Missed The Memo: Wash Jeans Every Six Months

[frigilux]

I wear a lot of black both at work and at leisure, so a page headlined "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" in this month's Details caught my eye. As you might expect, it sang the praises of black jeans as the hot denim trend of the season.  I've been wearing black jeans for 40 years and have watched, unfazed, as they fell in and out of fashion's favor several times.

 

Anyway...Frank Pizzurro, owner of Brooklyn Denim Co., was asked to give his expert advice on laundering jeans.  Here's what he had to say: "We are not big fans of never washing your jeans." (Aside: Such a school of thought actually exists?)

 

"Our suggestion is to wear them for three to six months.  At that point, wash in cold water, inside out, with a small amount of mild detergent; rinse thoroughly and hang dry."

 

My first inclination leans toward disgust.  No, wait; horror.  Horror and disgust.

 

Does anyone out there really wash their jeans only once every three to six months...or never?  

 

 

 

 

[appnut]

Even if I only wear them for about 4 to 5 hours each time, I only wear them twice before they are put in the hamper. I don't get to wear jeans as often as I like anymore--leaving high-tech industry and casual Fridays put an end to such a luxury. Sit may take a whjile to get all 6 pair I wear assembled for the "load". I wash mine inside out on the jeans/denim cycle--that uses a lot of water and medium speed tumble and medium spin speed. tumble dry until lightly damp and let dryer cool down. Remove and hang up.

 

[dustin92]

I only own one pair of jeans, and they are always washed everytime they are worn, even if only for an hour. I wash anything that has come in contact with my skin everytime it is worn, and jackets etc. when they start looking a bit dingy.

 

[mattl]

I wash my jeans when they need it. 2 wearings or 12. If I wear them a couple of hours here and a hour there I see absolutely no reason to wash them.

 

[launderess]

Actually A Common Thing

At least from what one can remember among certain sets of persons growing up in the 1980's.

In order to preserve the colour and what not persons washed their jeans as little as possible. But then many of these person had work jeans, club jeans, shopping jeans, skinny jeans, fat day jeans, "bloated week" jeans, school jeans, and so forth.

Thing everyone wanted was to keep that new dark colour. Some just had their jeans dry cleaned. Those that wore several times before laundering would hang them to "air" for several days before putting away.

Obviously if the jeans were stained or soiled they went for cleaning or into the wash.

 

[sudsmaster]

I like black jeans for working on cars or machinery. But they get washed promptly after getting soiled. The aroma of dirty engine oil - or worse, gear lube - is not pleasant to have even in a hamper for very long. If the black fades, I figure, so what? The worst that can happen is the grease stains show up more, but then a hot wash with a good phosphated powder detergent will fix that.

Black however is not so good for working in the garden or on a roof on a hot sunny day. Even light weight black pants can get too hot.

As for blue jeans fading... amusing that people would try to prevent that, and then go out and buy pre-faded jeans anyway. Fashion fads.

 

[verizonbear]

I have heard of this

I know several people to Laundress" point who have several pairs of "situational" black jeans. One person in particular wears their "good" black jeans only 2 twice per month, he sprays them with frebreeze extra strength between wearings and does a "steam touch up tumble " in his Bravos dryer. He washes them quarterly using cold water and woolite for darks.

 

[rolls_rapide]

3-6 months

What a disgusting thought.

I once had a couple of pairs of black jeans which through regular washing, faded to grey.

To restore them, I bought Dylon black dye powder, which was added directly to the washing machine drum. The clothing was added and washed at 60 degrees Celsius (hot).

The jeans came out looking like new, but the stitched-in logo labels changed to black too. The washer had to be run on a hot wash to clear the dye residue. I was quite impressed by the results.

 

[jerrod6]

Black Jeans and Pants every three to six months? Probably me.

First, I have four lines of clothes. I have my house lines, and then the going out line, and then the dirty work around the house line.

So for every day around the house I wear ok looking clothes but nothing great and they may have some holes in them and these get washed weeky. I have my second house line and these look better and are good enough to wear to picnic or someplace where you are gonna get messy, depending on the mess they may or may not get washed that week but usually they will. The dirty work around the house line will usually get washed within two weeks depending on if I am going to wear them twice or not.

If I go out to dinner or shopping or the doctors or someplace I have the going out line, these include the black jeans as well as black casual cotton pants. These also include linen and wool dress slacks which will see the dry cleaners but not after each wear. With these as soon as I get home I take them off hang them up and slip into my house clothes. If these get a spot on them I will first try to remove it with a no lint cloth, if this doesn't work I will wash them in cold water, inside out, with Persil Fewa (for darks) but this is rare.

So yeah this comment about every six months is about the schedule I follow for black pants....if that.

I am clean before I put them on, I am careful when I wear them, I am wearing underwear, they do not smell, there are no dirty marks showing and they are NOT faded so what's the problem again?

 

[launderess]

Should Like To Point Out That Historically

Clothing generally wasn't sent to the wash unless it was dirty and or stained (sometimes not even then *LOL*). It really was not until the modern automatic washing machine then tumble dryer took hold that Americans a least adopted habits of laundering anything that had been merely looked at much less worn once. If anything it was undergarments that were changed daily (again sometimes not always)and subjected to frequent laundering.

Much of this simply had to do with the three day long and back breaking work that went into doing wash by hand. Wringer and other early washing machines were slightly better but laundry day still was allot of work including ironing. It really was the very rich and or comfortable well off that could either afford to send their washing out and or bring someone in to do the job.

Think about the average large family of our grandparent's day. Can you imagine how much wash would be generated by a husband, wife, and just four children if everything that was worn once went to the laundry?

Detachable collars and cuffs for shirts were invented by a woman in Troy, NY because she was that sick and tired of laundering and ironing her husband's shirts when it was usually only the collars that were soiled. It was a far easier solution to wash a load of shirt collars (or send them out) and allow shirts to air between use.

 

[mickeyd]

I know that the black wool habits of the Sister of Mercy were rarely cleaned. Each nun had two habits which they alternated, wearing one day, airing the next.
The starched white head parts were changed weekly or as needed. Never had a dirty nun.

Think of how careful we are when away and traveling light and how meticulous to keep the jeans clean. If you're wearing them without undies, well that's another matter
in a "well-worn thread" ; -D down the pike.

 

[launderess]

The Mind Reels About How You Came Upon That Bit Of Informati

But we will light that firecracker later. *LOL*

 

[launderess]

Cleaning Wool

Aside from woolens sweaters and such was rarely done before modern dry cleaning came along. The alternative once petrol was discovered was to use kerosene or gasoline in open tubs for "dry cleaning" a process so dangerous it is amazing persons actually used such a process.

Prior to all this the best that could be done was to brush off surface dirt and soils, then immerse or spot treat the garment in various absorbents such as Fuller's Earth, bran or some such.

Happily wool tends to shed dirt and odors easily so that usually a good brushing and airing is only required. Talk about garments that aren't cleaned frequently, many gentlemen do not send their suits out to be cleaned except perhaps once a season or yearly, if that.

 

[danemodsandy]

I'd Be Careful....

....About figuring that anything infrequently washed "doesn't smell."

The reason is that we can't usually smell ourselves - our ordinary personal odor becomes olfactory "background" that our noses are so accustomed to we don't actually smell it any more. Obviously, when we're exceptionally sweaty from exertion or stress, we can then smell ourselves, because it's an unusual situation.

Background smells are so familiar to us that we often deny their existence, without knowing it. Have you ever been away from your house on vacation, and when you came back, found that the house smelled funny? That's because your sense of smell lost familiarity with that odor as background - actually, that's the way your house smells.

So, an infrequently washed item of clothing might well be odor-free. But that should be a fact checked out with others you trust, not an assumption based on what your nose is picking up.

I once met a fashion magazine editor who was adamantly against the use of deodorant; she claimed that no one needed it, and offered herself as proof. All I can say is that I'd put what I smelled up against the smell of the Budweiser Clydesdales any day; she couldn't smell herself, and was far too powerful a person for anyone to tell the truth to.

 

[launderess]

Oh Am Well Aware Of "Whiff Awareness"

Yes, persons develop a tolerance to scents both pleasant or foul.

Those of us living in today's modern world would have to stand well upwind from many persons well into the 1950's in some areas of the Western world at least. Bathing was not always as frequent (if it occurred at all, which during some periods of history it didn't)as such persons from royalty on down often had a whiff about them, some not that far removed from a rank goat.

Now of course for even those used to such conditions there were limits, but we today would simply find it horrible. I mean you can only imagine what the court of Louis XIV for all it's glamour and glitter smelled like.

Then there is what I call the "Old Lady Perfume Habit"; you know the older woman that has been wearing her signature scent (why God is it always Shalimar?) for so long she herself cannot detect it; that causes her to douse every inch of herself in scent till you are gasping for breath she enters the room.

 

[beekeyknee]

That reminds me of those commercials where ladies bathed in Jean Nate. My Mother would fuss when that would come on TV.

 

[mickeyd]

The Mind Reels About How You Came Upon That Bit Of Informati

Why, my Dear, I though you knew: Before my sexual reassignment, I was known as Sister Michael Marie, RSM. The Belly Wiggles.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Wearing Jeans for months without washing?

YUCK!  I wear jeans a maximum of 3 times.  Only once if doing dirty work.  Then it is a hot or very warm wash and tumble dry. 

WK78

 

[frigilux]

I quit using both Cheer For Darks and Woolite For Dark Colors because they contain optical brighteners which make blacks look dusty. Why a company would include brighteners in detergent made for washing blacks is beyond me.

Perwoll doesn't have optical brighteners and it cleans better than Woolite. Keeps blacks looking great after many trips through the washer. I buy it online.