WEBVTT - Do You Really Need To Wash Your Jeans?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Christian Sager and not to get too personal, but

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<v Speaker 1>when did you last wash your jeans? You don't have

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<v Speaker 1>to tell me if you don't want to. But here's

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<v Speaker 1>the thing. Whether you're wearing a pair of busted Levies

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<v Speaker 1>or brand new raw Denham from some fancy boutique, your

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<v Speaker 1>pants are part of a debate that designers and customers

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<v Speaker 1>alike have been having for decades. When should you wash

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<v Speaker 1>your jeans? And do you need to wash them at all? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>let's look at the basics. Denim is a kind of

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<v Speaker 1>cotton with a twill textile weave. In a twill weave,

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<v Speaker 1>the thread called the weft that's the cross wise yarn,

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<v Speaker 1>passes under at least two warp threads, and those are

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<v Speaker 1>the lengthwise yarns. In most genes, only these warp threads

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<v Speaker 1>are dyed, meaning that these other threads, the weft threads,

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<v Speaker 1>remain white. That's why blue jeans are white on the inside.

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<v Speaker 1>That blue shade on the warp thread comes from a

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<v Speaker 1>dye called indigo, and unlike some other dyes, indigo doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>penetrate the cotton. Instead, it sits atop the yarn on

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<v Speaker 1>the surface of each thread. Over time, molecules of indigo

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<v Speaker 1>chip away, causing the fabric to fade. This fade makes

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<v Speaker 1>each pair unique, so much so that the FBI analyzes

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<v Speaker 1>Denham patterns when tracking criminals. Yeah, that's a real thing.

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<v Speaker 1>The more you wear a pair, the more broken in

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<v Speaker 1>they've become. You'll see the appearance of fade patterns, whiskers

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<v Speaker 1>on the front, honeycomb patterns behind the knees, and so on.

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<v Speaker 1>Not all genes, however, were created equally. Let's divide them

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<v Speaker 1>into two rough categories. There's washed and raw. Washed Denham

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<v Speaker 1>is just that washed after dying to make the fabric

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<v Speaker 1>softer and reduce shrinkage. Then, in a process called sanforization,

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<v Speaker 1>the trousers are moistened, steamed, and stretched to reduce the

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<v Speaker 1>shrinkage rate. Most genes are sanforrized these days. Raw or

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<v Speaker 1>dry Denham can be samporized or unsaforrized. If it isn't,

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<v Speaker 1>it can shrink up to ten percent when washed. Sometimes,

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<v Speaker 1>washed Denham is artificially distressed to give it a broken

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<v Speaker 1>in or worn look. The fading of raw Denham, on

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<v Speaker 1>the other hand, happens naturally over time, depending on the

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<v Speaker 1>daily activities of the person wearing the jeans. The longer

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<v Speaker 1>you go without washing these genes, the more pronounced fading

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<v Speaker 1>patterns will become. Personalizing your pants. Once you have a

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<v Speaker 1>pair of jeans, you'll hear numerous pieces of advice about

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<v Speaker 1>caring for them. Most of this doesn't apply across the board.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, companies will ask you to wait at least

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<v Speaker 1>six months before washing your jeans because if you wash

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<v Speaker 1>them early, the indigo will wear off uniformly, robbing you

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<v Speaker 1>of the unique fade patterns. And this is the heart

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<v Speaker 1>of the whole to wash or not to wash question.

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<v Speaker 1>The longer you go without washing a pair of jeans,

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<v Speaker 1>the more pronounced the wearing pattern becomes. You'll also preserve

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<v Speaker 1>the indigo as well as the stiff texture of the fiber.

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<v Speaker 1>But what happens if you don't wash them. Won't bacteria

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<v Speaker 1>pile up, turning your lower hemisphere into a plague written

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<v Speaker 1>cesspool of filth? Well not necessarily in A microbiology student

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<v Speaker 1>at the University of Alberta went get this fifteen months

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<v Speaker 1>without washing his genes. He tested their bacterial content along

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<v Speaker 1>with the bacterial content of another pair that had been

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<v Speaker 1>washed about two weeks beforehand, and he found almost no difference.

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<v Speaker 1>So maybe it's more that everything we wear is already dirty.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you can't wash them, what do you do

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<v Speaker 1>to keep your blue jeans clean? Well, you're gonna hear

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<v Speaker 1>some crazy stuff. Levi's famously recommended freezing your genes to

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<v Speaker 1>kill bacteria and stave off any funky odors, but microbe

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<v Speaker 1>expert Stephen Craig Carry says that is a total myth.

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<v Speaker 1>Most bacteria in our pants comes from our skin, and

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of these organ is ms are preadapted to

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<v Speaker 1>low temperatures. Carry recommends actually using high temperatures think a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and twenty one degrees celsius for ten minutes to

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<v Speaker 1>get rid of the denom or bacteria or you know.

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<v Speaker 1>He adds, you could just wash them. So depending on

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<v Speaker 1>how often you wear your jeans, their age, the denom type,

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<v Speaker 1>and what you do while you're wearing them, you really

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<v Speaker 1>don't have to wash them as often as say you're underwear.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want to get that uber cool, unique fading pattern, though,

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<v Speaker 1>your best bet really is to avoid washing them for

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<v Speaker 1>a while, even if you have to soak them first

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<v Speaker 1>to shrink them, and regardless of how carefully you care

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<v Speaker 1>for your favorite pair of raw Denom jeans, messes like

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<v Speaker 1>life find a way. One day, some sort of disaster

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<v Speaker 1>will strike and you'll have to clean your genes somehow, Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>even if that means washing them. Check out the brain

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<v Speaker 1>suff channel on YouTube, and for more on this and

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of other topics, visit how staff works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>m