How often do you wash your smalls?

Once a day, or once a week? An off-the-cuff comment from a colleague led Lucy Dunn on an eye-opening investigation

Having heard some rather alarming admissions around the office, Lucy Dunn investigates

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU wash your bra? Apparently I am unusual in that I bung mine in the washing machine after every single wear; so unusual in fact that, one afternoon when the subject came up, I had the whole office chime in with: ‘You wash your bras after every wear? Noooo!’ (My previous company was all women, where the average age was mid-20s and time left between bra washing was two weeks.) Is this a millennial thing? I’m not so sure. I’ve since tested out my theory with other age groups and I think I am one of the few conscientious bra washers out there. I’ve been told that I will ruin my bras, but is this going to change my mind? No. Bras sit around your armpits, so I’ll keep on changing mine every day, thank you very much.

Since bra-gate, the question of how often you should wash your clothes has become a nosy preoccupation of mine. It seems that we all have our own idea and will not be swayed. A quick straw poll around Telegraph Towers and I discover the following: knitwear varies from one to 10 wears; skirts one to 10 wears and tights, one to seven wears. Men’s style editor Stephen Doig informs me that most men get their suits and blazers drycleaned every two months, especially if you wear them every day. But another colleague disagrees vehemently, ‘Twice a year is fine.’

It is at this moment that another colleague (male, who shall remain nameless) pipes up: ‘I have a pair of jeans I didn’t wash for three years...’ Um …? Say again…

‘They’re selvedge denim and you’re not supposed to wash them regularly.’

Stunned silence.

‘When I did wash them I just dipped them in the bath and sloshed them around a bit.’

The magazine’s fashion editor Chloe Mac Donnell chips in: ‘I put my jeans in the freezer. That’s what

you’re supposed to do, apparently.’ Contrast this with my own obsessive bra washing and there’s clearly some confusion here.

Research shows that 40 per cent of clothes we wash could have been worn again – that’s despite the fact we know it’s not good for the planet or our pockets to hammer the washing machine.

What I need is someone who can give me some hard and fast rules. So I ring Verity Mann, who, as head of testing at The Good Housekeeping Institute, is a veritable doyenne of cleaning. ‘The one thing people overwash is their bras,’ she tells me, before I’ve even had a chance to draw breath. ‘Washing after three or four wears is sufficient.’

OK, I get the hint. What about the things that people don’t wash enough? ‘Hosiery – there seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there, but, like underwear, you really should wash it after every wear. Everything else is just down to personal choice.’

That’s all very well, Verity, but I need rules. I quiz Will Lankston, operations director at Jeeves of Belgravia, a laundry service that calls itself one of the UK’S finest, and which handles everything from your average silk shirt to vintage couture. ‘We find people tend to overwash suits. They will often clean suit trousers when they become wrinkled or lose the crease, but most dry cleaners offer a valet service that involves spot cleaning and pressing them. Also, avoid cleaning suit jackets just because the trousers or skirt require it – just buy two pairs of trousers or two skirts with every suit and rotate after each wear.’

And the one item that gets really dirty? Hats and gloves, he tells me, are crawling with bacteria and are always cleaned less frequently than they should be. ‘Everyone forgets that perspiration from the hands and head can leave them less than fresh.’ Turn the page for laundry tips

Photographs by Benjamin Mcmahon