remember an important rule - use special mesh bags. They can be purchased online or in a hardware store; they reliably protect the structure of things and prevent them from becoming deformed.
A few simple recommendations that will extend the life of your wardrobe:
- Follow the rules given by the manufacturer on the label;
- Do not store dirty laundry - send it to the wash immediately;
- Do not load the drum completely, maximum - half;
- You need to wash things separately - light and dark colors, natural and artificial fabrics;
- If you don’t know whether you can use a machine, wash by hand; this method is much preferable.
If you encounter stains, you need to remove them immediately - the fresher, the greater the chance of success:
- A special bleaching soap, which is used to wash a piece of clothing, will help bleach it from grayness;
- Blood stains can be washed in cold water using laundry soap;
- Ammonia will help dissolve other unpleasant marks - dilute three tablespoons in a basin and soak the product.
Want to wash your underwear? Let's start practicing and try to do it ourselves or using a machine.
Life hack: remove perfume stains from clothes.
How to wash panties in a washing machine
You need to wash panties in a machine using a special detergent for delicate fabrics or powder for children's clothes.
Since intimate items of clothing are in direct contact with the skin all day long, not a drop of chemicals should remain on the product.
This means that it is better not to use a large amount of products (bleaches, rinses) or at least turn on an additional rinse after the main cycle.
Important! It has been scientifically proven that the powder is completely rinsed out only if you rinse 5 times. That's why synthetic detergents often cause allergies or asthma in a person - they are simply poorly washed out of clothes.
By machine and by hand
Let's start an interesting discussion - how to wash underwear! We start with the washing machine, the best assistant of every housewife. First you need to pay attention to the categories of things that cannot be machine washed - it is better to wash them by hand:
- With a lot of accessories;
- Old products whose service life is coming to an end;
- Items with obvious damage;
- Expensive items made from thin, delicate fabrics.
It's time to decide in what mode and at what temperature to wash your underwear:
- We choose an exceptionally delicate program for the most delicate and capricious items;
- The temperature should not exceed 40C;
- The number of revolutions is minimal, 400-600;
- Turn off automatic drying.
Useful: table of men's underpants sizes.
It is important to figure out how to wash underwear - it constantly comes into long-term contact with the body, the product should be selected as carefully as possible:
- Only delicate and hypoallergenic products - for children or specialized ones;
- It’s better to stick with a liquid gel – solid powder particles are difficult to wash out of the fabric structure.
You shouldn't use conditioner, but an extra rinse will come in handy! How and at what degrees to wash in a machine - we figured it out. Are we moving on to the manual method?
- Fill a basin with warm water - up to 40C;
- Dissolve a little detergent - the choice is similar to the machine method;
- Place the laundry for 15-20 minutes;
- Now rub gently with your hands to remove any signs of wear;
- Rinse in clean water several times until soapy streaks stop appearing.
We learned how to wash underwear by hand – quickly and easily. Let's move on to the final process!
Features of washing different types of laundry
Different types of fabrics have their own washing characteristics, which should not be neglected. Below we have described the rules and recommendations for washing underwear by type of fabric.
Cotton products
Cotton items can withstand machine washing very well, do not change their shape, and do not lose color.
Of course, you should adhere to the temperature conditions indicated on the label. But white cotton panties can be washed even at 90°C. Colored fabrics should be washed at temperatures up to 60°C.
Silk products
Products made from silk fabric are best washed by hand. You cannot use very hot or cold water - in both cases the material will become very wrinkled. You shouldn't twist it, things can tear, become deformed, or just become very wrinkled.
Gently rub silk panties soaked in warm water with detergent in places where they are dirty, then rinse in warm or cool water (change the water at least twice), squeeze lightly, and dry.
Synthetic products
All synthetic fabrics are very afraid of hot water, chlorine-containing agents and mechanical stress.
This means hand wash only or the “for synthetics” mode in a washing machine, temperature up to 30 °C. Squeezing is not recommended.
Removing stains
The following methods will help remove urine stains, wash off feces (a typical stain for children's panties), remove greasy stains, and get rid of menstruation marks. They can be used so that the fabric does not turn grey.
Lemon juice
Add lemon juice to water. The solution is especially suitable for washing delicate fabrics. Leave the product soaked for 2 hours.
Lemon juice will help wash white panties, remove the gray tint, returning them to a snow-white appearance, remove blood (cold solution), remove sperm from a man’s underwear. After cleaning with lemon juice, washed panties smell pleasant.
Salt
Mix salt and lemon juice into a paste. Apply the product to problem areas (period marks, discharge, urine stains), leave for at least 30 minutes.
By the way, traces of normal discharge are also typical for Muslims who use water after each visit to the toilet.
Citrus peel
Place the peels of citrus fruits (tangerine, lemon, orange...) in a pan of water and boil. Strain the broth, add hydrogen peroxide to it. Soak clothes in the solution for 2 hours. In addition to obtaining a pleasant aroma, after soaking in orange peels, various contaminants are washed off, the laundry becomes white after washing, gets rid of grayness and yellowness.
Expert opinion
Evgenia Taran
Soaking clothes in citrus peel is recommended to eliminate the burning smell after a fire.
Vinegar
According to housewives, vinegar is the best remedy for removing yellow stains from sweat, brown marks on children's underwear, and restoring faded clothes. Due to its disinfecting properties, it is recommended to wash clothes with thrush with vinegar. Pour vinegar into warm water. Soak things in the solution and leave overnight.
Expert opinion
Natalya Osadchaya
It is also advisable to rinse new items with vinegar before wearing them.
Washing the bra
The best rule is to wash bras in special washing containers (mesh, bags, boxes or balls).
They will retain the shape of the linen, prevent the bone from tearing the cup, and will not bend the metal parts of the linen (bones, hooks, loops).
If there is nothing similar, even a small pillowcase will do, in which you need to put the laundry before loading it into the washing machine.
If your intimate wardrobe items are made of cotton, without thick foam cups and underwires, you can use a washing machine, dividing the laundry by color.
All delicate bras with wires, lace, and breast support systems are best washed by hand.
Regarding spinning and drying, you must adhere to the recommendations for synthetic materials - all actions are as gentle as possible.
The safest way to dry a bra is on a horizontal surface, but if you dry it on a line, hanging it by a strap or strap, you can ruin its shape.
How to remove stubborn stains
Blood
- Rub the stained area with laundry soap, scrub and rinse.
- Apply stain remover for colored or white fabrics, leave for 5-10 minutes, rinse.
- Apply a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution to the stain, leave for 5–10 minutes, and rinse.
After removing blood stains, the laundry should be washed in cold water, dried and ironed.
Brown and yellow spots
We have a separate article on how to remove yellow and brown stains from panties.
We'll tell you briefly here.
- Thoroughly wash the area of contamination with laundry soap, rub it with your hands, and wash as usual.
- Mix soda or salt with a small amount of water to a thick paste. Apply the mixture to the stain for 10-15 minutes and then wash.
Drying underwear
You cannot dry delicate fabric from which panties, corsets, tops and negligees are made in an automatic dryer. The product will be heavily wrinkled, the elastic bands may deteriorate, and the delicate lace fabric may be torn.
Usually, panties are dried on a line, in a vertical position, secured with clothespins to the elastic band or bottom, as you like.
Exquisite panties and bras are dried on a table or horizontal dryer, laid out on a dry light base (towel, sheet, diaper).
To quickly dry lace panties, you can wring them out using a clean light cloth, as if soaking out excess moisture.
At what temperature should I wash?
The washing temperature is indicated on the laundry labels. Most often it is cold or warm water. The optimal temperature for both hand and machine washing is 30-40 degrees.
For durable cotton, a temperature of 60 or even 90 degrees is acceptable. This way, dirt is removed faster, but the item wears out ahead of schedule. It is better to choose pre-soaking and then wash on a softer cycle.
How to dry
Tumble drying can lead to loss of elasticity. After a gentle spin, it is correct to place the products in a horizontal position. For quick drying, a terry towel or other hygroscopic fabric is placed under them.
Reasonable thrift will save your laundry from damage. Change your linen regularly, without letting it get too dirty. It is advisable not to put off washing - then in most cases a light hand wash will be enough, and heavy stains will easily come off in the machine. Have several sets so that the linen does not become worn out and stays like new longer.
Don't be lazy to take the time to hand wash. A tip that will save your laundry from premature wear is to regularly wash even small stains. If you put off cleaning until later, the stains will eat deeper into the fibers of the fabric.
