We enter the store to buy clothes, we see a very stylish shirt or a t-shirt with cool patterns and we immediately run to the booths to try it on. We wore the dress and it fit us well, but we didn’t like it. We either leave the product in the cabin or put it back and continue looking for other clothes.
Some people buy a tried-on outfit in the store, then wash it as soon as they get home and then wear it. For some, this is not a big deal. Maybe we want the clothes we wear throughout the day to be clean and smell nice.
But just washing tried-on clothes doesn’t get them clean. The clothes we want to buy and wear must be washed, even if they are freshly taken out of the warehouse or their packaging. What would be the reason?
Many harmful chemicals that can damage the skin are used in the production process of clothes.
Image: A chemist carrying chemicals used during production in a textile factory.
Just because new clothes look clean from the outside doesn’t mean they won’t harm our skin. Lee W. Johnson, founder of the world-famous men’s clothing company Old But Lee, says that the majority of production and distribution factories in the ready-made clothing industry are located in industrial areas where commercial vehicles and traffic are high.
He adds that the air quality in the regions where these factories are located is so harmful that it negatively affects human health and that harmful substances in the air penetrate into these clothes.
Even if the air circulation of factories is sufficient, the chemicals used in the production process can be quite dangerous for human health. Some of these chemicals are as follows:
- Lead substance used in brightly colored paint pigments
- ‘Formaldehyde’, a carcinogenic substance often used to prevent clothes from wrinkling
- The chemical ‘PFC’, known as a fluorocarbon-based water repellent
- ‘Azo Disperse’ dye, which is a synthetic dye that can be easily absorbed by the skin
So how do these harmful substances affect our skin?
Image: Blisters formed on the skin due to a chemical substance.
An expert who treats patients with allergic contact dermatitis says that in this disease, skin redness, itching and flaking occur due to direct contact of the skin with a harmful substance. He says that sweating and wearing tight clothes create friction on the skin, and that the harmful substances in the clothes cause damage to the skin due to this friction. In other words, the clothes that cover our body come into direct contact with our skin, and chemicals damage our skin.
A clinical dermatology professor actually attributes skin irritation to a type of eczema. According to research in the National Library of Medicine, 20% of skin irritation cases are allergic and 80% are caused by an irritant. You can access the article containing the mentioned research here.
According to the analysis of a textile scientist, clothes are generally bleached and coated with stain-resistant and water-repellent materials. Due to these processes, clothes pass very little air, and after a certain point, the balance of the skin is disrupted. Especially in dark colored clothes, active substances that can harm the skin are more concentrated.
We mentioned that many chemicals are contaminated with our skin due to the new clothes we wear. What should be done in this situation?
Image: A label on clothes with washing instructions.
Before wearing the clothes, it is necessary to wash them inside out in slightly cold water to preserve their color and to remove chemicals. Washing time of at least 25 minutes means clothes free from dirt. If the clothes are delicate and cannot be washed in the machine, hand washing with a little detergent is considered one of the healthiest methods. Traditional clothes washing methods seem healthier at some point, right?
As a result, no matter how clean the clothes look, it is necessary to wash them before wearing them. Harmful chemicals can cause damage to the skin, and of course we do not want this.
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