Doctor claims we've all been washing our underwear wrong our whole lives

29 October 2023 , 10:30

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We've all been washing our pants the wrong way (stock photo) (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

We all know we should change our underwear every day and regularly wash them to keep them clean. But did you know that even if you do wash your pants every day, you're probably still wearing dirty duds? That's the claim made by one doctor and health expert, who said that many of us don't wash our underwear the right way, meaning we don't kill off enough bacteria to get them properly clean.

Doctor Lisa Ackerley, also known as The Hygiene Doctor, explained that unless you set your washing machine to a certain temperature, it won't kill the bacteria on your pants, which means you'll still be wearing dirty underwear even when you think they're clean. She added that because of this, you shouldn't put them in to wash with other household items.

Speaking to HuffPost in 2019, she said: "With knickers and pants, anything under 60 degrees won't kill the bacteria. Don't put the knickers in with the tea towels on a low wash, because you might have faecal contamination in your knickers and you wouldn't want that near your kitchen."

So all those times you washed your delicates at 30C or 40C, or shoved them in with the rest of your clothes, you weren't actually getting them very clean. It's not a very pleasant thought, is it?

For those who aren't able to put their machine onto a higher setting for whatever reason, don't panic, you can still help your undies be faeces-free. Instead of turning up the heat settings, Dr Ackerley suggests adding a laundry sanitiser to the wash load to remove germs. These can be purchased from your local supermarket, such as Sainsbury's - which sells its own brand version for £2.80 - or Asda, where you can buy a Dettol product for £3.75.

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If this hasn't already blown your brain, you might also be stunned to learn that there's a 'wrong' way to wipe after going to the toilet - well, for women anyway. This is according to Tap Warehouse, who found that a third of British women prefer to go against the grain.

After surveying people up and down the country, their results showed that 33 per cent of women prefer to wipe back to front on the toilet - a bathroom habit which could cause painful problems for them. While this way of wiping is perfectly fine for men, for women it may mean they end up contracting a nasty infection.

Dr Luke Powles, from Bupa UK, said: "A woman's urethra and anus are quite closely located, so it's best to wipe from front to back. Otherwise, you could be spreading faeces from the anus to the urethra. Spreading bacteria to the urethra can lead to a urinary tract infection."

Courtney Pochin