To those of you unfortunate enough to still be working in the office, how often are you changing your work shirts?
For the past 2-3 years, I have been changing my work shirt daily.
I have just come to the realisation that there is just no reason for me to do this, especially since I'm sitting at a desk not getting smelly.
Is there some unspoken rule that we shouldn't be wearing the same shirt to work?
Mate, I can tell you right now, others would’ve smelt you.
You are more resistant to your own odour, much like every home has a ‘smell’ which the occupants can often discern.
Just because deodorant says 48 hours doesn’t mean you need to test it out.
@[Deactivated]: Obviously eating garlic will make not only your breath smell but also whatever your skin pores exude. Underarm odour is prominent because you have things described as armpits. People naturally vary how many sweat pores they have and these are not evenly distributed - hence why some people noticeably sweat more than others in the same environment. When it comes to armpit sweat, because of the physics it has difficulty dispersing into the atmosphere to become the ideal environment for bacteria to breed. While fresh sweat has a smell, it's usually just a salty smell. Once the bacteria gets to work on armpit sweat it's the by-product of the bacteria which creates the odour, often described as strong onion to ammonia. Normally the pong needs 6-8 hours to really getting going after a thorough wash.
Sweating is a natural body function intended to cool the body via evaporation, having a lot of sweat pores could be described as the body doing it's thing, but in the modern era where we operate at close quarters and in confined spaces, it's unsocial and those of us prone to readily sweat have to take particular care to prevent it.
@[Deactivated]: You normally can't smell yourself as well as others might (if you are used yo your own pheromones)
Although maybe we can actually smell them
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/we-can-recognize-o….
To be very honest, I can smell your comment from here. :D
Might want to look up olfactory fatigue ;).
You might not notice it but others definitely do.
Bruh. You are the problem. Try this. After a day at work when you take off your shirt, put your nose right into the pits. If you smell ANYTHING other than fresh linen, you need to change the shirt. And as many have pointed out, we're all very bad judges of our own smell. I used to work in a gym and I can tell you, the clients who relied on deoderant STANK. They reeked. We frequently had to tell clients that they needed to shower BEFORE they came to the gym because the smell of them once they started to sweat was knock out worthy. And they were always surprised and offended because they 'always wear deoderant'. It works NOWHERE near like you think it does. Trust me. This is a point that you can change and help EVERYONE who needs to work near you.
Be a better person. Change.
You practice the pommy shower I see. Pissing into a fan. At least you keep the flies away from people around you
learnt my lesson the hard way. I came from a 90% male work place, so the odd girl or two would say it smells like a gym. I wore 2 or 3 different shirts a week. then when I went to my current work place.. after awhile boss pulled me aside to ask when was the last time I changed my polo. since then I've been changing daily. you get use to your own smell so hard to judge yourself if ya smelly or not.
man that would be harsh… i think i'd crawl up in the bottom of a hole
Women also need to follow this rule.
Daily. There's no rule but doesn't feel right to wear a "used" shirt again. I'm personally more concerned about creases than it being dirty after a day of sitting in office.
I don't mind wearing it again to pop to shops or whatever, just not work again till it's washed and pressed.
It really depends.. I can do an entire week in the same shirt if it's winter, the aircon hasn't been touched by.. we all know that guy.. and I haven't had any presentations.
In summer, I go through a can of deodorant per week and there's no way I can wear the same shirt two days in a row.
On average though, 2-3 shirts on rotation for the week seems to do the trick - usually one or two will fail the sniff test by Thursday
I can do an entire week in the same shirt if it's winter, the aircon hasn't been touched by.. we all know that guy
are you talking about the guy who sets it to furnace mode when the temperature drops below 30?
close - the guy who wants to live on the sun sublimate tungsten as soon as it's below 23deg, and condense helium the second it's above 24deg
22 is nice. My old office used to sit at 17 degrees. It was horrible, especially in summer. Had to bring a jumper for the office.
Sublimate tungsten… Man that made me almost laugh my coffee out my nose
Come on man. what have I ever done to you?
If you cant smell yourself, doesnt mean others cant smell you.
This. The ones that smell often don't realise they do.
Mmmmm Onions…..
back in uni it was the indian guys who stank like onions (they dont use deodorant) im assuming for cultural/religious reasons. it is so strong that it used to make me nauseous. these days that distinct smell does come across my nose either at work or at the mall, again 9/10 times its an indian dude. some of them do wear deodorant, the ones who grew up here they do.
@Wasabi Ninja: same thing has been said about frenchies, they stink like @ss too for not using deodorant or showering, even the girls
@striker5950: End of the day there are humans of all nationalities that don’t shower enough or wear deodorant I guess. I can appreciate someone from the uk who’s body isn’t used to the Australian heat. People can’t smell their own stink, even family and partners get used to each others smell.
So if a stranger says you stink. Need their advice lol.
@striker5950: Ze dirty french women used to claim it was a natural pheromone which used to get people excited "or he hor he hor"!
@striker5950: apparently we all roughly have a smell related to where we are from/eat, europeans apparently smell like cheese for some, like cadavers for others,
@juki: ill take cheese over the indian IT guy who comes in once in a while who smells like death right around the afternoon time
@striker5950: yuck i cant say i like any BO, and that includes excessive deodorant use. If you put perfume on a turd its still a turd
@striker5950: Indignant Indian guy here again to set the record straight.
back in uni it was the indian guys who stank like onions (they dont use deodorant)
* yeah, many did / still do. Not just uni, I even have a guy at work who does that.
im assuming for cultural/religious reasons
* Nope nope nope, definitely because they were oblivious to their own smell and/or no one told them they stank
these days that distinct smell does come across my nose either at work or at the mall, again 9/10 times its an indian dude
* 9/10? oh man. that's bad!
some of them do wear deodorant
* Yes, we do. A lot of us do actually.
the ones who grew up here they do
* Not necessarily. The ones that grew up in India do too - deodarants, showers (once ot twice daily), a clean new shirt every day (even if it was worn for just a couple of hours)
@Master Bates yes they do. They’re just grubs and don’t give a crap about anyone but themselves.
And they swear that they have great hygiene, a great diet and always use deoderant. It's often a point of pride.
Daily, you filthy animal.
Depends how much you sweat and therefore how much you could smell. I sweat a lot so I have to change daily. I think if I have to catch PT and walk a bit will also make more of a difference than if I drive straight to the office.
Daily.
However the only time I would consider wearing a shirt twice, is during winter and im wearing a thermal underneath
Shirts daily. Pants every 2-3 days.
and underpants?
Normal, backwards, inside out and inside out, back to front… So 4 days
Noice….
Look at Mr Clean over here. I just go with the traditional "throw them at the ceiling and if they stick, they need a wash".
Waitwe change pants? Next you'll tell me you wash jeans!
Yeah, only exception is in winter when I have a shirt under the work shirt and a jacket over it. I'll wear one twice then. Pants can go for like a week or so if I'm not in the workshop.
If you wear a fresh undershirt each day you might be able to get away with not changing the work shirt as often. Otherwise you should change the work shirt daily. Undershirts also protect your work shirts from deodorant marks so they last longer.
This. Undershirts daily usually allow you to get away with wearing the same dress shirt multiple times before wash.
Yeah, this exactly. Undershirt cops the little bit of unavoidable sweat to save the work shirt. In summer not so much.
I can't believe this is even a question. Daily.
Wow
When I was young I worked in an office with shower and rode bicycle into work. I'd have a few shirts hanging at work and would wear a random one each day, probably wear each shirt 3x before bringing new ones. Just sitting in office 9-5 didn't make me sweat a bit … it was usually lunch stains that prompted me to wash a shirt more than smell.
And how many people volunteered to sit next to you? Not many I reckon.
The hanging and airing out in between helps too. I've heard that mainly the offensive smell is from bacterial growth, which won't happen as fast if e.g. you wear it for a shorter period of time and then you air it out in between. If you threw it in a pile and picked it back out you'd have a harder time of things
Same goes with deo, you don't need it if you have good personal hygene and wash often enough, esp after physical exertion/on hot days. Deo mainly masks smells, rather than stops you sweating. If you are profuse, you might see a difference, but you are going to sweat more somewhere else. We actually wash too much in Australia, and our skin is worse off for it. But don't try to tell people, you'll get shouted down and down voted by the masses (as evidenced here)
I even shave my beard if it looks like a "lucky" day!
There’s 4 sides to a shirt. Front, back, inside front, inside back. There’s 4 days worth of wear assuming you get it dirty. If you’re not dirty, can easily go 3-4+ days per side. So there’s 3 working weeks easily. Easily double it by wearing a jumper.
So many people waste so much time and money washing stuff. Not to mention the chemicals and water use. It’s irresponsible.
I follow the same philosophy, but with underwear.
Underwear is a no brainer. I reckon 2 days a side is fine, a week per pair of undies. Perfection.
Front back inside out then swap with a friend
Why wear at all. Save money and freeball
Valid point!
and by the time you finish the fourth side, the first side is clean due to the rubbing against the skin/other clothing, so you can repeat the same sides
one shirt forever!
I'm not going to tell you one day or more, but I can suggest that using cotton stick on armpit protectors will make you feel fresher either way.
But will they stop my pits from breathing and make me sweat more?
Not at all. The opposite.
You may think you don't smell but the truth is you most certainly will to others. Shirts, jocks, socks change every day without fail.
Can't believe someone is old enough to be in the workforce and needs to be told this. Is OP Mork?
Do you now have 5 work shirts?
Nothing worse than the smell of stale human from those people who think they don't smell! Everyone smells after several hours when the bacteria start digesting your sweat.
If it touches your skin where you sweat AT ALL, change it daily! Jeans can go a few days, but boxers/socks/shirts/T's every day.
boxers
dont get op started
Aren't they called boxers? Underpants? :)
Daily for shirts, but I'm a very clean person; I take my weekly bath whether I need it or not.
i have 2x sets of 5 shirts… one for each day of the week alternated monthly
i wear Monday shirt on Monday only, and Tuesday shirt for Tuesday only so on and so forth. i wear them on a 4 week rotation… then dry cleaned. the shirts i'm not wearing a placed on a rack in a spare room where there is sun and is aired.
then i have 2x spare shirts if in the off unfortunate chance something happens to a shirt mid rotation.
i alternate pants,
I work in the office three days so I wear two shirts, one shirt I wear on Tuesday and Thursday, the second shirt I wear on the Wednesday. I hang the first shirt up to air while wearing the second shirt. I then wash both on the weekend.
I won't wear the same shirt two days in a row, or more than twice. However, If I'm going to be in meetings where I'm in close contact with people I'll wear a new shirt on the day.
This is the reason why 'WFH' is highly encouraged. OP don't tell me you are serious. Jesus, please change your shirt daily. So what's next? Do you change your kids school uniform daily?
Even high school students stink and it's probably because they don't have 5 school shirts or wash daily.
EW gross
change mine daily
the neck/collar area of your shirts must be all brown and gross
I am generally a sweaty person i change my shirt daily, pants less frequently and jumper 2-3 days
Related note, what's OzBargain's preferred method of removing sweat stains from the collar and deodorant stains from the armpit area? My best machine wash is not fully clean enough and still leaves a light trace of yellowing around the collar area.
Dry cleaning
preen
Change your deodorant/antiperspirant. Can't remember the one I use (it's the OzBargain favourite that comes up here regularly) and it leaves no stains.
put dishwasher liquid on the collar, armpits and where oil stains hit due to laksa
Hit with napisan spray (leave in for 5min or whatever) then presoak in napisan/laundry detergent before machine wash.
If it's a white shirt, bleach?
Chlorine bleach could make them worse.
Just soak in napisan, at least overnight.
My "workflow" is to use the stain remover gel (napisan I think?) on the cuffs and collar. I give it a light scrub, and then let it soak in for about 15-20 mins.
If it is a white/light colour, it then goes into the machine for a prewash + wash cycle (napisan powder in the prewash compartment) along with other whites.
Really keeps the gross stains away.
Why stop at shirts? Might as well wear your underwear for the week as well!
Probably 2.5 undies. The OP probably turns them inside out to wear again!
OP please do not wear a shirt multiple days.
Trust me. People know. Anyone that gets close to you will know.
You may not smell yourself but others can. And there's nothing worse than the combination of stale human and deodorant/cologne trying to cover it up.
When I was in the office almost every day, I would change daily. Literally had 5 shirts and would wear them in the same order every week. Meh!
Seriously. It's disgusting if you don't change your shirts daily.
Or wash. YUCK.
I cbf washing the work tshirt any less than once a week, so I wear a short/long sleeve under it and change that daily instead.
Oh FFS seriously?? I’m calling it. This is just taking the PI$S now. Who is dreaming up these inane topics?? Open up the curtain and show yourselves!!
Ask your work colleagues?
I don't even wear any clothes to work.
this is the way.
Yeesh…. I wear an undershirt most days and I still wouldn't do this.
Wear undershirt that covers the pits - that is, not a singlet to absorb sweat/smells.
Daily.. come on.. pits stink.. I mean wfh whatever but in the office… daily unless emergency