clothes hygiene question

[Neonatal RRT]

Around our house:

Wear it once, then into the laundry hamper. Do laundry once/week.

Take a shower and wash your hair daily.

Personally, I feel gross in the morning,...I have to take a warm shower just to wake up. I have to be clean, fresh smelling, and have clean, unwrinkled clothes before going out into public.

 

[Gracey]

Foods with strong flavours can ooze through pores. Garlic, onion, curry etc.
Even if someone did shower daily, spices and such can still leak through pores throughout the day likely getting trapped in clothing fibres.

Even if someone didn't eat fresh garlic or onion, the powdered form is added to some pre packaged foods as part of the taste.


If you can't smell your clothes, try feeling them.
It may just be me but I find freshly laundered and pressed clothing just that little bit firmer than items I've been wearing for a day or two.

Bit like vegetables really. Floppy isn't fresh

 

[gaffaglow]

I think it depends partly on how well the clothes are aired out between washings. I wear my shirts and pants many times before washing them, but I have enough that I only wear them about once a week. Afterward, I make sure they are hung in a closet with good air circulation and enough room between clothing items to air out. I also make sure they don't look identical because some NT women will definitely judge you negatively if they think you wear the same clothing items more than once or twice a week.

This partly depends on your level of activity though. I spend a lot of time in the house, so I don't wear my clothes very long. When I was jogging, I washed my exercise clothing very often.

I too have a poor sense of smell. I hold the clothing items so close that they are touching my nose and then inhale as deeply as I can, focusing on the stinkiest areas like armpits and crotches. This seems to work. I've been told I smell good, and I've never been told I smell bad.

 

[Au Naturel]

I don't have a good sense of smell, so I need to settle this once and for all.

If you wear the same of pair of pants or the same cardigan every day for a whole week, will either of them start to smell?

I work mostly in an air conditioned office with little to no physical activity, which is why I thought I could get away with wearing the same pants AND the same cardigan every day. I mean, I did that for 2-3 years and no one looked visibly repulsed when they were around me, although I do want to add this was when most of my coworkers were also poor or working class.

When I moved on to a fancier environment, though, there was a well-meaning lady who hinted that I should wear deodorant. Because I otherwise had my basic hygiene down (I showered every day and did my laundry every weekend), I concluded that my clothing could be emanating odor, and since then have 2-3 of the same clothing piece to rotate throughout the week. (If I'm on my third day of wearing the same thing, I try not to stand too close to anyone.)

Still, sometimes it can feel wasteful to not re-wear the same clothes more often, so I'm wondering if, just like how underwear can only last a day, pants/outerwear really can last only a few days? I've also been noticing that some of my female coworkers smell of perfume, and it's definitely a feminine thing. So I don't know if the lady's suggestion was about basic hygiene (which I will try to adhere to) or an element of female beauty standards (which is optional only).

Probably. The question is what would make the clothing smell.

Clothing that is worn next to the skin starts to smell from perspiration and dead skin cells rubbing off onto it. If you don't shower, get into a heated or humid environment, or perform any significant exercise, they might stink by the end of just one day and you might too. Take those clothes off as soon as you get home and you'll extend their useful life. Look at the collar of a used shirt and you'll see a ring of dead skin cells around the fold.

Because environmental smells can also accumulate, even clothing that does not contact your skin can start to smell after a bit. (Cooking, smoking, smog, ect.) Not getting all the soap rinsed out will soon cause them to smell. So will leaving them in the washer too long before you dry them.

My personal rule is to rotate clothing so that even if I don't wash them every use, I never wear them two days in a row. Hang them up to air out between wearings. Pants are good for 3 days and shirts are good for two unless there is visible dirt on them. Things like socks, underwear and t-shirts are only good for one day. OTOH, if it is hot and I've been working, I'll change my inner layer of clothing twice a day.

It isn't hygiene. It is entirely a social thing. Wearing used clothing isn't going to cause you to get sick or infected. But social expectations often get conflated with hygiene and that's why we use deodorant.

Better yet, don't wear anything at all unless you have to and use a towel to sit on.

 

[unperson]

Everyone stank centuries ago, but times have changed.

 

[VictorR]

It isn't hygiene. It is entirely a social thing.

That reminds me of the time in a social history class where we looked at magazine ads in the early-mid 20th century, and lots of them were like this:

 

[Gerontius]

Wear wool. It doesn't get a smell as bad as synthetics.

Also--air your clothes out, as suggested earlier. Put them out in the sun on a clothesline if you can.

Change your shirt, undershirt, socks, underwear. Trousers & cardigans can be worn a few times.

 

[zurb]

Don’t forget also that whatever you put in your mouth also affects what you smell like. If you have a significantly different diet than your coworkers, or if you smoke, you will smell bad to them, even if you and your household can’t smell it.

 

[Au Naturel]

Don’t forget also that whatever you put in your mouth also affects what you smell like. If you have a significantly different diet than your coworkers, or if you smoke, you will smell bad to them, even if you and your household can’t smell it.

Garlic is notorious for that.

Sometimes a strange body odor is a sign of a health problem. Diabetes is a big one. A keto diet is another. You never smell it because it is there 24/7 but others will. We generally don't smell things that are constant. It is a change in scent that catches our attention.

There are also genetic conditions that can prevent you from smelling body odor.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Yes doing that will make a person smell bad. The other employees most likely feel awkward about the subject and are probably just trying to be polite. But if a person wears the same clothes, they will visibly look dirty (clothes rumpled and without the same "freshly washed, crisp, lint-free" look). Also, people sweat all day without knowing it, and when they cook, the smells from cooking are absorbed by the cook's garments. Bacteria grows on the dried sweat and causes even worse smells.

I often hate hygiene too, but we have to live with people.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Buy this. It's 150 dollars and you'll have a washing machine that you can just hook up to the kitchen sink. It's very light, and just whizzes across the floor. It's also very durable and long lasting. It's what my family uses. The large drum holds 1/2 of what a normal washing machine can hold. It's narrow enough to fit under where barstools would normally go at the kitchen island.

https://www.amazon.com/KUPPET-Compact-Portable-Capacity-Semi-Automatic/dp/B07TC4PDTZ/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=16UY3NVQ9UUQS&dchild=1&keywords=kuppet+washing+machine&qid=1613758259&sprefix=kuppet+wash,aps,348&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFNUThCSlhYOTNJWVImZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAxMDI3MzEyVkFPRks0OUlLWDBNJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTEwMjc0NDIyMENIWDY2RUk5UzRaJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

For drying your clothes, this economical indoor clothesline will last you over a decade. I have something very similar from Ikea. This model is only 30 something dollars.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...613758435&sprefix=ikea+drying+,aps,231&sr=8-8