So we should be washing our pants at 60 degrees.

[BenWillbondsPants]

This morning cleaning expert says our pants should be washed at 60 degrees. How does that work then? If you've to wash the rest of your gear (apart from towels etc which I wouldn't wash with ma pants anyway) at a lower temp, are we just supposed to save up 50 pairs of dirty pants until you have a full load of dirty knickers? It's all very confusing you know ...

Weird. Here we just wash them on cold--they are clean and fresh and I have never had any odors. I add a bit of bleach and use the "stain removal" cycle if there is a pooey one, but even this can be avoided if you hold your baby over the potty/loo when they need to go. I really don't understand people having all these weird washing routines and rituals for nappies or anything else. Modern washing powders and machines are very good and pretty much zap everything.

What is a cleaning expert, do they have a university degree for this great attribute?

I wash all my undies by hand, they don't need all that time in some machine. I haven't got a washing machine now anyway,I sometimes soak,and wash my tea towels by hand also.The rest of my stuff,like bath towels and duvet covers etc, I put in my son's machine,he lives in the same village as me.

Well safe to say the cleaning expert doesn't have any expertise in climate change eh?

Another expert! Where’s the certificate/qualification?

I’m known as a ”washacholic” and not going to apologise for being clean. I wash knickers and bras at 40 degrees in a lingerie bag. No probs with that here.

I agree about washing bras after each wear though. At the end of the day, they sit under your armpit.

PS: I don’t have a tumble dryer so line dry everything (weather permitting) in winter, it's a spare room job. With the knickers it looks like someone has put the carnival flags out. l

I do most things at 40, it's only bed linen that goes on at 90 but that's when I'm washing stuff for an incontinent elderly relative.

You just need to read threads here about thrush that won't go away. It won't go away if you keep reinfecting yourself

Absolute tosh. Thrush is caused by a fungus. Its spores are literally all over our bodies ALL the time. They find a niche in certain places on certain people - probably because we've messed up the natural balance of fauna with all the man-made junk we put on our bodies.

There is an advert for some sort of cleaning stuff that gets everything hygienically clean .....can you get unhygienically clean ?

I separate towels/tea towels/sheets from other stuff but I wash everything in cold water. Towels and sheets usually get a bit of detail/pineoclean in the wash too. But we're all still alive a fairly healthy.

From the NHS

Thrush is caused by a fungus called candida that is harmless.

Thrush tends to grow in warm, moist conditions and develops if the balance of bacteria changes.

This can happen if:

your skin is irritated or damagedyou're taking antibioticsyou have poorly controlled diabetesyou have a weakened immune system (for example, because of HIV or chemotherapy)you have been through the menopauseyou're pregnant

Do
use water and emollient (instead of soap), like E45 cream, to wash your penis or vagina
dry the affected area properly after washing
wear cotton underwearavoid sex until thrush has cleared up
use a condom to help stop it spreading
take showers instead of baths

Don't
do not use soaps or shower gels
do not use douches or deodorants on your vagina or penis
do not wear tight underwear or tights

Are we talking F or C?

For a blast-proof gusset try Sloggi, their undercrackers will stand up to a high temperature wash IME.

Kokeshi, tell us more about your magical Japanese washing powder. I’d love to wash everything on cold.

Do men watch this garbage and act on it? I feel it is aimed at anxious women who live in ultra-clean houses listening out for the next thing they aren't anti-baccing properly. Liberate yourselves! Use the cold wash - and save a planet while you're doing it.

Trust me im an infection prevention lead !!!

And to be fair, loads of families die every year because they didn't wash their pants in hot water.

Oh no, they don't, and you are talking absolute bollocks worthy of a cleaning 'expert' on daytime TV.

Come on folks - we've only got one planet - stop over bleaching and cleaning, you will be fine and the next generation will thank you.

I think this causes as many deaths as eating left over cake mixture from the bowl

with antimicrobial resistance becoming a real problem I can imagine that washing laundry not hot enough can become a real problem.

I just wash everything at 30/40

I used to be of the chuck it all together mindset but now I do see benefit from whites and lights being done separately. However, this is always at 30 or 40 depending on whether clothes are just grotty or genuinely dirty.

The pants thing is hilarious. I’m particularly confused by the poster who hates germs enough that she stores up three weeks of pants so they can all be boiled happily together in a hot wash, yet doesn’t seem to be bothered by having a basket of festering pants with the self-same dangerous bacteria living on them for weeks on end.

Germ theory was one of the greatest and most life-saving public health advances ever. Now we’ve gone and bloody ruined it with nonsense like this. Sometimes I despair of humanity.

I wash everything at 40. Always have.

Because it kills the dangerous pant weasels?

There are some uses for a hot wash, of course. My DH is always taking cars to pieces. His overalls get filthy so are washed every couple of days. They need a pre wash, a 90 degree wash, and sometimes I put them back in for another wash!

”I change my bra everyday for a fresh one, sometimes twice if I’m exercising and they get washed every time. Surely they get smelly and sweaty like any other piece of clothing in close contact with your body so need changing daily?”

Exactly! They are tight to your skin and under your armpit! Clean bra every day.

My bras are not directly under my arm pit. I wear them 3 or 4 times.

All my cloth nappies get washed at 40 and, 5 months in we are all still alive. Particularly pooey ones get a separate rinse to remove any solids left and then everything goes in for a long wash. I will chuck soiled muslims, bibs, teatowels all in as well if we dont have a full load.