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Um...what is the smell of day old jeans? I wear my jeans about three times between washings, and usually I just shake them out and drape them over a chair for a night. Occasionally, they get folded and put back in the stack in the dresser. Am I committing some sort of hygiene faux pas?

Uh... if wearing jeans more than once translates to "dirty" in people's minds, there's no hope for the planet AT ALL.

junk. This isn't a green product. It's mostly water in a plastic bottle shipped across the country by carbon-wasteful means.

I know people who wear a single pair of jeans for weeks between washes. Of course, they're in clean office environments and not outdoors doing landscaping...

i'm fine wearing my jeans multiple times...they're jeans! but i found that just hanging any clothing outside for a little while gets rid of most smells (cooking, smoke, etc)

Sorry, but doesn't your having to put them in the dryer even for just a couple minutes defeat the purpose of washing/drying clothes less frequently as a "green" solution?

i wear my jeans many many times. until they get too big or a stain. i guess i'm a dirtball. i just really hate doing laundry.

when my clothes need a little refresher but i'm not ready to wash them, i put a couple drops of essential oil (usually lavender) on a dry wash cloth and pop it into the dryer with my clothes. the scent isn't super strong and my clothes are no worse for the wear (so to speak).

No need for this - here's an awesome hint that a theater's wardrobe supervisor taught me. And remember, actors sweat!

Get the cheapest vodka you can find. Mix one part vodka and one part water. Spray this on clothes you've worn and leave overnight. No smell, no fuss.

I promise you don't smell like a drunk, either - the vodka kills the small-causing bacteria and then evaporates.
I *swear* by this and keep it in a pretty bottle on my dresser.

emsy: alcohol must be at least 65% to kill bacteria. your mix doesn't kill bacteria.

This doesn't pertain to jeans really but I heard a clever trick (for travel or when you can't wash something) of putting a stinky shirt in the freezer overnight to kill bacteria. Though I must admit I haven't tried it to verify if it works. I did however recently cure a t-shirt of stained armpits by soaking it in hydrogen peroxide for a few hours - a miracle!

Here's what I do. Get a good spray bottle and fill it with filtered water and mix in a small splash of a favorite fabric softener. It works great as a spritzer to freshen clothes, including jeans (which I don't wash every time I wear them) and even curtains, fabric upholstery, etc. Pretty much the same concept as Febreeze but with a better scent.

Please, I even wear underwear seven or eight times!

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Kidding :)

I second the vodka comment--I learned it while working at a dance festival, where we used vodka on dry-clean-only dance costumes that had to be worn by sweaty dancers for a week without being cleaned.

@sciencegeek: I'm not sure I agree with your 65% figure; we used straight vodka rather than a dilution, but that was still only about 40% alcohol, and it worked great. One dance company, who had especially heavy costumes, was so amazed by the lack of odor that they tracked me down and asked me to show them what I was doing to their costumes so that they could do it themselves.

what a waste of vodka---I use the cat, she sleep on my clothes and absorbs all smeeeeels into her fur :-))
Boy does she stink!

I don't really like my jeans just after they've been washed. They are stiff and rough feeling. To me, it takes a good two times being worn before they become perfect again. That's the beauty of jeans.

this seems crazy. i can see spraying it on the bed or couch i guess.



btw, a friend of mine said something hilarious about wearing clothes over & over. "underwear has 3 sides: front, back, & inside out" haha

Aw.

I was hoping behind the cut some homemade trick was awaiting., not some bottled chemical orange.

What, really? I wear my jeans several times. And I just hang them up in the bathroom and let them air out while I'm taking a shower. They end up smelling like my shampoo/soap that gets in the air as I'm getting ready in the morning.

I am not a particularly smelly person, not a big sweater at all. I wear jeans several times before washing. Washing denim really wrecks them. Cold water, hang to dry, fluff for 10 minutes. And, if I'm being honest, "several" could mean like . . . 20 times, probably more. I really depends what I'm doing in them. Now that you can't smoke indoors anywhere, clothes stay way fresher. Anti-smoking laws are the best thing to happen to dry-clean-only clothes! Remember when your wool winter coat would STINK after a night out with friends?? I usually ran around coatless to avoid the smokey smell.

I treat my knitwear the same way. It gets dry cleaned once in a while, but never machine-washed at home! Never! I can get infinite wearings out of a wool v-neck sweater!

Dirtbags unite!

I wear jeans until they're too loose, smell bad, or have been stained! They're my favorite piece of clothing for exactly that reason (who likes doing laundry??). I've even Febrezed a pair of jeans I wore at a bonfire...I probably smelled a little woodsy, but I wasn't going to work in them or anything. yay jeans!

I work in scrubs, and by no means am I walking around getting sweaty... just sitting for hours, and I wish there was a real green solution to having to wash my scrubs when they don't come in contact with anyone. seriously, i just sit there at a computer... writing up summaries from the labwork all day.

Dreft has a fabric refresher that smells pretty good.

Besides, all the real denim freaks get their dry raw denim jeans from Japan and don't wash them for 6 months.

http://supertalk.superfuture.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15

I wear my jeans until they stink.

@ddohler:

Check out the CDC on alcohol-based sanitizers.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no03/05-0955.htm

It is entirely possible that the vodka reduces the odor. It is unlikely that it kills bacteria.

if they're clothes that get folded or if say i'm traveling - i usually stick a dryer sheet in with them and it does the trick

This post is redunkulous and badly written. The smell of day-old jeans? come ON!

Antiseptic freaks are ruining our planet with their prissiness and chemicals. Humans are animals, start living like it. Gah.

I am a costume designer, builder, and occasional backstage wardrobe crewmember for professional theatre and dance productions. It's what I do for a living. We use 100-proof (or whatever is the highest-proof we can get our hands on) vodka to get rid of the actor/dancer stink, as others have said here. I don't know why it works, and I don't know if it gets rid of bacteria or not, but regardless - it works. This tool has been passed down through generations of costumers, long before the existence of Febreeze and other such obnoxiously-perfumed products.

And yeah, I wear my jeans until they're begging to be washed. I thought this post about refreshing them after one wearing was joke at first. "April Fools!" Oh, wait... it's September. I mean, maybe if I was doing some extreme gardening or giving a car an oil change...

First and foremost poptart you crack me up! Lol at your stinky cat.

I usually spray my jeans along with the rest of me and whatever else I am wearing with the body spray that matches my scented shower gel. I am using VS Lovespell right now. Its loaded with alcohol so it might even be killing bacteria and I smell good.

:o)

a helpful woman at the coolest denim store in gas town, vancouver suggested that i put my new jeans in the freezer to extend the time between washings as much as possible -- as it kills the bacteria.

If you want to refresh your clothing mix a 50% and 50% fabric softner of your preference and shake well!
And yes we do rewear our jeans more than one or twice...

I wear my jeans about 7 times before washing- wow..shoot me- and you folks can send me a case of the spray to pass out and try becuase noone I know washes after once or twice---oops we are bad dirty people- when they are freshly washed they get to be used for work, events etc then the older but not dirtier they are errand and weekend shopping jeans- until a stain goes on or they are stretched or stink they don't get washed- too lazy and too cheap to wash them each time besides they do not feel comfy usually the first time after washed...... Like I said send me some bottles and I will pass it out..truly and I will spritz to see if it does anything magical but I doubt it, and I know a bunch who would love to try it too- in fact my college son is laughing- don't wash till they die is his attitude so send me a pm and I will be a tester for the company for this or anything you want tested

I'm a cheap, non-diluted vodka user too! How cool that it's a theatre wardrobe trick.

If you put a drop or two of any scent, the vodka magnifies it. It is miraculous for linens, towels, carpets, clothes and my fave - bathroom odors.

I've never washed my jeans. I bought my first pair (in about fifteen years) in January and a friend suggested not to wash them as they retain a better shape and colour. I turn them inside out and give them a really good shake and airing every second or third wear. I generally wash everything and am a febreeze fan so this is out of the ordinary for me but not washing my jeans is fine, it's not gross at all.

Love the vodka tip! Thanks all who suggested it.

Look guys and gals. Everybody knows ya just buy some essential oils, add two cups of distilled water to a spray bottle with a drop of natural soap and 15 or so drops of the oil - like Lemon or Lavender - and spray around. Wanna kill germs - do the mix with Eucalyptus. Paleeease. We know this stuff right? Right?

Umm, instead of the vodka, Everclear (no, not the band) is the thing to use. It's what we herbalists (well, when I was) use for tinctures. 100 proof, baby. Eucalyptus and or tea tree essential oil is a nice anti-bac, smell-good addition. But just wear the damn jeans, ok?

My issue is how much they grow (or I shrink) after one wearing.

everclear comes in 150 proof to 190 proof (75% to 95% alcohol). seems it might work better than vodka. I'm going to give that a shot sometime.

I wash jeans when they're stretched out, dirty, or smell. And that is SO not every time I wear them. Most of the time I just wear jeans at the office or class anyway, so why should I go to the laundromat every week to wash them? That's just wasteful.

Sciencegeek- you don't need to kill bacteria unless it's harmful bacteria. Most bacteria on your jeans won't be- people REALLY need to get over the thing where they think all bacteria needs to die at all costs, most bacteria won't bother you at all. The only bad thing bacteria on your jeans will do is make it smell, hence the vodka. :) Just a little friendly advice from one science geek to another.

~Amanda

I used this brand's laundry detergent for awhile. It really didn't do too much, too thin and too gently natural. Something serious like Lavender or Tea Tree oil is much better than citrus. Often my clothes smelled funky and old straight out of the wash, so I'm not big on trying their spray.
Febreeze has a scentless fabric freshener now, but lavender or rose water (or rose vodka if you need something serious) makes a good spritz. My other techniques include hanging in front of the open window on a nice day (hopefully setting up a clothesline in my parking space soon!) or hanging clothes up in a smallish room and burning lots of Nag Champa incense. I find the smoky smell of Nag Champa dissipates quickly, just leaving a nice exotic smell.
I also hang smelly clothes up in my storage room so they can air out and I can wear them to work and not let any of my good clothes get food- covered. Yes, I wear the same smelly clothes 4 days in a row before laundering.

poptart! try spraying your stinky kitty with vodka! that might help.

hee hee!
My husband and I laughed and laughed about the "day old jeans" smell. Don't even ask how often we wear our jeans without washing. Funny! I think all the other posters said it all. but I Love the idea of the cheap vodka trick! Thanks all.