Friday, August 24, 2012

To wash or not to wash ........ that is the question!

Whenever my 6 year old gets new clothes her mother and I always have a friendly discussion as to whether or not to wash the clothes before she wears them.  I am definitely standing by the "YES LET'S WASH THEM" argument and here's why......

To start off there is usually extra dye left over on the clothes and it's always good to wash that off before it comes into contact with your skin or white sofas!!!!!!!  Some dyes used can cause skin irritations so always best to get as much off as possible.

Manufacturers usually add a finishing chemicals to clothes to enhance colour and texture.
Formaldehyde is the chemical added to clothes to prevent mildew, it has a strong odor and may take several washings to remove it completely....this also can cause skin irritations.

To reduce the amount of chemicals on your clothing you can always buy organic clothes, even then I would still wash them before wearing.....you just don't know where they have been.

And that's the bottom line here people.....we just don't know where our clothes were or who touched them before they got to us.  You may think they are brand new to you coming out of fresh packaging but you could easily not be the first owner!  Anyone could have fingered through them with germs on their hands (yes it is possible to transmit germs and diseases through clothes). 

Coming from a store they could have easily been dropped on the floor by accident and kicked around with the dust bunnies......only to be brushed off to look like new.

Stored in warehouses clothes can be exposed to many different bugs and rodents....and it's possible for them to get inside the boxes where clothes are stored.

OK if you are not totally grossed out yet you can read this report by 'Good Morning America'
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/gma-found-clothes-clean/story?id=9482373#.UDd8UqDAETA

So whether it's children's or adult's clothes.....I recommend you wash before wearing!

Happy shopping.......I'm off to do some laundry!

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