TikToker Solves Longtime Bathrobe Loop Mystery: Here's How to Properly Tie One

As of this writing, the world's full of some pretty heavy stories, but at least we can turn to social media now for some solace. When you're chilling your house scrolling through the content populating your various feeds, at least you'll be able to do so in a properly tied bathrobe.

The TikTok account Christine and Gaby (@christineandgaby) posted about this new bathrobe-tying method that accrued over 9 million views.

In the video, aptly titled “Honestly wtf,” Gaby takes center stage in her bathroom to expose a little-known truth: that we’ve been tying our robes wrong this entire time. For centuries, generations, even. With equal parts disbelief and curiosity, she broke it down. Those loops in the front? They aren’t just decorative … they’re what unlocks, or locks, the entire mystery.

Gaby addresses the issue at hand and probably one that many of us have wondered about for quite some time: Why there aren't any loops for your robe's "belt" to tie around in the back.

Loops on jeans and trench coats exist — so why wouldn't they be present on a bathrobe?

"Why does nobody tell you that there’s no belt loop in the back?" Gaby wondered, prompting an exploration into this long form mystery. "If it was meant to be around your back, there’d be a loop in the back."

Following this, she demonstrates how the robe is meant to be tied — by threading the belt through only the front loops and tightly tying it together. "I feel very secure," Gaby says in the video, "Wow."

Commenters who saw the tutorial had a slew of different opinions on the phenomena. There was one viewer who seemed exasperated by the slew of "you're doing it wrong" types of video on TikTok. "I don’t even know if I’m breathing right at this point."

Another also surrendered to the belief they could possibly be doing everything they've ever known how to do in their lives incorrectly: "I can’t lose this app. I clearly don’t know how to do anything without it.” A third was fully enlightened: “This just changed my life."

It also wouldn't be an internet comments section without some lewd remarks, however. One person wrote: "They're supposed to pop out," clearly referring to Gabby's chest.

After seeing the TikToker's video delineating the "correct" way to wear a bathrobe, you may be asking yourself: Were they always designed this way?

The modern bathrobe has roots that go way back. Its predecessors include the banyan, a robe-like garment borrowed from Japan’s kimono and Middle Eastern caftans that made its way into 17th-century European fashion. Men of leisure rocked banyans at home back then, pairing them with slippers and the illustrious satisfaction of wealth.

Fast-forward to the 19th and 20th centuries, when terrycloth became popular and the bathrobe as we know it — a fluffy, absorbent post-bath essential — became commonplace. It's a marriage of Victorian elegance and a just-got-out-of-the-tub practicality.

Then, in Japan, you’ve got the yukata — a lightweight cotton robe worn after a bath or at the hot springs. In Turkey, it’s the pestemal, which doubles as both a towel and robe combo in traditional hammams (bathhouses). In the West, we go for full-fluff, either for actual use or dramatic coffee-sipping reflection in front of a big window.

Bathrobes aren’t just functional — they also embody a specific aesthetic and tone. Whether you’re fresh out of the shower, or pretending to be the main character in a moody indie film, a bathrobe is quite nice on many an occasion. It’s comfort. It’s drama. It’s self-care wrapped in a bow — or, more accurately, a properly tied front bow.