# Clean you or clean clothes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 23, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313 "2025-01-23T23:51:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/1 "2025-01-23T23:51:26Z")
Hypothetical. Let’s say that yesterday was a fairly ordinary day. No particularly hot weather or strenuous exertion, but you ended up … not quite fresh. Either before bedtime or the next morning, if these are your only two choices, which are you more likely to do: _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/1))_ The premise here is that – for whatever reason – you can’t do both. We can either assume that ‘the next day’ is a day off, or a regular workday, or … whatever you want to assume. Which are you more inclined to do? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/2 "2025-01-23T23:58:24Z")
Not quite fresh covers a lot of ground. MOST of the time that I’m in that situation, I’ll clean myself, rather than my clothes. In terms of odors, it’s probably more me than my clothes _anyway_, and even if it’s 50/50, I feel gross when my skin/hair is oily/greasy/dirty. So even with day-old clothes, it’s probably more comfortable than day-old me. But there are lots of activities (especially outdoors ones) that can make my clothes filthy while leaving -ME- only less than fresh. So there are always exceptions - still voted to clean myself based on the more usual scenario. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/3 "2025-01-24T01:19:54Z")
That’s me too. In cool = non-sweaty weather an ordinary pair of long pants can be as fresh-smelling after 4 days as before first use. Outer shirts much less so but can often run 2 days if protected by an inner shirt. Me? I stink after a few hours tops. So faced with either / or in cool weather, it’s a no brainer: I wash me. In hot sweaty weather day 2 is gonna stink no matter what, but a clean me with stinky clothes is more comfortable for me, and not that much less stinky than dirty uncomfortable me in clean clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/4 "2025-01-24T02:06:58Z")
I always, always take a daily shower. And If I am home I generally always wear everything clean except I might wear pants 3 days in a row if they are not in bad shape. I usually travel with only a carry on which limits my choices of clothing. The last trip I had to wear my jeans about 8 days in a row. I struggled with that one and was hyper vigilant looking out for a washing machine somewhere. So for me it has to be a shower and put on the dirty clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/5 "2025-01-24T02:11:16Z")
Why not keep the same cloths and not take a shower? I’ve done this on weekends and nothing bad has happened. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/6 "2025-01-24T03:39:04Z")
Too bad stepping into the shower clothed, thus at least semi-cleaning both body and wardrobe, isn’t an option in this hypothetical. Yeah, I’m prone to trying to find loopholes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/7 "2025-01-24T03:43:33Z")
I’d pick the clean clothes. I don’t mind my body being dirty but I’d want to keep the bed, furniture, etc. as un-soiled as possible. Having clean clothes is a barrier between dirt and that, to some extent. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/8 "2025-01-24T04:11:48Z")
I have fairly oily hair that starts feeling icky to me after about 30-36 hours unwashed (depending on length, which varies a fair bit over the course of a year). Pure internal psychological pressure would force me to wash myself and just live with the dirty clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/9 "2025-01-24T05:06:16Z")
Medieval Historian Ruth Goodman claims to have done an experiment along these lines while filming for a documentary - for a month, she didn’t wash but did change her clothes every day, a colleague did the reverse. According to her, “clean clothes” won by a mile ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/10 "2025-01-25T19:40:00Z")
I remember seeing a study, in a modern setting, where clean clothes won by a mile, as well. Old clothes are startlingly obvious, even if not to the wearer (who’s accustomed to the smell). So, I would definitely choose clean clothes. A couple decades ago I worked in the same space as a hippie couple who would bathe in a sauna frequently but had only sporadic access to clothes washing, and few sets of clothes. I would know they were coming to the shop a good 30 seconds before I saw anything, just because of the stale clothes smell emitted by them. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/11 "2025-01-25T19:43:55Z")
I do think the math would change based on number of days involved. But the OP is just the “next day”, and my answer remains unchanged for that duration. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/12 "2025-01-25T19:46:01Z")
One-day clothes smell, too, after a day and into the next, just not as much. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/13 "2025-01-25T20:52:16Z")
Fascinating: > **[Ruth Goodman – Adventures of a Tudor Nerd](https://adventuresofatudornerd.com/tag/ruth-goodman/)** > > Posts about Ruth Goodman written by hmalagisi and > **[The Historian Who Immersed Herself in Day-to-Day Tudor Life](https://slate.com/culture/2016/02/ruth-goodmans-how-to-be-a-tudor-reviewed.html)** > > Mention the word re-enactor to the average American, and chances are you will conjure up images of weekend warriors, dressed in blue and gray, staging... Thanks for mentioning her/that. Nothing I’d ever heard of. I think the detail makes it worth the quick read(s). Excerpt: > [@](#): > > Not so fast, says Goodman. Yes, it’s true that Tudor hygiene looks appallingly negligent to modern eyes. Decent society did demand that everyone wash their hands and faces in the morning and before every meal, but they used only cold water; hot water would open the pores, the main avenue by which disease was thought to enter the body. Wetting your entire body was considered incredibly reckless. Instead, people encased themselves virtually from neck to toe in linen undergarments: “shirts, smocks, under-breeches, hose, ruffs, cuffs, bands, coifs (skull caps) and caps,” which would, they believed, absorb all the sweat and oils the body produced, purifying it without subjecting it to the dangers of water. Your linen would be laundered frequently, on the principle that, as Goodman writes, “the more regularly you changed your underwear, the healthier and cleaner you would be.” Some people took this philosophy further by rubbing themselves down with linen towels. > > “I have twice followed this regime,” Goodman reports. “The first time was for a period of just over three months, while living in modern society. No one noticed!” The second period was during the filming of Tudor Monastery Farm, when she “engaged in heavy labor and also lurking around an open fire.” This extra exertion produced a “slight smell, but it was mostly masked by the much stronger smell of woodsmoke.” The film crew, she maintains, found her aroma “acceptable.” In both cases, she observed, not only did her skin remain in “good condition” but it actually seemed to improve. As a sort of control, a colleague of Goodman’s experimented with showering every day while wearing the same clothes, unwashed, for several months, and “the smell was overpowering.” Therefore, Goodman concludes, “the 16th-century belief in the cleansing power of linen turns out in practice to have some truth to it.” Personally, under the circumstances in the OP, I mix it up and don’t find _much_ difference either way. I’m not an inherently stinky fellow, so – provided I don’t push beyond a day or two – I’m either basically good, or I simply associate with people who are too genteel to be honest with me. Either way … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-you-or-clean-clothes/1013313/14 "2025-01-26T22:51:30Z")
If you are a History Nerd at all, “How to be a Tudor” and “How to be a Victorian” are great reads. She’s very engaging