Silk is the best fabric in women’s lingerie. It’s gentle, breathable, and looks as good as it feels on the skin. If you’ve got sensitive skin, silk undergarments will probably rank among your prized possessions. Like anything precious, you’ll want to make sure they stay shiny and lustrous for a long time.

Here’s how you can maintain the shine and integrity of your silk lingerie.

The Thing About Machine Washing

We would always recommend you send your silk underwear to the dry cleaners or wash them by hand because putting them in a washer is just a lot of work.

However, if you must machine wash them, we suggest you take the following precautions.

  • Separate the silks by color.
  • Put them in a laundry bag.
  • Use a silk-friendly detergent.
  • Put the machine on a low gentle setting.
  • Always wash the same colors to avoid turning your whites pink, and so on.

Water Temperature

Temperature’s another thing to keep in mind when machine or hand washing. Scrubbing or rolling your silk undies in hot water can damage and stain them. Therefore, you must never go over 82 degrees when doing your silk laundry.

Some other things you must never do when handling silk include:

  • Dipping in them in the water aggressively.
  • Soaking them for too long.
  • Rubbing them against each other to remove stains.

Drying How-To-Dos

It goes without saying that silk should never be tumble-dried. The post-wash treatment of your silky undergarments should always be undertaken with care, and include the following steps.

  • Wrap the fabric in a towel and roll with a light hand to wring out the water.
  • Once it’s sufficiently water-free, take it out of the towel.
  • Uncrumple the material and lay it flat in a dry room with no direct sun or central heating.
  • Don’t put them on a hanger until completely dry because that’ll only stretch the material.

Storage Tips

If you’re running out of storage space for your lingerie and sexy apparel, we’re afraid the storage recommendation for silks won’t help matters all that much.

First off, always store your precious silk articles away from other fabrics to spare them the damage caused by rubbing against abrasive materials. Secondly, store the strappy bits in hangers to avoid creasing.

You can store your strapless bralette lingerie or panties by keeping them flat inside drawers or special boxes. Go ahead and fold them if you want, but leave your padded bras as they are. That way, you won’t end up bending the underwire or squashing the cups.