Question for anyone who wears or has worn bras

From what I understand, the type of fabric it's made of and how the padding is kept in the cups is the reason for the wash style. You may be able to wash it on a gentle setting with cold water, but if it says to line dry, I wouldn't put it in the dryer.
I'm not sure if you live alone or with family, but to "line dry" certain items, I just hang them up over the shower rod using either hangers or draping it over. It'll dry just the same but it's indoors so it's less embarrassing.

 

Bras are considered delicates I do believe. For those I change the setting to cold water and gentle/delicate wash. As for drying, I've never dried mine in the machine. It can mess up some bras and wears them down quicker. I hung them in the shower or over my closet door.

---------- Post added 16th Jan 2017 at 11:04 AM ----------

Bras, binders, boob coverings in general. (And my good shirts) all washed the same. Gentle cycle, nice cool water.

 

Well they are meant to be soft and supportive. Aggressive washing stretches and slowly degrades the mechanical integrity of the bra. Once or twice won't kill it but they will wear down fast. A good bra at 60$ being torn up is a bit more of a loss than a 2 for 10 panty deal at Victoria secrets.

 

To be honest my bras just get chucked in with the rest of the washing and then hung on the line to dry. Only one of mine is padded though but that gets the same treatment. Also apparently you're not supposed to fold padded bras over and push the padding the other way. I've been doing it for two years and they're fine.
Saying that though I'd probably listen to the people above who actually do what the tags say.

 

I usually just throw my bras into the dryer with the rest of my clothes. Make sure that if you choose to machine dry them that you put them in with clothes that aren't lace or anything with material that could catch on the bra hooks. If you have a bra with padding inserts that you can take in and out then you might want to line dry it unless you don't mind shoving the padding back inside the bra. With regular demi-cup bras or anything with non-removable padding, I find that it's fine to machine dry them.

 

Usually wash cold/gentle cycle and delicate heat setting for dryer. I don't care because I hate bras...my revenge. :badgrin:

That being said I rarely buy this sort of garment (I only have two "real" ones and have had them for maybe 4 years now. So they have held up to this washing routine very well).

 

You can machine wash them, but never put them in a dryer that uses heat or tumbling because that'll degrade and deform the cups and wire and elastic. You can put them on a hanger to dry in your laundry or bathroom if you don't want to actually do the line drying thing. Also, hand washing will increase your bra's lifespan significantly, but machine washing won't have the same immediate negative effects as machine drying.

 

Washing is pretty minor for damage it's the drying that you need to be careful, the heat will ruin clothes.

For bras I just toss it in with everything else, had no problems.

 

My fiancee doesn't treat her bras any different than her other clothes. Drying them probably makes them wear down quicker, but it's not going to ruin them probably. If they aren't fancy/expensive, I wouldn't worry. Just don't dry on high heat.

 

No matter what the construction or materials, bras really should air dry. It'll extend the life of them.

 

Also, you don't really have to "line dry". Just hang it over the shower door or on a towel rack or something. That's how I dry my binders.

 

you could hang them over your closet door in your bedroom to dry. as long as they're not laying flat it should be fine

 

I would never, even . You can get a small lingerie drying rack at Target, WalMart, etc, and put it on your dresser or hang it from your curtain rod in your room (my personal fave). I got a compact lingerie hanger at Ikea, eight arms, hangs on anything, with 16 clips. Looks like an octopus. Cute!

 

When I wore bras I just threw them in the wash with the other bras/underwear/boxer/washcloths (towels are washed separately).
We wash all our clothes on cold anyway and our washer has no idea what gentle is.

I also just threw it in the dryer with everything as well. As a result my bras wore out rather quickly and they were usually $60-$70 a piece so I just wore them till the metal started poking me to death.

Thankfully I am much kinder on my binder.

 

Since it's not padded and there's no wire in it, I bet you can chuck it in the drier. It might not last quite as long, but it's unlikely to have a huge effect on it.