Your swimsuit can take a beating from saltwater, pool chemicals, sunscreen, sand, and high temperatures whether you wear it daily or just once when vacationing. Since swimwear can be really expensive, particularly for ladies, you surely would like to learn a few things on how to keep your summer specials looking great throughout the season.
When to Wash Your Swimwear
You might be wondering how often you should launder your heaps of quality swimwear wholesale. Generally, a swimsuit is made of spandex, which can stretch out and break down if exposed to body oils and perspiration. Hence, getting rid of those contaminants as quickly as possible is essential to help the bathing suit keep its form.
What’s more, hot tubs and chlorine in pools can damage its elasticity feature, and in the worst case, can cause a change in the garment’s color. For example, if your pair of swimsuits are in whites, they are susceptible to pool contaminants, like chlorine, turning them in yellow seeing that it strips away the white fibers around the inner yellow core of synthetic fibers.
Hand Wash or Not?
Indeed, washing swimwear can be quick and easy, yet it should be done by hand. Suppose you have to wash it in a washing machine, better put the bathing suit in a mesh bag that’s meant for delicate garments. Also, you must use a mild detergent and select the delicate cycle to avoid harming the garment.
Rinse Your Swimsuit
Rinse your bathing suit as fast as possible in cool tap water after every time you wear it. If you have more time to spare, let the suit soak in cool water for half an hour, which is even better for the garment material. Soaking will pull out most chemicals, salt, body oil, and sand that can harm the swimwear.
Drain and Refill the Sink
Keep in mind that plain water cannot clear away all of the salt or chlorine contaminants absorbed by the bathing suit. What you can do next is to refill the sink with, again, cool water and an additional teaspoon or less of a mild liquid laundry detergent. If the latter is not available, you can use a dab of shampoo as an alternative. However, do not use any other products that also contain conditioner as a combination.
How to Treat Stain
An accidental stain of ketchup on your swimwear can make you feel horrible but fret not. You can simply follow stain removal guidelines for the particular stain to get rid of it from your bathing suit. Other stains like sunscreen lotions and self-tanners are extremely difficult to remove, so it would be best to always wear your old swimsuit instead when applying them.
Submerge the Swimwear
Before you submerge your swimwear in a cleaning solution, you must turn it inside out. Then swish the bathing suit for a couple of minutes, and rinse it well thereafter.
Pull Out Excess Water
Carefully remove the swimwear from the cold water and gently squeeze the water out of the material. Remember to not wring your swimsuit or twist it tight just to pull out much water because it can cause damage to the fabric.
Air-Dry the Swimwear
Now, you can spread your swimsuit flat to dry in a place that is not direct to sunlight. This is because ultraviolet rays from the sun can cause color fading and breaking down of the fibers in your bathing suit.
Store Your Swimsuit
Another thing to keep in mind is to not hang up your swimwear since it will stretch out the garment’s fibers. Instead, store it flat once it is totally dry to avoid any moisture that can cause the growth of mildew. If you’re putting it aside due to the end of the season, better store your swimsuit in a fabric garment bag instead of using a plastic bag. Why? Because the latter option can trigger a breeding ground for bacteria and mildew.
For Repairs
Don’t throw away bathing suits that have a small hole or a broken strap because you can still fix your expensive suit. You only need a needle and polyester thread to hand-sew the small rips or snags in the garment. Make sure to use the same color thread to match it with your under repair suit.
Additional Tips
Here are some more tips and tricks that will surely help:
- You can simply wear your swimsuit into your post-swim shower rather than taking it off and soaking it in cold water.
- Don’t use powdered detergent when hand-washing your bathing suit because there’s a tendency that the powdered soap will not dissolve totally or rinse well. Also, never use chlorine just to whiten or get rid of stains because it might only endanger the fabric.
- It would be best to wear an old swimsuit if you want to soak in a hot tub. Note that hot tubs present high heat and offer excessive chemicals that can make your swimwear stretch and fade out its color very quickly.
- Distilled white vinegar can be used as an emergency alternative to detergent since it both deodorizes and diminishes bacteria on the garment.
Conclusion
Caring for your swimwear is actually easy and won’t give you a headache, as long as you know the do’s and don’ts. Make sure to follow the steps provided above to maintain the quality of your bathing suit and use them for numerous summer holidays.
