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Style & beauty

Undies past their sell by date !

(50 Posts)
NanKate Wed 12-Mar-14 08:39:11

Just chuckled over this cartoon in the paper of two women chatting as follows:

'I finally bought some nice new underwear. I sent my other undies off to be carbon dated. The result shocked me to the core'.

I know I have got some prehistoric undies lurking upstairs, but they are comfy and just about wearable. wink

janeainsworth Wed 12-Mar-14 21:20:22

Deedaa shockgrin

rarebreed123 Sat 31-May-14 22:04:06

I am new to gransnet but have been chuckling about people's undie habits.
I used to keep mine until frankly they were past their best but I always thought that they were the most comfy.
My mother used to be horrified that I did not always wear matching bra and pants. She died last year and I don't know why but I have felt guilty ever since if I go for the old washed out underwear.
Maybe she is eventually influencing me to be more elegant !!

rarebreed123 Sat 31-May-14 22:04:08

I am new to gransnet but have been chuckling about people's undie habits.
I used to keep mine until frankly they were past their best but I always thought that they were the most comfy.
My mother used to be horrified that I did not always wear matching bra and pants. She died last year and I don't know why but I have felt guilty ever since if I go for the old washed out underwear.
Maybe she is eventually influencing me to be more elegant !!

storynanny Sat 31-May-14 22:14:20

Does anyone else wash their knickers before throwing them out? I do, not sure why!
I am reminded by this thread that when my children were young, I always used to keep their old pants when I bought new ones. When we went on holiday I used to take all the old ones and throw them away before we came home so no underwear washing to come home to. Somehow I didn't feel the need to wash theirs before throwing them out!

NanKate Sat 31-May-14 22:15:01

Welcome Rarebreed I hope you enjoy your arrival at Gransnet, we have some interesting chats.

Yes I am still influenced by my late Mum's take on fashion.

storynanny Sat 31-May-14 22:17:46

On a more risqué note....when I was divorced I told my friends that I was going to buy all new underwear and nighties just in case I met someone. However I never had time as by an amazing bit of luck I met my lovely OH almost straightaway!

storynanny Sat 31-May-14 22:19:35

I've tried several times to do the matching bra and pants thing, but if you wear a dark top and light bottom or vice versa it doesn't really work does it?

janeainsworth Sat 31-May-14 22:41:14

Welcome Rarebreed. Yes, it is odd, the things our mothers make us feel guilty about.
I realised when I was 30 that I never wore black, because my mother thought you should only wear it to funerals shock
I then bought several items of black clothing but had to pluck up my courage to wear them in her presence shock
It wasn't as though my mother was particularly forceful or domineering either!

janerowena Sat 31-May-14 23:17:00

I too take all of my elderly knickers on holiday and throw them away. I buy 10 pairs at a time from M&S usually, coloured cotton spotty ones if I can find them or more often than not, order them. Bras, though, are all black, grey and skin-colour t-shirt bras. I have switched to Sainsbury's bras because they last far longer than the M&S ones, and are cheaper. I always found that the centre front join gives way in the M&S t-shirt bras. Then I would sew them back together, and be out one day, bend over and feel an ominous tear...

I have some beautiful underwear, but I never wear it. I just like to know that I have it.

Deedaa Sun 01-Jun-14 21:03:19

I have some lovely cream and black M&S silk underwear that I wear on nights out. Why??? No one sees it or knows that I'm wearing it, but I quite like to know that I am.

Ana Sun 01-Jun-14 21:36:06

Don't think I've ever seen a grey bra (new, I mean, not gone dingy in the wash!).

I've never heard of taking undies on holiday to throw them away, either...it wouldn't enter my mind!

annodomini Sun 01-Jun-14 21:58:50

I'm not going to show you it, Ana, but I am wearing a grey (M&S) bra at this very moment. You'll just have to take my word for it.

annodomini Sun 01-Jun-14 21:59:47

PS. It is new, or almost. Only washed once so far.

Ana Sun 01-Jun-14 22:02:14

Well, thank you anno, I'll have a look on their website (if I can make head or tail of it!).

rosesarered Mon 02-Jun-14 11:18:11

Never seen a grey bra in the shops [but maybe not looked properly.]I only buy black, white, or nude coloured undies.I like them to match, but not paranoid about it.

Brendawymms Mon 02-Jun-14 11:37:57

Once in a while I collect all my off colour underwear, but still in good condition and dye them using a machine dye. New lease of life to them all. I choose a different colou each time so have rainbow coloured underwear.

GillT57 Mon 02-Jun-14 12:34:56

Sloggis for me, buy them in white and black, bras in white and black then always wearing matching if slightly unglamorous undies. My Grandmother always referred to those big bloomers as Harvest Knickers ( all safely gathered in) grin.

annodomini Mon 02-Jun-14 13:02:34

I can't stand the Sloggis with a seam down the back, but there's another kind - Sloggi briefs - that are imo far more comfortable.

jeanie99 Tue 17-Jun-14 22:01:56

I never realised women had best knickers, I guess it something we don't talk about.

I wear all my pants and regularly buy new pants and bras, I hate to see off white undies.

Charleygirl Tue 17-Jun-14 22:24:22

I loathe Sloggis and buy packs of M&S knickers in different colours. I only wear white bras and unfortunately the most comfortable plain bra which I like is no longer in production.

I washed and then threw out one pair of ancient knickers last week and nearly went to the bin to retrieve them. I have many pairs which have not been worn yet.

Purpledaffodil Tue 17-Jun-14 22:39:56

I have a lovely gay friend who has been with his partner for many years. They are such a devoted couple and yet when the younger one used to go away on business, my friend always used to do his packing and pack his scruffiest boxer shorts, just in case he was tempted to stray!

annodomini Tue 17-Jun-14 23:10:10

I found some packs of cotton knickers (not Sloggi type) that I liked in Sainsbury's and then had a cull of about a dozen old pairs that were really beyond redemption. They have them in several different styles and are worth considering.

Nelliemoser Tue 17-Jun-14 23:15:41

I also suddenly realise my undies have long ago become shabby and baggy and are years past their best.

Last week I put on a newly washed bra looked at my self in the mirror and realised just how dreadfully baggy it had become the elasticity had gone years ago. It went straight in the bin I have no idea how old it might have been. It's not as if I cannot afford a couple of new bras every year.

storynanny Yes I always wash them before throwing them out, but partly because one isn't given to inspecting the state of one drawers as you take them off at night.

It's also the thought of them going into landfill dirty that does it with me and what if they fell out of the dustbin lorry into the road? blush

janerowena Wed 18-Jun-14 14:46:23

Ana I started buying grey bras as a joke against my sister. She bunged all her colours and whites in together when her children were little, she said life was too short to sort. So whenever I stayed with her any white underwear came back grey. I searched for grey so that she couldn't wreck it, at the time M&S did nice grey t-shirt bras and matching spotty grey cotton pants. I became hooked on both. Sainsbury occasionally do grey bras, as do BHS. I found that whereas black and white bras show through under thin tops, grey ones do not.