Nearly half of Americans don’t change underwear daily, new survey says
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Nearly half of Americans have worn the same pair of underwear for two or more days, according to a survey by apparel maker Tommy John.
Out of 1,000 people responding to an informal poll conducted by the underwear maker, 45% admitted they had worn the same pair of undies for two or more days, with 13% saying they had worn the same pair for a week or more, Tommy John said.
“Conventional wisdom — and basic common sense — tells us that we should change our underwear every day, or at least wash them after every wear,” Tommy John said in its statement announcing the results. “But how many people actually follow this golden rule? After surveying 1,000 Americans, we found that this basic standard of underwear hygiene is definitely not universal.”
In a finding that did not surprise the company, Tommy John said men were 2.5 times as likely as women to wear unwashed underwear for a week or more. That’s 20% of men versus 8% of women.
Though perhaps not aesthetically pleasing, going a day or two with the same pair is not a health deal breaker, NYU microbiology and pathology professor Philip Tierno told Huffington Post last year. But he advised against wearing the same skivvies consecutively for longer than that.
The Tommy John survey also covered underwear replacement and found that 46% of respondents don’t follow the pervasive wisdom that recommends swapping out old for new every six months to a year. Not only that, but 38% of respondents did not know how long they’d had their underwear. Men and women scored equally on this one, Tommy John said.
Even that is not carved in stone, Tierno said.
“As long as they function properly and you wash them and the elastic is fine, and they fit fine, there’s no holes or fabric erosion, you can use them,” Tierno told HuffPo last year. “There’s no end period, except when it’s mechanically dysfunctional.”
