You have a drawer full. All colors. Your collection is proud and fellow gym rats stare in awe at the colorful straps poking out of your muscle tee.

Your bra is just another part of your daily wardrobe, but a very important part. So if you’d like to prevent stretching, tearing, and having to buy a new one every three months, you have to put the same work into your bra as you do your workouts. Improving the integrity, support, and duration of your sports bra starts with proper maintenance. Here are just a few tips to keep your bras (sports and everyday) intact for as long as possible.

Get a few wears out of it
Here’s some relief: you don’t have to wash your bras after each wear, as it is recommended to wash it about every three or four wears. To keep your sports bra from losing elasticity and damaging the fabric, soak it in cold water to help it retain shape and gain absorption back. Plus, who wants to smell yesterday’s killer workout? Soaking will also help get some of that stench out.

Wear them on rotations
You’re moving, you’re sweating, and the warmth causes the elastic in the bra to stretch. Losing the elasticity would defeat the entire purpose of even wearing one, so don’t favor one bra over another. Rotate your bras to allow them to recover their shape.

Hand wash only
Honestly, if you want your bra to remain at the highest quality for the longest time, let it soak in the sink. Just add a little bit of detergent (about the third amount of a regular load) to your sink filled with lukewarm water. Let it soak and hang to dry.

(If you must…) Wash on gentle
If we’re just being realistic, ain’t nobody got time for hand washing. Be sure to turn your dial to “gentle” this time before robotically pressing the “start” button. Even go as far as throwing them in a laundry bag and fastening all clasps to avoid tangling and tearing. But seriously, DO NOT ever throw them into the dryer. Hang dry, hang dry, hang dry! Treating your delicates correctly will not only give you a boost in the chest but may even give you a boost in confidence. Not to mention, a little extra cash in your monthly budget.

Be aware of chest changes
If your bra is starting to feel tight, uncomfortable, and your “uni-boob” is starting to show, guess what? You’re growing (yay) and it may be a good idea to get re-measured and fitted. Until then, why not treat your $50 garment for its value. As we’ve said before, proper support is important.