How often should you wash your jeans? Never? Every time you wear them? WHO KNOWS. We didn’t, but in the name of Dirt, we did some digging.
There are two schools of thought on this topic.
Wash as little as possible. Benefits include:
- Your jeans retain their shape for longer
- The denim retains its colour for longer
- You save energy and money washing less
Wash every wear or two. Benefits include:
- Washing off the microbes, dead skin cells and oil that collect on your jeans after just one wear (you see them).
- Springing the jeans back into shape (some jeans may loose their shape around the knees after one wear).
So where do we stand? Just near the fly, somewhere in the middle.
Stretch technology is so good in denim these days, that stretching after one wear, is hardly noticeable. And given that the microbes etc. that build up on your jeans are not harmful, or visible, it’s overkill (ha!) to wash them every time.
In saying that, this same bodily buildup can start to smell after 3-5 wears, and as senso's on the smell front, we really don’t like smelling others’ clothes. Which is why, we recommend washing your jeans every 3-5 washes, just depending on what they’ve been through.
To prevent your jeans from dying a fast death, we recommend the following.
- Turn them inside out (or simply just pull them off like a lazy child when you know they’re due for a wash).
- Wash on 40 degrees (unless you use a specifically designed cold detergent), because you want to break down the oil.
- Dry inside out, and preferably in the sun - to make sure none of those pesky, smelly microbes survive.
Sources:
(And all their experts).
Photo: @cschoonover