How many times do you wear your pajamas before you wash them—really and truly? If you throw on the same pair of pajamas for at least a week, you’re not alone. Many of us admittedly should be washing our PJs more often, but how often is that?
The truth falls somewhere between changing into clean pajamas every night and waiting until they stand up and walk away. And the answer is different for every individual. Here’s how to know how often you need to wash your pajamas.
How Many Times Can You Wear The Same Pajamas?
Even though most of us change into a fresh shirt daily, we generally prefer not to do the same with our pajamas. Most of us don’t have enough sets of PJs to put on a fresh pair every night. Who really wants to do laundry on a daily basis?
Fortunately, experts at the American Cleaning Institute say you can wear pajamas three or four times before you wash them. And “if you shower before bed, you may get a few more wears before washing.” Still, wearing the same set of PJs for a full week is probably too long for the reasons we’ll describe below.
Will Wearing Pajamas Too Long Affect Your Health?
Wearing smelly pajamas for a week or longer probably won’t make you ill, but it could cause irritation. Since you’re constantly shedding skin cells into your clothing, pajamas can help feed the dust mites living in your bedding. If you’re allergic to dust mites, you know it’s worth doing what you can to keep them at a minimum and avoid symptoms of hay fever. Dirty clothing can also cause or worsen rashes in some people, depending on which skin irritants are lingering in your clothes.
Should You Wear Clean Pajamas Every Night?
So should you wear clean pajamas every night? You may want to consider this if you have severe allergies. If you lack air conditioning, have a cold or the flu, or generally sweat a lot at night, go ahead and put on clean pajamas every night. And if you tend to leave your pajamas on all day, definitely change into a clean pair before bed.
On the downside, repeated washings will wear out pajamas faster and force you to replace them sooner.
How To Keep Pajamas Clean Longer
Try these tips to keep your pajamas clean for longer:
- Turn down the thermostat at night, use cooling sheets, and make sure blankets aren’t too heavy for the season.
- Take a shower before changing into pajamas for bed. But skip the lotions if you can.
- Change your sheets once a week. They harbor body oils, sloughed off skin cells, and odors.
- Remove PJs first thing in the morning and hang them up to air out.
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