Who doesn’t love their pajamas? After all, they are soft and cozy. Some people can’t get home soon enough to slip into the most comfortable clothing you will ever own. It’s no wonder we see people going to the movies, shopping, or even at cafe shops donning their colourful jammies like it’s their regular going out clothes. As tempting as it is to follow suit, you may want to consider how often you are washing your pjs. Men on average wear their jimmies for about 13 days before changing to a clean, fresh set while women won’t get a new pair till day 17.Sally Bloomfield, professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said, “Pajamas are against your skin. They are full of microorganisms. We all have skin and gut organisms that are usually not harmful on our skin and in our gut. But if they get into the wrong place they can cause problems,” she explains.
“We all carry E Coli bacteria in our bowel. Again, most strains are not harmful,” she adds. “But if they get into the urinary tract they can cause infection. That would cause cystitis (a urinary tract infection).”
Hormonal changes cause acne to appear. However, wearing the same clothing night after night causes bacteria, dead skin cells, and oils from the body to build up. Consequently, pores get plugged and infected, contributing to acne.
This is not the worse of it either. Dust mites’ poo can cause nose bleeds, asthma, and other allergies.
Even if you shower everyday, you slipping back into dirty clothes is counterintuitive. This can lead to embarrassing bad odours. You may not realize it but you sweat at night with all the dirt and bacteria getting absorbed in your clothes, specially if you keep wearing them night after night.
Dirty clothes makes your skin oily and itchy. No wonder you can’t have a good night’s sleep.
Bloomfield suggests changing your pj’s every two days to a week at maximum.
“Washing should get rid of most microbes, but not all if you have worn them for two weeks. The clothes won’t be hygienically cleaned because the microbes will have built up,” Bloomfield warns.
