Treat your lingerie and underwear with love.

Confess how many years old bras have you hidden in your lingerie drawer?

When was the last time you bought a new one? Right. Your bra is often the undershot baby in your wardrobe. Time to tidy up and organize your lingerie collection.

We here also understand that you prefer to wear that one bra that sits so wonderfully every day, and leave the rest in your closet. Don't do that, because then you can be sure that 'your favourite bra will fall apart in no time at all. Our tip: just buy at least one of your favourite bras.

Did you know that after a day of wearing your bra can be 15% wider? Wearing the same bra every day is not good (for your bra then), because it also appreciates a lot of rest that you really have to give it. Your bra really appreciates it when you give it a day's rest to get it back in shape in between wearings. Wearing it again after that will also feel more comfortable.

It is therefore important to have a sufficient number of bras and to alternate them. You should wear a minimum of four bras every week, so you should change your bra three times. All right, at least four. Which does not mean that you can do with these four bras for the rest of your life.

Bras made of good materials can last 6 to 12 months on average. Do you always wash the bra in the washing machine, or do you have heavier breasts then you load a bra a bit more intensely so the life span will probably be closer to 6 months than 12 months. No matter how beautiful the bra may look, the back panel is often a lot slacker, so the support for your girls will be less. When the size of the bra starts to feel loose even in the tightest position or the bra just doesn't feel good around the body anymore, it's time for a new bra.

Do you seldom have problems doing your laundry (dark by dark, light by light, correct temperature setting of detergent and just run)? Washing your lingerie is just that little bit different.

The delicate materials of your underwear require a more delicate treatment.
If you forget to put your bras neatly in a wash, they will at best be intensely intertwined with at least 3 panties, and a sweater roll out of the washing machine, but often the damage caused by the hooks is many times greater. While the machine is running, they can get stuck behind fabrics of other articles and cause considerable damage. Also the weight of the other wet laundry in the machine can change the brackets into very strange shapes. And a bracket that hooks into your drum can cause an expensive repair to your washing machine.

Either you do everything according to the booklet and you have put everything neatly in laundry bags, (this bag protects your machine from the underwire but does not protect your bra) or use the right detergent otherwise your beautiful new bra will lose all that beautiful color after one wash.

But washing lingerie and underwear with the right tips is not that difficult at all.

• It's best to wash your lingerie by hand. Unfortunately, your washing machine isn't a favourite place for your delicate lingerie, nor for braces, lace and lovely bows and other cute frills that can be attached to it.
• Gather your lingerie, stack this colour by colour, we'll start washing it with the lightest shades and continue until everything is washed nicely.
• You wash your lingerie at 30 degrees. Fill up the sink or fill a container with lukewarm hot water (note that 30 degrees feels cold on your hands because your own temperature is 37 degrees and therefore warmer).
• Add a small dash of detergent for delicate laundry (no wool detergent) and dissolve it in the water before you put the lingerie in.
• Keep your lingerie in the water always moving to prevent the colours from flowing through.
• Now don't wring out that beautiful bra, but squeeze the water out carefully, and rinse the detergent under running cold water, again gently squeeze out the excess water and then lay the lingerie flat to dry.
• Do you still want to use the washing machine? Set the machine to a low number of revolutions. Set the machine to 30° or on the 'fine wash' programme. Use a soft liquid detergent for delicate laundry. Never use bleach, fabric softener or wool detergent. Always put your lingerie in a washing net. Don't fill the drum with any other laundry, well, you can also put that pretty delicate blouse in the machine, but especially clothes that are going to be heavy when wet, leave them in the laundry basket for the next wash. If your bra's do go in the washing machine, keep the following in mind, the elastic band in the band wears faster and gets a bit stretched. This gives less lift and support than in the beginning. The cups also suffer in the washing machine: non-preformed cups can start to lub and preformed cups can start to wrinkle or show creases. It can also happen in the washing machine that braces get stuck or cut or prick all the way through the fabric because the protective caps wear extra because of it in the machine. This can also happen if you use a laundry bag!
• Never use the dryer, but don't hang your lingerie in the sun or over the heater to dry!

So, if all goes well, are your bras fresh and fruity again? Store them in a drawer or large shoe box. Never twist the cups inside out! The resulting grooves will never disappear. Did you follow the instructions above? Then we can congratulate you because the life span of your lingerie has just been extended considerably.

Always put on your bra carefully, flipping or pulling on the bra straps when turning your bra can eventually cause the straps to break, or pierce through the fabric. When scoping your breasts, make sure you hold the bra where the underwire is, or where the shoulder strap is attached to the cup. In other places, there's a chance you'll damage the delicate side. Also make sure that jewellery cannot get stuck in your lingerie when you put it on and take it off.

Remember that nothing is forever

Sorry for this gloomy message, but bras don't have eternal life. Even if you take perfect care of the bra, one day it will be gone. That's normal. But on the bright side: when you have finished your bra you have a good reason to buy a nice new one!

What about his shorts? That's just a matter of waiting until he runs out of clean boxers, tipping the laundry basket and selecting the hottest program, isn't it? You can do that, if you like to buy him new boxers every month . You'd rather be a little more economical with this, too.​