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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/dirty-talk-why-you-may-not-need-to-wash-your-jeans/article2290213/

Here’s a New Year’s Resolution: give up washing your jeans for months at a time.

Even if you wear them five days a week, no one will ever know, according to an interesting study out of Australia.

For her Master’s thesis, Melbourne University student Tullia Jack found 30 volunteers who agreed to wear their jeans at least five days a week for three months, reports Adelaide Now. (One zealous participant, concerned that his pants weren’t getting dirty enough, even went running in them and slept in them at night.) Half of the participants reported not wanting to wear their jeans at about the six-week mark. But the other half wanted to keep wearing them unwashed even after the experiment was over, says Ms Jack.

I own two pairs of Levi's 501's, they're tough, comfortable, and make you look like a badas%. I wear them daily for work and usually wash them every 2-3 weeks, partially out of laziness and mostly because they don't need to be washed often. The problem though isn't the appearance of them being dirty, which comes with the territory in my job, it's that they begin to smell like musty monkey bits after 2 weeks of being worn, especially here in the warmest months.

Besides, who likes wearing fresh from the dryer denim jeans anyways? They never fit right and usually require a few sweaty drives home from work and some deep power squats to relax a bit in the trunk.

This study isn't a revelation, it's my life. Those Aussie's are so far behind aren't they?

Sorry, but I'm washing my jeans more frequently than every 3 months.

"In the end, the three-month-wear jean didn’t stink"
Who is smelling these? Pinocchio and his wooden nose?


"and they didn’t even look all that dirty, aside from odd stain of tuna or motor oil."
I want to look clean, especially when in a semi-professional setting. Stains of any sort don't cut it. Plus, who wants old tuna on their clothes?


“They just smell like people,”
Yeah, and there are PLENTY of people that do not smell good. I don't want to smell like "people." Gross.


"Even if you wear them five days a week, no one will ever know"
BullS...


I am perfectly at home with dirt, especially when hiking. But 3 months without washing is just gross. There. I've ranted today. :)

"I am perfectly at home with dirt, especially when hiking. But 3 months without washing is just gross."

Exactly what are you trying to say?

--B.G.--

Nothing to do with the jeans, Australian naturally smell nice.
Well, I do .
Franco

I don't get grossed out by dirt, like what may be encountered on the trail. I was the kind of kid to make mud holes and play in them for hours. But collecting 3 months of body oil, bacteria, food, sweat, etc. on a pair of jeans that I'd be wearing in public turns me off.

But I have a washing machine right here, let me do those for you. Please.

Haven't worn jeans in years. now another reason not to.

Ewwwwwwww. Seriously? They must not have a good sniffer to say the least.

I think the hardest thing about back to back pregnancies has been smelling less-than-fresh people in public. The worst offenders are guys (duh) in work jeans, coming home from construction jobs. You know those guys wash their jeans maybe on Friday night and that is it. Add in beer, tacos and hamburgers wiped on them, sweat, oil, etc...and whatta barfy smell. Retch. Maybe my nose is in hyper-drive but when I walk down grocery store aisles I can smell them even after they have left it.

But also...I hate when jeans get stretched out after 2 or 3 wears and the front of the thighs get "saggy" with lines from sitting. Washing gives one tight jeans again!

But I tend to wear jeans that are thinner than 501's. And I don't need pliers to get the zipper up when they are freshly washed...lol!

What?

I didn't know you were supposed to wash jeans

You don't wash Filson tin pants. Ruins the finish.

Ha ha!! This topic is right along the lines of my conversations with our son: "Don't put those jeans in the wash: you only wore them today, right? Are they actually dirty?" Wear them until they're dirty or that mean lady in the grocery store wrinkles her nose at you when you're down the aisle... :)

Jeans dirty? Wash'em. Otherwise, they're jeans for goshsakes. What would Gloria Vanderbilt do?


Er, wait, wrong one.

Hey now Sarah, not all folks punching in working construction and labor jobs are dirtbags downing cervezas, tacos, and burgers after they get off, nor do they reak. I'm a good smelling fella and handsome too says my momma. ;-)

I run trails on my lunch breaks and usually run after work despite being on my feet for 9 hrs a day carrying tools around properties and swinging 24ft ladders. I like water and GU when I get off work thank you very much. What is despicable is the inside of my rig, it reaks of corn chips and running shorts, makes my jeans smell like bunny farts. I think a man/woman working labor jobs smelling like hard work has every right to walk into a grocery store dirty if the dude who sat in front of a laptop all day wearing tailored slacks can stink up the store with their androgynous smelling perfumes. Just sayin.....

My wife and I battle the washing thing. She thinks the kids clothes should be washed after one use, when she's at work and I'm running things I refold clothes and put em back in the drawers. We're a culture obsessed with hygiene and image, kids look dirty at school and parents make all sorts of assumptions. My daughter is 4 and was recently commented on by another 4 yr old in her preschool that she had already worn a particular shirt that week and that her shirt wasn't "pretty". Seriously? Where are these kids getting this stuff from and who cares? End rant.

I fight the same battle with my wife over running clothes...drives me nuts.
"Have you seen the running shorts I left here?"
(The classic You're Kidding Me look) "I put them in the wash, they smelled like crap..."
"But they're my favorites and I could've gotten three more runs out of them..."

I do the same thing with the kids clothes too.

As a ceramics teacher, artist, runner, and avid gardener/builder I'm a mess pretty much 24/7. Most of my co-workers/students have no idea that I wear the same pair of pants three or four times a week. I'm always dirty, so you don't know the difference between today's clay splattered all over everything or last Tuesday's. Throw in a morning run before work, I imagine I'm not smellin' so fresh. So be it. I'm not trying to take anyone to Prom.

Personally, it's become a source of pride. I figure clean people with baby-soft hands must not do much with their lives...or they pay other people to do it :)

> I figure clean people with baby-soft hands must not do much with their lives...or they pay other people to do it :)

Craig, I know that was probably tongue-in-cheek, :) but...

I'm clean and I have soft hands-- but it's not because I don't work. During the day (except winter) I work in the family business which is installing and maintaining underground sprinkler systems. I'm working with tools, shovels, picks, pipe, fittings, etc in the ground which can be rock hard clay or freezing mud. I come home filthy every day, and it's incredibly physical work. I've seen grown men quit after one day because "it was too hard." Then, I have to rush home, clean up, and teach and/or perform professionally. (I'm a violinist.) I have to be clean for that, and my students wouldn't appreciate sand-paper hands which is why I wear good gloves when working. I need my hands healthy, clean, and soft!

So, I work and get dirty with the best of 'em, but I also have a need to stay clean every day as well.

...seeing as how I have read threads here on how long people can stretch the time between washings for a merino shirt. :)

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Edited by rOg_w on 05/28/2012 17:16:20 MDT.

""I put them in the wash, they smelled like crap...""

Where in the heck are you running that scares you so? ......

I have a teenage son. I make him wash his clothing after every wear - except his jeans - that is every 2-3 wears. I have a nose that can smell - good or bad. People who don't think their clothes have a stench are either used to their "smell" or don't have great sniffers. For example my husband cannot smell garlic at all. Who knows why. But often women smell better than men. He was in India for an extended period during my last pregnancy and wow did his clothing reek when he got back - not of sweat or dirt but everything reeked of food! I could smell everything he had walked near or had his luggage near. When he came back from Romania I could smell freaking cabbage on his pants! Ewwwww.......

PS: I don't wear perfume. Haven't since I was very young. I use unscented laundry soap as well. Most scents cause my skin to itch, due to chemical exposure when I was young (most likely). My Dad stored his chemicals in our house during winter - many of which have been banned now for years (he did cleaning for a living). I have a maid service that cleans our house and they only use unscented items that are all natural.

Look, I am not saying that guys smell like homeless guys, but some of ya do :-P Especially when combined with the reek of booze and tobacco added to the crusty jeans. And the burrito special plate. Just wash the pants, OK? And ones work or workout jacket as well!

>He was in India for an extended period during my last pregnancy and wow did his clothing reek when he got back - not of sweat or dirt but everything reeked of food!

My wife teaches two Indian girls at their home and the mother always makes dinner. She always comes back smelling the same! Must be a particular ingredient or style of cooking that sticks to clothes.

"But often women smell better than men."

Thanks to Herbal Essence, I can't even smell my wife's hair without having a totally organic experience. ;-p

Now I'm curious Sarah....are your maids required to wash their clothes after every use?

@ Spelt,

You can wash merino?

@ Travis,

You're the coolest guy of the day, physical laborer by day, accomplished classical musician and educator by night! Very cool. I'm sure Craig was speaking in gest, he once owned a Cutlass Supreme, everyone knows a guy rollin' in a Cutlass is classy. ;-)

A former coworker of mine is a classical guitarist, he would work 8 hours then show up with seconds to spare for his evening recitals and performances in a suit, he looked the part except for his banged up fingers and latex paint riddled hands.