So you became a Smurf.
As a couple of people above said, I wash everything before I wear it.
I didn’t before this but I will now. Why the hell would they put formaldehyde in stuff that is meant to be in contact with living human bodies? Formaldehyde usually makes me very sick so I guess I got lucky because I haven’t experienced any reactions yet.
Primarily to kill off any wildlife that likes clothing.
Let’s face it. Precious little in the way of softlines is made in the USA anymore. The abundance of cheap labor overseas has killed our homegrown clothing market.
Don’t believe it? Scope out the tags on your favorite line of clothes the next time you go shopping. Check out your children’s clothing. Do you really want to dress Junior in something that’s been thoroughly sprayed with formaldehyde?? And that’s not the only chemical that is used, BTW.
The stuff that you and the family buy likely originated from a fourth-world country somewhere on the other side of the globe. And it’s not limited to places like Wal-Mart and Target and whatever discount houses you have in your neck of the woods. I’m talking the high-end stuff in your favorite fancy mall department store.
Not only do you have less than sanitary conditions to begin with while the clothing is being made, you have shipboard transportation - that means weeks at sea - and/or the stuff sits in a warehouse somewhere for a while before it gets shipped.
Hell, I’ve seen rats inside Wal-mart’s warehouse here in the states with my own eyes. Whatcha 'spose a warehouse in Thailand might have in it? Hence the formaldehyde, etc. Cuz you know: better safe than sorry. :eek:
I get it. I do. The clothing must be debugged before it comes into the US or to wherever it’s sent. It’s a necessary evil. Just… wash yer stuff, folks.
I wash them first. It just seems weird not to.
^ This.
I wash clothes and linens before I use them, why not? It’s easy enough to do.
But if there is a specific circumstance where I need to wear something before I can wash it, let’s say your luggage gets lost on a trip and you need to buy some clothes to wear to a business meeting, I don’t worry about that at all. Life happens.
Why not socks? You’re enclosing your feet in them and then your feet get warm and your pores open up, and all the yuckies from the sock manufacturing process get sucked right up THROUGH YOUR FEET TO YOUR BRAIN!!!
Well, maybe not, but I don’t take any chances.
Anyway, I wash everything except coats before wearing or sleeping on them. Comforters too.
Never.
Most of my clothing and beddery purchases are inspired by urgent necessity. About half the clothes I buy, I have to put on in the parking lot, because I had nothing else I could wear.
I always wash bedlinens before using them. I can’t imagine doing otherwise.
I find all these types of threads fascinating. One camp can’t imagine not doing A, the other would never even consider it. Both think their way is “correct” and much more universally true than it turns out to be.
(I’m a bit worried, however, that I’m almost always in the less safe, less well dressed, less concerned, and less clean camp)
And then there’s camp SpoilerVirgin, where we know that technically we should be washing everything before wearing/using, but we only do laundry on the weekend, and we really want to wear that dress/use those sheets now, so there’s no way they can be washed first…
I do wash the sheets first, but I never buy new sheets. (OK, I did once because they came with a comforter, and once for a family member who stayed with us for a while and now the sheets and bed are ours.) Other than those exceptions, sheets are a thrift store or garage sale kind of item for me.
I assume that anyone selling used sheets has already washed them, but I don’t want to take any chances. That also goes for any sheets that I buy new, just in case.
Yes. I used to work for an apparel company and I’ve been in cut & sew plants both in the US and in other countries. I wash everything before wearing/using it.
Let me guess - you don’t have allergies and are not subject to ‘idiopathic’ contact dermatitis.
Hell, you have an immune system - use it.
No, wait, don’t. Wash the sheets. It doesn’t take much time, and you don’t know who’s handled them, …
I almost always wash everything before wearing to get rid of excess lint and dye. Very occasionally, if I don’t have a clean item, I will wear a new one right out of the packaging.
Harumph! But that does remind me of the Russian who could not spell and paid five bucks to spend the night in a Thai warehouse.
As for ourselves, no, we do not wash our sheets before first use.
I wash sheets (and clothes for that matter) before use, but mainly to just soften them up and get rid of any excess dyes etc. As someone who has worked for years with formalin (and many other, more nasty biological fixatives) in the lab, if the trace amounts of formaldehyde in new sheets is relevant to human health, I’m fucked anyway :-).
I must be naturally icky. I never wash anything before I use it. I admit though that next time I buy new bath towels I’m going to try to remember to wash them, because drying off only to find myself covered in towel lint is no fun.
A lot of bedding pills (pants, too) at contact points if not washed before use.