Are you used to change your underwear daily and wash them before wearing the same pair again? But what about the lifespan of your underwear—from a health perspective, is there an optimal point when you should toss your old ones and get a supply of brand-new undies?
“Your underwear is in close contact with your skin and more specifically your intimate areas for prolonged periods of time,” said cosmetic doctor and intimate health specialist Dr. Shirin Lakhani of Elite Aesthetics in an interview with The Independent. “As a result, it takes in a lot of dead skin from those areas as well as bacteria – both the healthy, naturally-occurring bacteria that we all have, as well as more harmful bacteria that can be a result of infections such as thrush and STIs.” Depending on the method you use to wash your underwear, it's possible some of these could linger following a wash but unlikely. Buying new undies is a solid way to avoid this, then, but it's probably not something you really need to be worrying about if you have access to a washing machine. As a general rule (and the industry-standard), your underwear assortment should be refreshed every six months to a year. Or buy new underwear when it pleases you.