I was reading with interest about the environmental benefits of not washing your clothes as often - longevity, less shedding of micro particles into the environment and so on. And I will be honest great as it sounds my first thought was: don't these people sweat? I generally try to get all animal jobs and dog walking out of the way in the mornings as much as I can and I'm not kidding you at this time of year I am soaked in sweat right down to my underwear.
I can dream of not washing my bra for five days but I think in reality by day five even I wouldn't want to be near me. It's a massive irritation that nearly all bras for sale now are the hideous moulded cup ones, and most don't withstand more than a few washes before the cup distorts and begins to curl. I have to ask: should we be wasting resources manufacturing this crap that can't withstand use in the first place?
Years ago M&S was the premier store you bought your undies, yes they were a bit pricier but you could guarantee a good long usage period from an M&S bra. By year two they may have been looking on the dingy side but were still a serviceable piece of under garmentage. Nowadays I'm looking at replacing bras often, the distorted cups apart from being uncomfortable, also make you look like you're spilling cleavage all over the place.
I try to be frugal with clothes washing, I never use the ridiculous programs on the washing machine that take hours and many gallons of water, however I don't think the not washing things is going to be practical for me. I wash my day to day work trousers once a week and by Friday I'm generally covered in sheep snodge, lanolin, "brown substances" (and it's not all me being messy eating chocolate) and praying for Saturday.
Saturday I get the amazing feeling of clean trousers that lasts for about half an hour. I savour it!! The one upside to sheepy trousers is queues in shops at Christmas, if I time it right, like a Thursday or Friday, I can clear space in no time due to the aroma! I actually don't care anymore if I go out with hoof prints on my trousers, this is what sheep ownership does to you!
I don't think modern washing powders really help when it comes to garments lasting. For one thing they don't actually clean your clothes - you have to buy a separate stain remover to get rid of anything. And I think the bleaches and other chemicals in them seem to demolish the fabric over time. I am looking at other options, including growing soapwort.
For people with a certain lifestyle where they're not excessively sweaty carrying buckets of water miles and in contact with livestock, I would guess there are loads of washes that are done unnecessarily on a daily basis. For those of us with a sheep who likes to wipe their nose down our trouser legs for the sake of some sort of hygiene I think we will probably still have to wash stuff!
I can dream of not washing my bra for five days but I think in reality by day five even I wouldn't want to be near me. It's a massive irritation that nearly all bras for sale now are the hideous moulded cup ones, and most don't withstand more than a few washes before the cup distorts and begins to curl. I have to ask: should we be wasting resources manufacturing this crap that can't withstand use in the first place?
Years ago M&S was the premier store you bought your undies, yes they were a bit pricier but you could guarantee a good long usage period from an M&S bra. By year two they may have been looking on the dingy side but were still a serviceable piece of under garmentage. Nowadays I'm looking at replacing bras often, the distorted cups apart from being uncomfortable, also make you look like you're spilling cleavage all over the place.
I try to be frugal with clothes washing, I never use the ridiculous programs on the washing machine that take hours and many gallons of water, however I don't think the not washing things is going to be practical for me. I wash my day to day work trousers once a week and by Friday I'm generally covered in sheep snodge, lanolin, "brown substances" (and it's not all me being messy eating chocolate) and praying for Saturday.
Saturday I get the amazing feeling of clean trousers that lasts for about half an hour. I savour it!! The one upside to sheepy trousers is queues in shops at Christmas, if I time it right, like a Thursday or Friday, I can clear space in no time due to the aroma! I actually don't care anymore if I go out with hoof prints on my trousers, this is what sheep ownership does to you!
I don't think modern washing powders really help when it comes to garments lasting. For one thing they don't actually clean your clothes - you have to buy a separate stain remover to get rid of anything. And I think the bleaches and other chemicals in them seem to demolish the fabric over time. I am looking at other options, including growing soapwort.
For people with a certain lifestyle where they're not excessively sweaty carrying buckets of water miles and in contact with livestock, I would guess there are loads of washes that are done unnecessarily on a daily basis. For those of us with a sheep who likes to wipe their nose down our trouser legs for the sake of some sort of hygiene I think we will probably still have to wash stuff!