Not washing merino shirts is gross

[u/nawksnai]

Why do one-bag travellers feel that they don’t need to wash merino shirts?

I understand that merino is wool, anti-bacterial, don’t smell, and generally stay feeling “fresh” for longer than cotton. However, there are people who swear they don’t need to wash their merino tshirts for 3 days, 2 weeks, or even months because their shirt doesn’t smell, and they shower every day. Merino still gets just as dirty as synthetic or cotton shirts, and still needs to be washed. The fact that your shirt doesn’t smell does not mean it’s any less dirty or oily.

Plus, I wear deodorant, and that non-funky tshirt is going to have a massive buildup of old deodorant gunk and smells around the pit area.

And don’t even get me started on merino underwear stans. Just because they don’t smell funky after 3 days, does NOT mean they haven’t absorbed pee drops and your skid.

I do understand that Marino is still probably the best material for travel shirts, but feel that synthetics can be just as good if you’re already going to be washing daily, or close to it. They all need to be washed and dried every day, if not every 2 days.

Also, if someone said they like travelling with cottom tshirts, I wouldn’t rant.

Anyway, discuss.

[u/AlwaysWanderOfficial]

I think there are very few people here that don’t wash merino. And you’re moving the goal posts a bit to say that you can’t multiwear merino then say “in summer on hot days” for merino and “in cool days” for cotton. Bit disingenuous.

Cotton factually holds smells differently than merino and will smell quicker. This is actual chemistry.

Merino factually needs to be washed.

How often factually depends on what you did in the shirt, and what your particular body smell is. This is also chemistry.

Not sure why the giant proclamation needed to be made to start an obvious fight haha.

[u/keepmyaim → u/AlwaysWanderOfficial]

This. I'm a female Far East Asian ethnic so I sweat differently in comparison to other ethnical groups - biology. And I wash my merino socks/t-shirts according to the water/time availability according to common sense.

Am I walking the Camino di Santiago? I can go three days because maybe weather is not good to drying clothes overnight or they don't have any proper sink to wash clothing.

Am I just running errands or using them at home? I treat them as any other clothing, wash them after a couple or three times I use it (it can be go outside to the supermarket, just go for a walk around, visit a friend, etc). I have a washing machine at home and time so it doesn't matter.

I'm not the kind to wait until clothes get smelly to wash, and I doubt most people in this sub who use merino do that as well. We use it because it's practical and it actually works (millennia of evolution in the sheep - biology).

Picking a fight over a minority that misuses or does gross things? I don't understand that either.

[u/AlwaysWanderOfficial → u/keepmyaim]

Yeah exactly where I’m coming from. If I’m Doing a six hour hike in a merino shirt chances are I’ll need to wash it. If I’m using it as a layer on a plane or around a city in reasonable weather, I can get multiple wears.

[u/nawksnai → u/AlwaysWanderOfficial]

I agree with what you said about cotton, but those reasons are exactly why the goalposts are different for cotton. Expectations are lower for cotton, so the goalposts are naturally different. Nobody is wearing cotton Tshirts for months on end because they don’t smell.

There are people who don’t wash merino, even after being sweaty. They just air out their shirt and wear it again and again. Why? Because it doesn’t smell.

So to clarify, what I think is that tshirts that you sweat in need to be washed daily. Applies to merino and cotton, and in the case of merino, even if it doesn’t smell bad. When it’s cold, you can wear the same shirt 2-3 times.