I was promoted to blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu on May 1st, 2007. I still remember the day I was promoted. I came home so excited that I woke up my wife to tell her. I think I even slept with my new belt that night. I do remember carrying it with me the very next day.
Since being promoted I have never washed my belt. I know that I should, however, I want it to look faded because of the training I put in, not because I wash it once a week.
I have seen blue belts that look like they have been a blue belt for many years, but come to find out they haven’t. They just wash it all the time.
So far I have not noticed any stench coming from my belt, if and when it does, then I will wash it. But for now, I will continue to train and let the faded look come from all time I put into training.
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I hand-washed my belt after I first got it, because it was so stiff that it tended to come loose very easily. I’m not too concerned about how faded it is or not, but the stiffness is annoying: seems to be a lot looser now, but still comes undone all the time. Can’t remember my white belt doing that, but then I only washed that once or twice too.
However, I wash my gi after every session because I’m scared of staph etc (not to mention I doubt I’d be a popular sparring partner if I wore a skanky gi ;p). Same thinking should probably apply to my belt, but I haven’t noticed that collect sweat in the same way. Still, something to keep an eye on. Or rather, nose.