Why I've joined the "wash your jeans regularly" club

Threw a pair of jeans in the laundry hamper about a week and a half ago, waiting till I had enough for a cold load. Finally, today, I did. Since the two intervening warm loads included sweaty gym clothes, the jeans shared the hamper with them. Today I discovered mold, yes MOLD, growing on the jeans . I've had sweaty gym clothes in there before for longer than a week (if there's been travel or if I've been wearing mostly dry-cleanable clothes) and nothing, including all cotton t-shirts and underwear, has EVER gotten mold. These items, though, are washed every time they're worn, which leads me to the conclusion that you just don't realize what your jeans are picking up from regular wear. From now on, it's into the wash (or off to the dry cleaner if not all cotton/specially treated) on a regular basis for me!

are you the only one in this club?



TimelesStyle said:

Threw a pair of jeans in the laundry hamper about a week and a half ago, waiting till I had enough for a cold load. Finally, today, I did. Since the two intervening warm loads included sweaty gym clothes, the jeans shared the hamper with them. Today I discovered mold, yes MOLD, growing on the jeans . I've had sweaty gym clothes in there before for longer than a week (if there's been travel or if I've been wearing mostly dry-cleanable clothes) and nothing, including all cotton t-shirts and underwear, has EVER gotten mold. These items, though, are washed every time they're worn, which leads me to the conclusion that you just don't realize what your jeans are picking up from regular wear. From now on, it's into the wash (or off to the dry cleaner if not all cotton/specially treated) on a regular basis for me!

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You owe me 30 seconds of my life back



TimelesStyle said:

Threw a pair of jeans in the laundry hamper about a week and a half ago, waiting till I had enough for a cold load. Finally, today, I did. Since the two intervening warm loads included sweaty gym clothes, the jeans shared the hamper with them. Today I discovered mold, yes MOLD, growing on the jeans . I've had sweaty gym clothes in there before for longer than a week (if there's been travel or if I've been wearing mostly dry-cleanable clothes) and nothing, including all cotton t-shirts and underwear, has EVER gotten mold. These items, though, are washed every time they're worn, which leads me to the conclusion that you just don't realize what your jeans are picking up from regular wear. From now on, it's into the wash (or off to the dry cleaner if not all cotton/specially treated) on a regular basis for me!

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Do your laundry more often you dirty ****



bows1 said:

Do your laundry more often you dirty ****

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LOL, that's all I got from this as well

Wow, quite a difference to posting on MC, I must say...

The point of this wasn't whether to do laundry more often or not, the point was that I've had other stuff in there an equally long time, under the same conditions and never an issue what so ever. Barring something special about denim, the effect must come from what accumulates on denim over meany washless wearings that most wearers will never see. It's not about one pair of jeans being ruined by mold, rather thinking about what allowed it to grow there (vs. on other laundry) in the first place that struck me as gross. Ironically, those saying I should do laundry more often are apparently unconcerned about what bacteria may be living on their jeans.

Anyways, may just be a general philosophical "agree to disagree" situation where we'll all just be happier if I stick to the MC section.

SW&D - now with an extra helping of Attitude



Master-Classter said:

SW&D - now with an extra helping of Attitude

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All clarified now

I'm sure it was directed to us SW&D people since master-classter seems to frequent MC. I think the reaction you are getting is due to the fact that your anecdote proves nothing. It wasn't even repeated experience/observation. It was one isolated instance. It's like that chinese proverb of the farmer who sees a rabbit run into a tree, hit its head and die which the farmer then converted to delicious rabbit stew. The farmer then sat by the tree until he starved to death. Too quick to draw the conclusion he did based on one incident imo.

Also even if your conclusion is valid... mold spores don't really bother me unless they are toxic or have turned into actual mold. None of my jeans have poisoned me or exhibited mold like yours. So not concerned. Mold also pretty much goes away with a wash or a dip in anti-fungal then a wash so even if it does show up definitely not a show-stopper.

I generally walk this earth assuming I'm covered in amoeba-*****, mold spores and insect bits so an extra bit of sporage i can live with.



Abraxis said:

I'm sure it was directed to us SW&D people since master-classter seems to frequent MC. I think the reaction you are getting is due to the fact that your anecdote proves nothing. It wasn't even repeated experience/observation. It was one isolated instance. It's like that chinese proverb of the farmer who sees a rabbit run into a tree, hit its head and die which the farmer then converted to delicious rabbit stew. The farmer then sat by the tree until he starved to death. Too quick to draw the conclusion he did based on one incident imo.
Also even if your conclusion is valid... mold spores don't really bother me unless they are toxic or have turned into actual mold. None of my jeans have poisoned me or exhibited mold like yours. So not concerned. Mold also pretty much goes away with a wash or a dip in anti-fungal then a wash so even if it does show up definitely not a show-stopper.
I generally walk this earth assuming I'm covered in amoeba-*****, mold spores and insect bits so an extra bit of sporage i can live with.

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Thanks for the highly reasonable response. While this will still prompt me to wash my jeans more frequently I don't disagree with what you are saying. Don't entirely agree re: the proverb either since in my case there's a little more anecdotal evidence of a causal relationship (other cotton laundry left in similar conditions for a similar amount of time the only difference being how frequently they were each washed) though, when it comes to clothes, I do prefer the Chinese proverb used in my sig .



aaaeeeiiiooouuu said:

You owe me 30 seconds of my life back

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I only read the first 2 sentences so OP owes me 8 seconds back!!!

BoboMax said:

are you the only one in this club?

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I think he might just be.

I´ve only washed my jeans when they´ve gotten muddy, the rest of the time they´re just lying around or hanging in the closet, or with my legs inside them XD
So, funny remarks aside, this was a ******* waste of time.

I think he might just be the sole person in this "club"

I´ve only washed my jeans when they´ve gotten muddy. The rest of the time they´re just lying around, hanging in my closet or with my legs inside them XD

Funny remarks aside, this was a ******* waste of time.

I don't wear raw denim but I try to wash my jeans every 10-15 wears. i think that's good enough.