How to clean a sticky bra

Adhesive silicone does not wear out the way elastic does. It stops gripping because something is sitting on the surface — skin oil, makeup, body lotion, fabric fluff. Which means most pieces people throw away are not finished. They are dirty.

Why the wash is the whole trick

The grip comes from millions of points of contact between silicone and skin. A film of oil, or a layer of fibres picked up from a towel, fills the gaps and the contact drops away. Remove the film and the grip comes back, because the silicone underneath has not changed.

This is why the same piece can feel dead on Sunday and perfect on Monday.

After every wear

1. Warm water — comfortable on the wrist, not hot. Hot water softens the adhesive.
2. A drop of mild soap. Washing-up liquid is fine; anything with added moisturiser is not, because the moisturiser is exactly what you are trying to remove.
3. Fingertips only. No cloth, no sponge, no brush, no exfoliating anything. Abrasion is permanent and it is the one damage that cannot be undone.
4. Rinse until the surface squeaks slightly under a fingertip.
5. Shake off the water and leave it face up to air dry. Never pat it dry with a towel.
6. Once completely dry, back onto the storage film.

Do it the night you wear it, not the morning after. Makeup and sweat left on adhesive overnight are what turn a fifty-wear piece into a ten-wear one.

What ruins it

• Towels. The single biggest killer. Fibres bed into the adhesive and never come out.
• Heat. A hairdryer, a radiator, a sunny windowsill, a hot car. Softened adhesive does not fully recover.
• Alcohol, sanitiser and makeup remover. They strip the surface and leave it dull.
• Sun cream and body oil. Wash immediately if either gets on the adhesive face.
• Storing it face down on any surface at all.

Bringing back a dull patch

If one area has stopped gripping, wash it twice in a row with a fresh drop of soap and rinse thoroughly, then let it dry for a full hour rather than twenty minutes. Nine times out of ten it comes back.

What does not work: rubbing it, using tape to "lift" the dirt off, or applying anything to the surface. There is no product you can put on adhesive silicone that improves it.

Storage

On the film, in the box, at room temperature, away from the window. Flat rather than folded. If you have lost the film, keep the piece face-to-face with its pair rather than face down on a shelf.

When it is genuinely finished

When the surface is visibly scratched or scuffed, when an edge has torn, or when a proper wash and a full dry no longer restore the tack. That is usually somewhere around fifty wears looked after this way.

If yours has stopped working long before that and none of the above is the cause, write to us — there is a 30-day fit guarantee and, beyond it, your statutory rights if a piece was faulty when it arrived.