Exactly how often you should wash your clothes
These are the deep questions we all need to ask ourselves – am I washing my clothes too often, or not enough?
There are many excuses for doing either option – we get busy and run out of time to put a load of washing on, we sponge off visible stains and put our favourite jeans back on again, we find random articles of clothing around the house and just assume they need a wash, that sort of thing.
But it turns out there is actually a science behind how many times an article of clothing can be worn before it should be laundered. And we are here to divulge the information so you aren’t left hanging.
Naturally we need to preface this by saying the following – if you spill coffee/sauce/gravy/beetroot juice on your clothing, all bets are off. You must wash them right away. The rules do not apply in this situation.
For all other instances of regular wear, the following guidelines apply:
1. Wash after each wear
Do we need to go into detail here? Sweat and bodily fluids mean that some items are one trick ponies that need to be laundered after each wear. These include underpants, socks, stockings, exercise clothes and swimmers. Anything made of silk should also be washed after each outing.
2. Wash after one or two wears
This really depends on whether you’ve been a bit sweaty or got a little grubby when you wore it, but in general you should wash business shirts, t-shirts, dresses and leggings after one or two wears. Think of it like this – these items are quite close to your body and are generally made of less durable material than say, a coat.
Same goes for pyjamas, you can really do the smell test here to see when they need a wash. They don’t tend to get dirty as such (unless you slop your toast and jam down the front).
3. Wash after three or four wears
This is where we come to bras. Ask most women and they’ll tell you that they don’t wash their underwire bras all that often. Who has time for hand washing? Turns out you should be washing them after just a few uses, so to avoid hand washing burnout, try rotating through your bras through the week and then do one big wash with your bras together.
When it comes to shorts, trousers and skirts, you can also work on the three to four wear rule. As usual, sweat and stains will tell you whether this needs to go in the laundry basket sooner than that, but it is a guide for a reason. Wearing the same suit trousers to work every day could lead to a bit of a whiff come Friday, so it’s a good idea to rotate through different pairs across the week.
4. Wash after five to six wears
Keep an eye on things like scarves, beanies and gloves in the winter time and remember to give them a quick wash after they’ve had a few trips out of the house. It’s easy to forget how grubby they can get. Jeans, jumpers and jackets also fall into this category, though some people go even longer – it’s your call really.
Have you been unknowingly flaunting the rules of the laundry? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.