How to Wash and Care for Your Faja So It Lasts

People spend $150 on a garment and then destroy it in a fortnight. Knowing how to wash a faja is the difference between one that holds its shape through your whole recovery and one that is loose, thin and useless by week three.

Compression comes from elastane fibres under tension. Heat, harsh detergent and machine agitation break those fibres. Once they are gone, no amount of tightening brings the compression back.

How to wash a faja by hand

1. Fill a basin with cool or lukewarm water — never hot.
2. Add a small amount of mild detergent. No bleach, no fabric softener, no stain remover. Softener coats the fibres and kills the stretch.
3. Submerge the garment and press it gently. Do not scrub, wring or twist.
4. Leave it five to ten minutes, then rinse until the water runs clear. Detergent left in the fabric irritates healing skin.
5. Press the water out between your palms, or roll it in a towel. Never wring.

Dry it flat, away from heat

Lay it flat on a towel, or hang it over a rail out of direct sun. Never put a faja in a tumble dryer, on a radiator, or in a hot car. Heat is what kills compression fastest, and a dryer will finish a garment in a single cycle.

Air drying takes eight to twelve hours, which is exactly why you need a second one.

Buy two and rotate

In the first weeks you wear your garment almost around the clock. One garment means either wearing it damp or going without while it dries — and going without in week one undoes the work.

Two garments alternated also last longer each, because the fibres get a chance to recover between wears. Ask us about a second when you are choosing your stage.

How often to wash

Knowing how to wash a faja matters less than doing it often enough: every one to two days in the early weeks. You are wearing it against healing skin for twenty-plus hours a day; it needs to be clean. Later, when you are down to a few hours a day, two to three times a week is enough.

When to replace it

A well-cared-for faja holds its compression for roughly two to three months of daily wear. Replace it when:

• You are on the tightest row of hooks and it still feels loose
• The fabric has gone thin or see-through at the seams
• It rolls or folds at the waist no matter how you adjust it
• The hooks or zip no longer hold under tension

Do not read a garment going loose as progress alone — swelling reducing and compression dying look identical from the inside. If in doubt, come in and we will check it against your measurements.

Everyday mistakes worth avoiding

• Machine washing "on delicate". Still too much agitation, still too warm.
• Fabric softener. The single fastest way to ruin compression.
• Putting it on over damp skin. Trapped moisture irritates skin and breaks fabric down.
• Storing it folded under other clothes. Keep it flat and loose, not compressed.

Looking after the garment is half of it — post-operative massage and drainage is the other half. Ask us if you are unsure which stage you should be in now.