Hi girls,
I’ll be starting college this fall, and I will have a roommate. I was just wondering how you wash bras in dorms? Bras are expensive, and hand washing is recommended. I don’t want to ruin the underwire, and I heard it happens sometimes even with those laundry bag things. More importantly, how do you hang it up or lay it out to dry? If I had a single room, I could let it dry anywhere, but I have a roommate so…yeah.
Thanks!
Your roommate is a girl. She has bras too. You can try to figure out a discreet place to hang up your bras…like try to dry as much as you can by pressing with a towel and them maybe hang them on the door of your closet?
It’s been awhile, but we would hang ours on hooks we put on the inside of our closet doors. You can keep the door open at night and close it when you want to hide them (such as when boys come over).
My D washed hers in a mesh bag on delicate in the washer. She hung them on hangers in her closet.
Since fabric is synthetic it dried fast.
If you prefer to hand wash your bras in your bathroom sink, you can follow the above advice about squeezing out excess water in a towel first.
I was in a triple freshman year and we pretty much did what others said: Squeezed out excess water into a towel, then hung them to dry in our closet/wardrobe. We’d just close the closet door if we had some bras hanging to dry and someone came over.
Once I moved out to an apartment we’d hang them on the shower rod until they were either dry or someone had to shower. At that point we moved them into the closets.
Honestly, if you don’t make a big deal out of it your roommate most likely won’t either. She might actually be worried about the same thing for all you know!
Washing machines in college aren’t known for being easy on clothing, and if you’re used to a mesh bag and a delicate setting on your machine you will probably be disappointed.
I’d wash by hand in the sink, press (but not wring) dry with a towel, and hang it in your room overnight. Get one of those collapsable multi-clip laundry hangers that you can hang from anything – the top of a closet door, a bookshelf, a bed rail, etc.
I agree with the above posters, especially about the mesh bags. I gave my roommate a few for her birthday once she saw how well they worked for me. Also, if you wash them in the school laundry room, you can keep them in the bag until you get back to your room if you are worried about discretion. Be sure to wash on cold, it will make all of your clothes last longer.
In terms of hanging them, you can hang them in your closet. But remember your roommate is likely to be female and therefore she will probably be used to seeing bras around, so she won’t mind if you have to hang them somewhere for a few hours to dry.
Both of my girls had a laundry hanging rack in their rooms. They air dried their underwear, sweaters and delicate shirts on it.
I don’t think my daughter would have cared if guys saw her bras drying. Guys know bras exist and have seen them before (sometimes up close and personal 
). No biggie.
I think you’ll find that people on college, especially people who live on the same dorm floor, become pretty open. I routinely left bras and underwear out to dry in my dorm in plain view and at least half of the people on my floor changed with their door open.
I just washed and dried them like normal. My bras last for years. I’ve never understood people saying that you can’t wash them but meh.
Anyway, just hang dry them. No one cares.
A mesh bag and delicate setting work for me too. My roommate and I got a drying rack, BUT before that, I hung them on the wires of my bed frame, so all of them were pretty much hanging under my bed, if that makes sense.
While I would recommend air drying for bras, I would dry panties in the dryer. Unless they are lace or silk or something that might melt.
I used to wash my bras in the sink with shampoo (poor man’s version of woolite!) and hang them on the shower rod to dry (had little clips). My roommates totally didn’t care, and did the same thing.
You can get one of those lines that retract into a pod that stick inside the shower stall-like you see at beach resorts. Pull it out, hang up the bras in the shower, pull the curtain so nobody has to look at them, then let the holder zip back into place when not in use.
LOL. My D buys her bras and undies at Walmart or Target, throws them in the washer and dryer and when they start looking ratty or lose shape, they go in the trash and she replaces them. While I do understand that some girls may need a better quality bra due to size, I will never understand those girls who pay $30 at VS. Lets not even get started on the $18 pieces of string that pose as underwear those days.
I pay $30 (and more) for some of my bras, but they last for years with careful care, and they fit me a lot better than the cheaper ones. I am not large busted, so a bra that gives me a nice shape is worth its weight in gold to me.
They’re also beautiful and made with better materials. If you’re not going to take care of them though, it does make sense to buy cheap ones.
My D uses a mesh bag to wash her bras, and hangs them to dry on a small folding drying rack. After two years of this her bras still look fine.
I have many friends that are girls. They hung their bras up on a foldable drying rack or in their closet. Not really awkward unless you make it out to be.
My daughter washes bras in one mesh bag and all of her socks in another. She air dries the bras, but throws the mesh bag of socks in the dryer with the rest of her clothes. She didn’t lose a single sock all year.
This isn’t awkward and there’s nothing wrong with a girl who wears a bra herself seeing another girls bra. You need to learn to become more comfortable with yourself.