How to Shrink Underwear Without Damaging its Fibers

Published by Ahmad Jamal on June 3, 2023

Wearing a fit underwear always feels comfortable, but having a larger pair of underwear disturbs that comfortable feeling.

But don’t worry, learning how to shrink underwear can restore that feeling by making it smaller in size, and more fit on your body.

In this CleanersAdvisor guide, we’ll showcase how to shrink underwear properly in a step by step manner, then we’ll explain how to shrink specific types of underwear.

Read through for more information on how to shrink underwear.


How to Shrink Underwear

To shrink underwear properly, you need to properly wash your underwear in the washing machine’s hot cycle, or wash them by hand in hot water. Then, you’ll need to put the undergarments in the dryer to shrink them further if needed, before wearing them to the fit size you’re seeking.

Here’s a step by step on how to shrink underwear.

1. Read the printed label on the inside of your underwear to determine the material it was made of, as this step is important in determining if certain methods can work or not.

2. If the underwear is made of cotton, wool, silk,  rayon, or linen, it’ll shrink easily. If it’s made of nylon, polyester, spandex, it’ll need extra steps to shrink as needed.

3. Clean your underwear with water and laundry detergent by hand washing them thoroughly.

4. Put the settings on your washing machine to hot and long washing cycles, and the load size to small.

5. Turn on your washing machine and let it wash the underwear with hot water.

6. Take out the underwear and air-dry it, then check if it fits as you need it to.

7. You can repeat the process of washing the underwear in hot water if you need further shrinking, but then you’ll need to put it in the dryer instead of air drying it naturally, as this step provides the further shrinking.

How to Shrink Underwear

How to Shrink Cotton Underwear

To shrink cotton underwear, you’ll need to clean them first with water and laundry detergent, then put the cotton underwear in the dryer that’s put on the hottest temperature for a 20-25 minute cycle. Make sure you’ve used the settings compatible with cotton fibers on your dryer.

Once the drying cycle is completed, try on the underwear after it cools down and see if it’s fit now.

You can repeat the cleaning then drying process one more time if the shrinking isn’t as fit as you’d like it to be, and it needs a bit more to be fit again.


How to Shrink Lace Underwear

You can shrink lace underwear by leaving them in a bucket filled with hot water and soaking them for 5-10 minutes. Then, you should add mild detergent and agitate the underwear with a spatula or a stick of some sort, then leave it for another 5-10 minutes in hot water. Once you get the lace underwear out and rinse the suds and water, you’ll have a fitter lace underwear.

If the underwear is not as form-fitting as you needed after it has dried out, you can repeat the same steps once again, and that should get the job done now.

How to Shrink Lace Underwear

How to Shrink Polyester Underwear

We already established that polyester is harder to shrink when it comes to how to shrink polyester underwear.

The hardship comes in the form of needing to repeat the same process 2-3 times, instead of 1-2 times max.

To shrink polyester underwear, clean them by hand using water and laundry detergent, then put them in the washing machine using the hottest cycles and let the heat shrink it. Repeat this process 2-3 times until the polyester underwear has shrunk to the fit you need.


How to Shrink PSD Underwear

PSD is a trendy, premium, and affordable underwear that has been rising in ranks among the top sold underwear brands around the US.

According to their website, PSD underwear is made with 88% polyester and 12% spandex.

That means the aforementioned steps of how to shrink polyester underwears apply to them.

To shrink PSD underwear, you’ll need to clean them thoroughly, then put them in hot water inside the washing machine, and let the washing machine run for 20 minutes. Afterward, you’ll need to dry and test how it has shrunk so far, before repeating the same process 2-3 times to achieve the fit you need.

How to Shrink PSD Underwear

How to Shrink Ethika Underwear

Unlike PSD, Ethika prides itself as a leading lifestyle brand instead of an underwear brand. However, it’s mostly well-known for its underwear, and according to their website, Ethika says their underwear is made of 90% polyester and 10% spandex.

This means that you can shrink Ethika underwear the same way you shrink PSD underwear, by washing it in the washing machine using hot water for 20 minutes before letting it air dry and test how it fits.


To Wrap Up

Shrinking underwear to the fit size you need isn’t hard anymore after reading through this guide on how to shrink underwear properly.

Moreover, we covered how to shrink 2 top brands who manufacture underwear, and 2 different types of fiber that underwears are made of.

Always read the label on the back of your underwear before attempting to shrink it, then follow our instructions on how to shrink underwear for the best fitting results.

Here’s How to shrink your loose panties in 2 minutes if you’d like to learn that too: