Great underwear is an investment. As with any investment, you want to get the most out of it. You may have bought bamboo men's athletic boxer briefs and now you're wondering if they require special care to maintain their value and quality. it’s easy to assume that they would. After all, they're pretty special!
Thankfully, they do not. Noone has the time to hand wash or dry clean their underwear each time they need to do laundry! That would be completely unrealistic. The good news is that anything over the top like that is not necessary. Even your best underwear is machine washable, as long as you go about it the right way.
The Correct Way to Wash Men's Athletic Boxer Briefs
When you machine wash your underwear, you want to wash them with similar fabrics on a delicate cycle in cold water. Using hot water or a full-strength wash cycle can strain the soft fibers, causing premature breakage or stretching. “Don't I need it to be hot to get them clean?” you may be asking. This is a common misconception. Cold water on a delicate cycle is still going to be able to get your underwear clean.
This doesn't mean you need to wait until you have an entire load of dirty underwear. You probably don't have 30 pairs of underwear to go through! You can clean your underwear alongside dress pants, sweaters, and other items requiring gentler cleaning cycles.
It’s also important to remember to use a gentle detergent. Don't use fabric softener or bleach. Both bleach and fabric softener can loosen the weave of fibers in your underwear, meaning they will get holes and stretch apart before they otherwise would have.
Once you’ve washed your underwear, you need to dry them. Just as you shouldn’t toss your underwear into any wash cycle, you shouldn't throw them in the dryer like you might with your old gym clothes either. You're going to want to let them air dry. Dryers are well known for damaging clothes. Just cleaning out the lint trap will show you all of the broken fibers from that load alone. It is worth noting that hand-drying your underwear is also better for the environment, making it a win-win for everyone.
Underwear Washing Tips
#1 Since it’s important to wash your underwear a little more gently than most of your clothes, it’s especially important to try to not let stains set in. Using a gentle pre-wash treatment will ensure that stains lift, even on a delicate cycle.
#2 If you are worried about them not getting clean enough in a cold, gentle cycle, consider switching to a detergent that’s formulated specifically for cold water. These typically have a higher concentration of cleaning agents. Your underwear will come out of the wash looking, smelling, and feeling fresh!
#3 To get your underwear to dry faster, try to hang in direct sunlight. The additional light will help lingering water evaporate more quickly. If your underwear is white, the sunlight will help keep them bright.
Washing your underwear is actually quite easy if you know the right way to do it!
