I Put My Bras In A Salad Spinner And You Should Too

Hack your fancy bra hand-wash.

We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

Did you know that APPARENTLY you're supposed to wash your bras every 3 to 5 wears???

Natalie Brown / BuzzFeed

I mean, who actually does that?? If I'm being honest, I probably wash most of my bras like, a couple times a year, unless I randomly notice they're stinky. And while I don't wear any single bra *all* the time, I wear 'em all enough that it's really gross that I do that. (Don't get too worried: I do wash my workout bras after every wear.)

And while there are tons of right and wrong ways to wash a bra — one of the easiest ways, IMHO, is putting them in the washer in a lingerie bag or reinforced bra bag — some of the ~fancier~ bras are hard to care for and annoying to dry.

amazon.com

I have a couple of Target bras that love and wear 90% of the time, and there's no way I hand-wash those. They get a bra bag — you can either wash one bra per bag so the cups lays face-down on the plastic protectors, or you can put two bras in one bag, inverting one of the cups.

Get a set of three reinforced bags on Amazon for $12.45.

Enter: the mighty salad spinner!

youtube.com

That's the kitchen gadget that helps you wash and quickly dry all your favorite leafy greens. And since lettuce is obviously more delicate than lacy bras, I wondered if it might actually make hand-washing less of a pain in the butt.

FWIW, this isn't a *new* idea — a quick Google brings up a Lifehacker post from 2012 that links to Busty Girl Comics tumblr.

In an effort to be a less gross person, I had to try it out for myself — here's how I do it!

Add bras + a little bit of soap + just enough water to cover your bras. And spin kinda slowly.

Natalie Brown / BuzzFeed

You want to very gently imitate a washing machine's agitator and move the bras around in the soapy water. So I spin mine kinda slowly back and forth, not around and around. If you have a push-type spinner, try slow-ish pushes that don't go all the way down.

You also don't need very much soap at all! Just enough for a few suds. I'd guesstimate that I use about 1/2 tsp for one padded bra and two bralettes. Btw, I like Nordstrom's specialty lingerie soap for its light lavender scent ($18 for 18oz) — but baby shampoo's much cheaper, and will definitely do the trick ($4.92 for 20oz on Amazon).

Then pour out the soapy water, add fresh water to rinse. Spin again. Pour out. Repeat the rinse if you'd like, or if you still see soap. Then my favorite part...

Natalie Brown / BuzzFeed

Spin it *without* water to help dry the bras part of the way! Do this 2-3 times, emptying the water each time, so your bras don't drip water as they finish drying.

Natalie Brown / BuzzFeed

To dump out the excess, of course, I take off the lid + pull out the colander with the bras in it, then pour out the water in the bottom of the spinner — just like I do when I dry lettuce.

Then just let your damp, not-drippy bras finish drying according to their care instructions, and they'll be ready to wear again in no time.

Natalie Brown / BuzzFeed

Because I live in a tiny NYC apartment with no counter space, the bras that say "dry flat" I lay on a clean hand towel in my bathtub. The ones that don't specify I just loop over the shower rod.

OH, and you can do this with basically any hand-wash item that fits in your salad spinner. My dresses don't fit (and I wouldn't have space for a salad spinner that did fit them, if there were such a thing), but I have a few silk shells and skirts that I clean this way, too.

And FYI, while I use my manual spinner for this hack — which still works great! — you'd probably get more water out in the final step with the push-to-spin type.

Natalie Brown / BuzzFeed, youtube.com

I also use the same salad spinner for lettuce and laundry — I live in a tiny NYC apartment and they take up too much space for me to have two! I just wash it out with dish soap and call it good. But if you have the storage space and would feel more comfortable about it, there's no harm in having separate spinners.

Get my manual salad spinner on Amazon for $19.02, or the push-to-spin salad spinner for $29.95.

Do you have any laundry hacks you love? Share them with me in the comments!

Or if TBH you're just in the mood for cute bras now, here are the best places to buy bras online, and the best places to buy bras online if you have big boobs.