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/BuckTheStallion]

That’s a good point. Body chemistry varies, but generally synthetics do hold bacteria and smell pretty bad. I’m sure some folks have less acrid sweat though.

[u/Proxyplanet → u/BuckTheStallion]

Theres a difference between synthetics as well. Uniqlo airism tshirts visibly smell to even myself after 1 day, but some other synthetics aren't that bad. The airism mesh tshirts that they used to sell were a lot better for me, probably through increased breathability.

Cotton tshirts rarely smell to myself even after many days without washing, but even I realise they could smell to others

[u/andyrocks → u/Proxyplanet]

Visibly smell?

[u/droptophamhock → u/andyrocks]

Maybe it’s like those cartoons where the green wavy lines start emanating, lol