How Often You Should Wash Your Workout Clothes, From Sports Bras to Leggings
This article was originally written for wellandgood.com by Katie Maguire.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever re-worn a pair leggings. How about a sports bra? Come on, don’t be shy….
With your plate full of fitness classes, boardroom meetings, meditation sessions, and happy hours, you may have perfected the art of shortcuts that allow you to seamlessly transition from one activity to another — a little spritz of perfume here, a spray of some dry shampoo there.
But what about your activewear? You stock up on underwear to avoid doing laundry, but there are only so many leggings, sports bras, and tanks that a girl can own. (Trust me, I’ve tried to push the limit on this one.)
To find out how much re-wearing is too much, I turned to Mary Gagliardi, AKA Clorox’s Dr. Laundry (seriously, that’s her job title), a laundry expert and product scientist who seriously knows her way around the washer and dryer.
“As a professional in the laundry industry, I obviously will recommend washing after every wear,” she explains. (Insert sad face emoji.) “But let’s face it, we are busy, busy people and sometimes the sniff test is the way to go in deciding if we can get away with a second wearing of an item.”
To get to the bottom of the to-wash-or-not-to-wash debate, I quizzed Gagliardi on her tried-and-tested techniques — and begged her to admit her laundry exceptions. And to make things a little more interesting (and realistic), I polled the Well+Good staff to find out the truth behind their dirtiest laundry secrets. From a team who works out regularly, I knew I’d get the stinky truth.
Related:
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.