In the world of BJJ, your appearance matters. How your present yourself to your teacher and colleagues says a lot about how seriously you take your practice. Show up to class in an unwashed and wrinkled Gi and you’re telling everyone you don’t care about your progress. This is especially bad if you want to get promoted and it’s up to your teacher whether to give you the next stripe or not.
As with every fabric made of cotton that gets washed, your BJJ belt will shrink. This is especially true of the first time you wash it, but also for subsequent washings as well. How much it shrinks depends on the material, whether it has polyester in it, and how you wash it. Hand washing tends to be more gentle on the belt than if you wash it in the washing machine. How you dry it also makes a difference.
Sometimes you’d want your belt to shrink because it’s too long for you and it comes in the way. Other times you want it just the way it is. No more no less. In that case a shrinking belt defeats the purpose and you want to do all you can to keep it from shrinking. Let’s have a look at this crucial issue.
To Wash or Not to Wash
Of all the BJJ player’s clothing items, the belt gets special treatment. For one thing, the belt color is what distinguishes a novice player from an experienced one. But it’s not just the color of the belt that set the ranks, the stripes too make a big difference between two players wearing the same belt color. It’s no wonder then that the belt carries so much weight in BJJ.
For that reason, some players take washing, or rather, the unwashing, of the belt very seriously. It’s common knowledge that some black belt champions have never washed their belt. Not even once. You can imagine that the belt stinks, is crushy with dried sweat and dead skin cells if not blood. But they are adamant about it. So why do they refuse to wash their belt?
It’s superstition, mostly. They feel that washing the belt will jinx them. Like there’s a connection with the belt. Not only has it absorbed and accumulated sweat and tears, but also the whole sum of their skills and experiences. If they wash it, all that mojo will go down the drains, literally if not figuratively.
Now think of the amount of germs and pathogens lurking inside the fabric pores of a belt like that. Do you really want to go up against a player with a dirty belt who could very well infect you once you come in contact with the belt? It’s a health hazard both for the one wearing the belt and the other player. These are difficult times, nobody needs an extra element of health risk like a dirty belt.
In short, you should always wash your belt. How often? Well, that depends on your sense of hygiene and how often you practice. Some players wash it after every class, while others wash it once a week. But what about the shrinking? Yes, that brings us to the first time you wash your belt.
The First Washing
When you buy your belt for the first time, it comes out of its wrapping looking clean and crisp. Now you have a choice, either to wash it or just put it on like that without washing. It’s recommended that you wash it first. Just put it in a bucket of water or fill the kitchen sink and drop it in it. This is hand washing. Don’t use the washing machine.
Handwashing is gentler on the fabric and doesn’t stress it much. It also keeps your stripes on. The washing machine will just take those stripes off like it’s nothing. Then you’ll have trouble sticking them back on the belt. Who said being clean was easy?
Always use lukewarm water or tap water if the weather permits. Never use hot water. That’s what makes the belt shrink and the colors run. Now let the belt settle in the water for a minute or so before you pick it. For this first washing you don’t need to use detergents or even softeners. You’re just trying to loosen the fabric and wash away any chemicals.
Give the belt a few squeeze and rub it gently. Then take it out of the water. Don’t twist it vigorously like you’re trying to wrench its neck off. Hold it for a bit to let the excess water drop on its own. Hang it on a rack and let it dry. That takes care of your first wash. Now your belt is clean and won’t shrink much.
Shrink your Belt
But what if you actually want to shrink your belt? It’s just too long for you. It dangles in front of you like something you’d rather not talk about and you can’t even show your stripes. If you bend, the tips of the belt hit the floor and come in the way. That’s no way for a belt to behave. You want it to be tucked neatly around your waist with the stripes flashing in the eyes of your opponent telling them how much experience you have.
So you need to wash your belt for the sole purpose of making it shrink. How would you go about doing that? Simple really. You just need to do the opposite of what we recommended in the above section. Instead of using cold or lukewarm water, use hot water. You can still wash it with your hands in a sink or drop it in the washing machine. Usually the washing machine will do a good job shrinking it. Also you won’t have to put your hands in hot water.
If you’re using velcro stripes, then just drop the whole belt in the washing machine. You can always stick back the stripes if they come off. If they’re glued to the belt, you’ll just have to cross your fingers that they don’t come off. You can use detergent and softener to loosen the fabric. Let the belt take a few spins in the dryer for good measure.
After the belt is dry, you can iron it. Check the material and iron settings before you proceed. If the belt is still too long for your liking, give it another wash. Repeat the whole process until the belt is finally the size that suits you.
More Washing
As you wear your belt, go to practice, and spar and sweat, it will get dirty. There’s no escaping that. Just like your Gi, your belt gets its fair share of sweat, both yours and your opponent’s. Now you wouldn’t let that stuff fester in your belt and become a bacteria farm. You need to wash it as soon as possible.
Unlike with the first washing, you need to use washing detergent and softeners. That sweat and dead skin particles are not going to come off on their own. It’s recommended you wash the belt by hand. For one thing it’s not a large item and it’s easy to wash. Also your hands are always much gentler than the washer that gives the clothes the rough treatment.
How often you wash your belt will impact its lifespan. Not to mention how it looks. The more you wash it the paler it gets and more frayed it becomes. It’s a trade off really. Do you want to walk around with a smelly belt or an old and faded one? For me, I always put hygiene first. So unless you want to overpower your opponent with the aroma of your stinking belt alone, you’d want to wash it often.
Non-White Belts
Now comes the interesting part. You start your BJJ practice with a white belt. It’s easy to clean and hardly stains, anyway. You drop it in the washing machine with the other white items or you wash it separately in a small bucket. Nothing could be any simpler. The only issue is, white is easy to stain, so you can wash it with the Gi if it’s also white.
But what if you are wearing a purple belt, or a blue one? Washing non-white belts can be a problem. Not just for the belt but also for the other items in that load. For one thing, you need to make sure the belt doesn’t run color. Also that no other clothes will run color. The last thing you’d want is to put a purple belt in the washer only for it to come out brown. That’s not how you progress in BJJ’s complex ranking system.
Hot water is usually the main cause of color run in fabrics. That and the type of washing detergent you use. Make sure you don’t use bleach and that the detergent is for color clothes.