How Often Should I Change My Underwear

One out of every two Americans goes multiple days on a single pair of undies. Do you? Here's how often you lot should change your underwear, and what happens when you don't.

close up of woman's underwear while on toilet in bathroom PeopleImages/Getty Images

Wearing make clean underwear every day is one of the starting time rules of hygiene near of us were taught equally children, along with brushing your teeth before bed and not kissing the dog on the lips. So why is it that in a recent survey of over two,000 Americans, nigh half of adults confessed to wearing their undies for two days or (gulp) fifty-fifty longer? Non merely did 45 percentage of people surveyed by underwear visitor Tommy John say they don't always change their underwear daily but xiii pct said they'd gone for a calendar week or longer in the same pair. (No word on whether or not this involved turning them inside out.) Maybe they don't know the reasons we habiliment underwear in the first place.

"I've definitely done at least three days in the aforementioned boxers; it'southward easier, it's less laundry, and honestly I just forget," says Kellen, a 21-year-old college student who declined to be farther identified in instance his mother is reading.

This may be a valid concern because he also admits to putting the same pair of dirty undies dorsum on subsequently showering. "I leave them scrunched upwardly in my jeans so all I have to practise is pace back in and pull them upward and I'm out!"

Okay, while in that location may be a instance for convenience and perhaps even environmental friendliness, when it comes to your wellness wearing dirty underwear shouldn't even be a consideration, says Marisa Garshick, MD, a lath-certified dermatologist at MDCS Dermatology and clinical assistant professor of dermatology at New York Presbyterian-Cornell. (Here's the healthiest underwear for women, according to gynecologists.)

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The health risks of wearing the aforementioned underwear for days

"Dirty or used underwear provide a breeding footing for leaner, yeast, and fungi, and are frequently contaminated with fecal thing—that's poo debris," says Sherry A. Ross, MD, an ob-gyn in Santa Monica, California and author of She-ology: The Definitive Guide to Women'due south Intimate Health. The almost obvious problem with sitting effectually in your own poop is the odor that can build up over time, and you may not even realize information technology as many people develop "olfactory organ blindness" to their ain trunk odors, she says.

Acne is another concern, Dr. Garshick says. You lot knew y'all could get the unsightly ruddy bumps on your face and even neck or back but did y'all know you tin can also go them on your rear end or other body parts? Wearing dirty underwear traps sweat, clay, and leaner and holds them close to your skin. "When sweat or oil sits on the skin for as well long, it can lead to bad odor or clogged pores, leading to breakouts," she says.

You're as well at an increased risk for genital irritation and infections when wearing your underwear for extended periods of time, Dr. Ross says. "Volition it impale you to wear muddied underwear? Probably not, just the longer you wear the same pair, the more your risks increment," she says.

How often should you alter your underwear?

"In general, information technology is recommended to change your underwear daily to prevent the buildup of clay, sweat, bacteria and oil," Dr. Garshick says. However, at that place may be times you should alter it fifty-fifty more frequently. Given the moist surround of your groin and buttocks, if you are specially active or sweaty, be certain to change your underwear mail service-conditioning or if information technology feels sweaty or wet during the twenty-four hour period, she says.

Other times you demand to alter undies stat: If your underwear are visibly stained with urine or feces, if you're menstruating and blood has leaked through, or if you take any blazon of infection or open wound down under.

(Are you cleaning your underwear the right manner? Detect out.)

What happens if you rewear the same pair of underwear?

Sometimes life happens. Maybe you lot missed laundry day or your underwear sprouted holes overnight and you haven't had time to shop or you're in a situation where information technology's but not user-friendly to have a fresh pair handy. If it only happens every in one case in a while, don't sweat it. "Occasionally forgetting to alter your underwear for a few days is unlikely to crusade significant harm," Dr. Garshick says.

Nevertheless, if you often notice yourself in the position of needing to clothing your underwear for multiple days in a row (looking at yous, Kellen), it may be worth investing in higher-end undies designed to be more durable and lessen the risk of infection.

"We actually sponsored a guy hiking the Appalachian Trail and i of his requirements was that his underwear had to final multiple days in a row because he could just pack a very limited corporeality of wear," says Stacey Blume, an underwear technician and designer and founder of Noble Titan. She designed the brand'south operation underwear with this exact scenario in heed—heavy vesture over multiple days.

The key to re-wearing undies and not having problems is the fabric and fit, she says. She uses a poly-spandex fabric designed to wick abroad sweat and designed a waistband that functions as a sweatband, keeping sweat from dripping down and pooling in the underwear. (And as anyone who's always done a really sweaty workout knows, information technology's is a existent trouble!)

The, ahem, bottom line: Brand make clean underwear a daily priority, dingy underwear isn't worth the risk.

As for Kellen? "I'd like to say it's never gonna happen once again just we both know information technology's totally gonna happen over again," he says. Kellen, your mom would like a discussion…