Washing your bras is probably at the bottom of your list of priorities. Literally: how do you even wash them in the first place? Are they delicates? Hand wash setting? Can you use Vanish without getting weird bleach spots all over them? They are the Bermuda triangle of undergarments, a mystery. You wouldn't think of wearing knickers two days in a row but admitting to wearing the same bra all week has become socially acceptable because we ALL do it.
And so it shouldn't come as a surprise that your bras might actually be grossly dirty: but they are. They are far, far filthier than you could imagine. Did you think simply putting them in the wash was going to cut it? Think again. It turns out that bras retain a lot more dirt than you would expect - as a user who posted to Mums Who Clean Facebook group has discovered.
Perhaps the most shocking part of this story is that the six bras in this little experiment had actually been in the washing machine before. Following the first wash, they were then soaked in detergent for an hour and a half, creating what can only be described as bra.... soup. There's even an image to prove it (if you're the kind of person who is not going to be able to stop thinking about this all day, I would suggest you look away now).
Behold: this is solid proof that bras are the bane of our lives even more than we originally thought. They're already uncomfortable, unsightly, expensive and impossible to not ruin in the washing, and now, for reasons we don't understand it turns out they also contain superhuman amounts of grime.
So how are you actually supposed to wash a bra? We've already created a handy Grazia guide - which includes tips for the tricky business of laundering different types of lingerie. But if you haven't got time for that, the quick rules of thumb are: either hand wash them or use the 'gentle' washing machine cycle, put them in a mesh bag and dry them on a towel rather than a tumble dryer.
If you want to do a strip wash like this one, put your bras into a container with boiling water and detergent and let them soak for a couple of hours until you have the dirty bra-soup demonstrated above. Bras absorb a lot: sweat, fake tan, body lotion - so its not that surprising that this produces some gross results (somebody get one of those carpet-cleaning hoovers on them...I'm physically twitching).
While technically you're only supposed to wash bras after 4-5 wears, you can be certain ours are going straight in the soak when we get home this evening... (Fun Friday).