Grey bras

I buy bras in all bright colours as I think white looks awful when it goes grey. I do keep one white bra in case I wear a white top, but generally pink, blue, mauve, green, black...
I love colourful undies.

Thanks for all these suggestions. I agree that more care in washing them will avoid the problem, but I've been in a bad place for the past couple of years and washing bras was a low priority. Now I'm starting to get my act together, I'll try and improve. Washing in tea sounds interesting, and cheap! May give that a go.

I have one white bra that is still super-white. I’ve had it for maybe 2 years. I wonder if they stay whiter if hand-washed where they have nothing with them to pick the colour up from?

As mentioned by a pp I dyed some old bras using black tea. This was over 40 years ago. It worked quite well.

Around that time I have birth and was in the hospital. I asked my husband to bring me in another bra. That night he walked in with this tan coloured bra in his hand. I could see it shining from the end of the ward. It wasn't meant for public viewing!!

Have you tried a tablespoonful of Napisan in with the white wash?
I was told that by someone who wore a lot of white, and always looked bandbox fresh.

If they are cotton you could try soaking them in a bleach solution before washing.

I save up white tee shirts, underwear etc until I have enough for a totally white wash. Usually once a week when sheets and pillowcases need washing. Don’t have a problem with greying that way.
Did try the net curtain whitener that Dylon do when revitalising a 34 year old christening dress made from my 49 year old wedding dress. That worked quite well, but it was still not the sparkling white of new fabric.

I think, if you don't feel you like them grey, you've nothing to lose by trying to dye them.

I have one white bra in case I wear something pale (a rare event) but mostly I wear black ones. Much easier.

If you die them the different materials in the bra will end up different shades, Might be interesting.

Buy new ones

I put all my light colour underwear together in the washing machine use the cloths that catch the colour and use Persil colour care powder, and sometimes add the vanish oxygen white powder very little, they seem to keep their colour,

If you wash whites only with other whites at 40 - 50 degrees and use Daz powder you'll keep your bras and briefs a good white for at least a year. After that length of time the elastic tends to sag. Hope this helps.

An old trick from years ago is to soak your old grey bras in a super strong bowl of tea and fingers crossed you should have a tea coloured (nude) bra. Worth a try & won't cost more than a couple of tea bags.

I have black, pink and nude bras. I gave up buying white ones some years ago.
I never found a way to whiten the greying white ones that I owned.
Sorry that I don't have a solution.

I remember being told by a woman, whose mother worked in a lingerie factory, that the whiteness is added to the material so, once it is washed out, it has gone. Her recommendation was to wash white bras in gentle detergent and cold water. Can’t say if it works: mine were already going grey but, I am seriously considering investing in some Dyson.

I have a friend who dyed all her old stuff pink. It looked good.

You used to be able to buy a product called 'Glow-white' which was good for getting children's acrylic nylon socks sparkly white. Since my children have long since grown out of white socks, l have never looked to buy any, but it was good for brightening up other things like net curtains and lace tablecloths, probably Bras and undies too if l had ever tried it, but like a lot of posters on here, l tried to stick to buying coloured underwear and night wear wherever possible.

You could try the product that is meant to keep net curtains white.

I dyed an old bra purple once and it was amazing how it turned out. The different fabrics in it turned different shades of the colour. An average every day bra ended up looking like something from Rigby and Peller. I also dyed knickers to match so had an amazingly pretty set for the cost of a Dylon dye!

Thanks for all the replies, but not much help in recovering my old grey ones. I do wear black and nude as well, but really like the nice crisp whiteness of a white bra, and I find them best under white strappy tops,

Black and nude are perfect for everything and as others say they don't discolour. I buy matching briefs to go with them too so I don't have to worry about matching undies anymore.

They don't last forever and lose their elasticity so I would gradually replace them. I also only go for skin tone as white tends to stand out, even under white!

I always buy either nude or black. Try dyeing them. White ones look nice when new but it doesn't last.

I mostly buy black and coloured bras as white ones always go grey. For summer I buy a new white one to wear under white tops, and when it starts to go grey, I “use it up” in winter under clothes where it’s not seen?

Oxygen bleach for whites? I've given up buying white too. I've sewn folded ribbon over the straps of some old favourite ones. At home, I never wear them, though, far more comfy without.