Wash & Wear

Q: "I'd like to ask if it's hygienic to re-wear the same pants for work the following day? I'm asking because I did it for most of my internship since I don't have enough pants to rotate for the rest of the week. So I tended to wear the same pants for two consecutive days."

----- CK (via e-mail)

A: If your pants are made from wool and are lined, these are likely dry-clean only pants; therefore, it is not advisable to wash them frequently. Dry-cleaning pants frequently will lead to fabric thinning, fraying and causes those spots that are shiny (from the extreme heat of the cleaner's pressing).

However, if your pants are made from polyester or rayon blend, then these are safe for ordinary machine washing and do not need to be dry-cleaned.

I'm assuming you work in an air-conditioned office and are mostly indoors. So, you would not be exposed to a lot of dust and dirt anyway. Which means, you really only need to wash your pants maybe 2x/week for machine washable pants, and once a month for dry-clean only pants.

If you soil or stain your pants, spot-cleaning is typically recommended. For tips on how to treat several common stains, visit the Tide website at www.tide.com.