When a guy is trying to think of the perfect romantic gift to give to the girl that he loves, one of the first things that often comes to mind is sleepwear or lingerie. In fact, studies have shown that one of the most common responses men give when quizzed on what a good gift for the women in their life would be is “sleepwear or lingerie”.

But hold on just a minute! Is it sleepwear, or is it lingerie? What’s that? You thought they were the same thing? Far from it. The difference between sleepwear and lingerie is quite vast, and it’s an important one to take note of. After all, even though this is supposed to be a present for her, you’ll hopefully be spending a great deal of time getting up close and personal with it yourself… so it pays to know what you’re getting into!

To begin with, what is the difference between sleepwear and lingerie? Simply put, sleepwear is something that you sleep in, and lingerie is something that you (typically) wear to bed. If that doesn’t make the distinction plain enough for you, let’s put it this way: most sleepwear is still on the woman the next morning, most lingerie usually makes its way to the bedroom floor at some point!

Sleepwear is often luxurious, well-tailored clothing intended to help a woman get the rest she needs to remain beautiful and vivacious. They’re usually made of high quality fabrics such as imported silks, or finely woven satins, and are cool and soft to the touch. They allow a woman to rest easily but still have the support and warmth she needs, and to wake up feeling rejuvenated and refreshed. Don’t get the impression that “sleepwear” refers to old flannel shirts or muu muus, however. Today’s sleepwear is an elegant affair, often containing elaborate designs and stylish cuts. This is probably where much of the confusion comes from – some sleepwear can be just as appealing (and just as revealing!) as lingerie!

Lingerie, on the other hand, is the kind of garment that is typically worn for a romantic evening in with just the two of you together. Think things like garter belts, delicate stockings, and elegant, lacy bras, and you’ll be starting to get the picture. Many men feel uncomfortable giving lingerie because they feel like it’s a gift “for them” rather than for the women in their lives. This, however, couldn’t be further from the truth! Most women feel uniquely flattered when they receive a gift like lingerie from the men they love, because it makes them feel sexy, desired, and attractive.

You do have to keep in mind the woman you’re shopping for, however. Not all women will be comfortable wearing revealing skimpy lingerie, and others will view sleepwear as something “old-fashioned” rather than classy. It all depends. Note that just because the woman in your life doesn’t respond to one or the other doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun. It’s possible to sleep in lingerie and wake up feeling energized, and given the nice designs in modern sleepwear, it’s also perfectly possible for it to become an erotically charged garment in its own right.

When you have to wash your lingerie, bear in mind that these are very delicate undergarments that require gentle washing only. This means that you shouldn’t chuck your lingerie in the washing machine along with the regular wash – this will just leave you with shredded tissue-paper like cloth on your hands and an irritated male partner to deal with. To wash your lingerie well, you should simply run regular tap water into a basin, use a mild shampoo into the water, stir it a bit to mix shampoo and water together, then let your lingerie soak in there for awhile. After around 10 minutes, you can mildly scrub your lingerie especially in the areas that have been soiled more. Rinse the clothing well in regular clean tap water until all the shampoo has been removed then hang up your lingerie to dry on a clothes hanger or on a clothesline. This is the best way to wash lingerie.

As with all types of washing, you need to bear in mind too that like-colored clothing like lingerie have to be washed together. This means not mixing your white lingerie with red lingerie, for instance. You probably know what will happen if you mix different-colored lingerie with each other – the light-colored ones will become a murky God-knows-what type of color because the reds and the blacks might bleed their color into the shampoo water solution. Since you want to preserve your lingerie, just sort your lingerie into same-colored piles before washing and you’re good to go.

Another reason why it is not advisable to pop your lingerie into a washing machine is because the lingerie may have hooks, buttons and fastenings that may snag on other pieces of clothing in the wash. If one piece of lingerie catches on another piece of lingerie, the washing action of the washing machine may rip apart your lingerie and you will be just one sorry person when you see what happened afterwards. People are still smarter than machines so you just need to be a little patient when it comes to washing lingerie to prevent accidents from happening.

You can now sort your lingerie for proper storage in your closet and dresser drawers, when the lingerie has dried completely. You might want to hang up certain lingerie on good snag-free hangers so that they retain their shape. This is good for corsets which cannot be folded because of their boning. Other types of lingerie that can be folded may be stored in a drawer. If you like, you can store your lingerie with some pouches of potpourri so that your lingerie smell fresh and clean when you put them on again.