A STURDY pair of jeans can last you decades if you take care of them – but many people don’t know how to wash their denim.
People are realizing they’re washing their jeans incorrectly, and it’s doing serious damage to the material.
Though it may be tempting to wash your jeans after every wear for hygiene’s sake, experts interviewed by Reader’s Digest recommend against it.
In fact, the frequency with which you wash your jeans can vary depending on where and how you’re wearing them.
The pros recommended a way to determine when it’s time to wash your jeans, which could be anytime between three to 10 uses.
First, check your jeans for stains. If there’s a heavy-duty grease stain or mud that got caked on, it’s time for a wash.
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Next, do a smell check. If you didn’t sweat in your jeans, and they don’t have an odor, it’s not time to wash them yet.
Once your jeans start to stink, it’s time to clean them, because an odor indicates bacteria, and that’s one of the things that can eat away at denim’s cotton fibers.
“Denim is such a durable fiber, and as such, it doesn’t require a lot of washing,” said Adam Taubenfligel, co-founder of sustainable denim company Triarchy.
Still, when you do wash your jeans, the type you’re wearing should determine how you clean them.
Check the tag to see if your jeans are 100 percent cotton, also known as “rigid denim,” or have a stretch material (like Spandex) added in.
“Rigid denim will open up and loosen slightly with wear,” Sarah Ahmed, co-founder of DL 1961 told the outlet. “Some people like to wash their rigid denim after a few wears to tighten the weave.”
But stretch denim is made to retain its shape, so you don’t need to wash those pairs as frequently.
“The only reason you would wash your stretch denim jeans is if they were dirty past the point of spot cleaning,” Ahmed said.
Always spot-treat first, and put off washing as long as you can to preserve the color and structure.
You can even use a denim spray to kill bacteria and go longer between washes.
When it’s finally time to put your jeans in the washing machine, turn them inside-out to keep color from bleeding.
Then, wash them on a gentle cycle with gentle detergent and cold water.
Use a second rinse cycle, too, to make sure no detergent is left in the fibers. Once that’s done, air-drying your jeans is the best bet.
Hang them on a clip hanger, or use a rack to air-dry, which will also keep them from shrinking.
If you do need to use the dryer, use the lowest heat possible and never add dryer sheets – the chemicals from a dryer sheet can build up a film that breaks down your denim, the experts warned.
