WAG How do gymnasts or their parents care for their gymnastics leotards and care for them before while and after wearing?

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I am new to the gymnastics scene and leotards and everything and as I don’t know much have some questions. When wearing a workout leotard is there anything to do or not do while wearing it or anything to know to care for it so it doesn’t get ruined? Can you wear it after practice for the rest of the day? Once you have gotten out of your workout leotard is there anything you need to do to it? How do you wash a gymnastics leotard? Do you wash it in the washer? Do you use a special laundry soap specifically for gymnastics leotards? Can you just chunk them in the dryer? How do you store them when they are waiting to be worn? Do you hang them? If so is there special hangers for gymnastics leotards? If not do you fold them? How do you fold a gymnastics leotard if so? If you have any advice, Tips, tricks or what ever or able to answer my questions that would be very helpful!!
 
Lot of good questions. Here are my tips and perspectives.

Washing:
Hand wash or use the hand wash cycle with “clear” detergent. Wool-lite is also good. No fabric softener. Since my DD practices 5 days a week I tend to wash once a week since we have several training leos. I wash the leos together on their own but not with other clothes.

Drying:
Hang dry along the seam on a drying rack. I use a collapsible drying rack - same for delicates. Drying should not be in direct Sun so you get some longevity.

Wearing all day:
Not advisable. Once practice is done have your gymnast change.

Storage:
Drawer is fine. We hang the competition leo but I fold it over on the hanger.
 
Lot of good questions. Here are my tips and perspectives.

Washing:
Hand wash or use the hand wash cycle with “clear” detergent. Wool-lite is also good. No fabric softener. Since my DD practices 5 days a week I tend to wash once a week since we have several training leos. I wash the leos together on their own but not with other clothes.

Drying:
Hang dry along the seam on a drying rack. I use a collapsible drying rack - same for delicates. Drying should not be in direct Sun so you get some longevity.

Wearing all day:
Not advisable. Once practice is done have your gymnast change.

Storage:
Drawer is fine. We hang the competition leo but I fold it over on the hanger.
How would you fold a gymnastics leotard? Is there a special way as I am not familiar how to? Any thing you would have to be careful doing or watch out for while wearing the leotard?
 
I wash all leos, except the competition one, in the washer by themselves on delicate cycle with no fabric softener. For ones with mesh, I put those in lingerie bags before putting them in the washer with the rest. Hang on hangers to dry and just hang in the closet. I just use regular hangers. I've never folded them so maybe someone else can help with that.
We've never worried about stuff to watch out for when wearing the leo. I guess maybe stuff like velcro that that could snag it.
Does your dd have a competition leo? I wash that by hand and hang it on a hanger with washcloths wrapped around it because the sleeves are mesh and I don't want it to rip or dry in a funny shape.
 
All my daughters Leo’s go in the regular wash and dryer. Her comp Leo goes in the sink to hand wash or delicate cycle. Air dry. It’s weeks between wearings.
 
How would you fold a gymnastics leotard? Is there a special way as I am not familiar how to? Any thing you would have to be careful doing or watch out for while wearing the leotard?
my kid there is no folding it gets stuffed in her gymnastics drawer. Comp Leo goes with comp warmup on a hanger in the closet
 
My daughter does her own laundry. For the practice leos, it goes in a lingerie bag and into the wash with the rest of my daughter's clothes. Normal wash with cold water. She then hangs the leos on hangers to dry. After it dries, it goes straight into her closet.

I handle the competition leo since it usually has crystals and/or mesh. Hand wash and hang dry.
 
Forgot to add that she used to throw her leos into a drawer (no folding). But she got lazy and eliminated that step. It's easier to just go from hang dry on hangers then take the hangers straight into her closet.
 
Leos without crystals or sequins just go in the wash on gentle cycle, hang dry.
Leos with crystals or sequins go in the wash inside out on gentle/hand wash cycle.
Comp leo gets hand washed in the sink using woolite or other delicates detergent.
Competition warm ups (pants, jacket) also go in washing machine on gentle cycle and hang dry. I have air dried them in the dryer (no heat, just air) when we had back to back competition weekends), but only for a few minutes (I think I did 15) to get the majority of the water out and then hang dried the rest of the way.
Some of her simple leos have gone in the dryer once or twice, but I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Hand wash and hang dry. My daughter is a slow grower, only has a handful of leos at a time, and has never worn one out.
 
My daughter doesn't have enough leos (or other delicate things) to warrant a separate cycle in the washing machine, so I hand wash using some kind of delicate laundry liquid. I ruined one expensive leo in the normal wash + dryer, so not willing to take that risk again, even with the cheap ones from aliexpress. Hand washing takes about 10-15 minutes every couple of weeks, it doesn't bother me
 
Just follow the washing instructions that come with the leotard. You’ll be surprised how robust some leotards can be. My daughter’s competition leotard is a Sylvia P with mesh and hundreds of crystals and the washing instructions printed on the label say ‘warm machine wash, tumble dry on cool cycle’. (I don’t tumble dry it, but I rarely tumble dry anything). But I do just chuck it in the washing machine with other stuff.

Mystique will lose some of its sheen over time with repeated washes, although this has only ever been a problem for us with leotards acquired second hand, so they had already had a ‘lifetime’ with one gymnast.
 
This is good information as my daughter might be getting a couple of leotards, so knowing how to take care of them is a godsend.
 
Practice leos go in the wash with everything else on cold and then hung on a drying rack. Competition leotards are washed on gentle and hung. We don’t do anything extra and have never had an issue.
 
My daughter doesn't have enough leos (or other delicate things) to warrant a separate cycle in the washing machine, so I hand wash using some kind of delicate laundry liquid. I ruined one expensive leo in the normal wash + dryer, so not willing to take that risk again, even with the cheap ones from aliexpress. Hand washing takes about 10-15 minutes every couple of weeks, it doesn't bother me
 
All my daughters Leo’s go in the regular wash and dryer. Her comp Leo goes in the sink to hand wash or delicate cycle. Air dry. It’s weeks between wearings.
How do you store them while they are waiting for her to put them on for gymnastics? Should they be folded? If so how do you fold a gymnastics leotard? If not do you hang them to dry? If so are there special hangers for gymnastics leotards or how do you do it?
 
How do you store them while they are waiting for her to put them on for gymnastics? Should they be folded? If so how do you fold a gymnastics leotard? If not do you hang them to dry? If so are there special hangers for gymnastics leotards or how do you do it?
They literally just get put in her Leo drawer, maybe folded in half. Her comp Leo stays on the hanger in the bag it arrived in from GK. Also in the bag her warm up and bra so she knows everything is together. We would transport them this way (hanger hung in the car) if she wasn’t changing until we got to our destination (we never fly). If we were packing to fly it would go in a ziploc, in her carryon/gym bag. Practice Leos go in a ziploc in her gym bag.
 
How do you store them while they are waiting for her to put them on for gymnastics? Should they be folded? If so how do you fold a gymnastics leotard? If not do you hang them to dry? If so are there special hangers for gymnastics leotards or how do you do it?
You’re overthinking it. Besides a fancy completion leo, they’re extremely durable. Think about the beating a leo takes over an hour long session on the bars — how you store it will have no effect.
 

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