How often should you wash your jeans and other clothes? Doctors give some shocking answers

[RickMycroft]

And how often do people clean their washing machines?

[DukeTrout]

@ClutchLinkey

Getting slightly off topic, but I’d like some back up on this. Any happy mutants reading who can verify or dispute this comment? Anecdotally, I find I’ve been much healthier (caught fewer colds) since I started washing my hands more regularly after going out shopping or whatever and touching all the door handles and key pads and stuff.

There are definitely clinical studies that show hand washing reduces infections. That said, for most people, picking up diseases from surfaces isn’t a thing. The density of any given pathogen is just too low and transfer is inefficient. The vast majority of pathogens on public surfaces aren’t dangerous to most people, excluding those who are immunocompromised. Basically, we are all just exchanging varieties of the same harmless pathogens that coexist peacefully on our skins.

There are environments that are exceptions, too. Hospitals for certain. Morgues and funeral homes. Zoos, farms; anywhere potentially diseased animals live and die. I have a friend who learned the shitty way that wiping your face with hands that are wet from a river can transfer giardia. But just going to a public place and touching things is pretty benign, IMO.

[anon81133038]

@RickMycroft

And how often do people clean their washing machines?

Me personally, once a month now on the self clean cycle.
I recently learned that lesson the hard way.
High Efficiency front loaders are notorious for collecting mold and mildew but that memo missed me somehow and who actually reads the manual?

[Wayward]

@ClutchLinkey

Wow, do people do this? Wear PJs once then throw them in the wash?

Raises hand…

Perimenopausal night sweats. Not every night, but when they do hit, not just the PJs but also the sheets and mattress pad go in the wash the next day.

(Blurred for potential TMI)

[pfranz]

I’ll dump a packet of the cleaning stuff a few times a year to get rid of detergent, oils, mildew, and other build up and run a normal cycle with hot water like it suggests.

I have a top loader now, but have moved into a few places with front-loaders. Every time I move in that rubber seal on the front is gross and smelly. Wiping it down and using cleaners seemed like the only way to clean it out. But after it’s clean, leaving the door cracked after a wash seemed to be enough to keep it from mildewing. That’s also usually mentioned in the manual.

[FGD135]

I’m washing my jeans right now!

[FGD135]

Update:
Dry now.

[jorny]

@DukeTrout

There are definitely clinical studies that show hand washing reduces infections. That said, for most people, picking up diseases from surfaces isn’t a thing. The density of any given pathogen is just too low and transfer is inefficient. The vast majority of pathogens on public surfaces aren’t dangerous to most people, excluding those who are immunocompromised. Basically, we are all just exchanging varieties of the same harmless pathogens that coexist peacefully on our skins.

There are environments that are exceptions, too. Hospitals for certain. Morgues and funeral homes. Zoos, farms; anywhere potentially diseased animals live and die. I have a friend who learned the shitty way that wiping your face with hands that are wet from a river can transfer giardia. But just going to a public place and touching things is pretty benign, IMO.

Yeah. I am not saying that you should not wash your hands. What most of the scaremongering is doing is that they are saying that there are bacteria on surfaces you touch. Usually completely harmless skin bacteria, of the same kind you already have on your skin. Pathogens usually do not spread through touching lift buttons or door handles.