How often do you wash your outdoors clothes?

[Scottieoutdoors]

At risk of being the smelly one.. I'm wondering how often you guys wash things like your trousers etc?

I only ask because with great excitement I got a nice block of wax with which to rewax my vidda pros, haven't done it in over a year and much like the excitement when I had a hair brained idea of stripping off the surfboard wax and starting again, I set to work, about 5 minutes in I soon realised that it was a ball-ache and then it dawned on me why I'd not done it in over a year...wash them, then re apply etc etc etc...

So got me thinking, how long can I go without washing them? Of course I wash and change the shirts, underwear etc, but outdoor trousers that I have no desire to wear to impress?

Maybe wait until they start walking on their own accord?

 

[gra_farmer]

I had shearing trousers that I use to wear when shearing time came, only wore them for that and then left them standing up in the corner for the rest of the year....when I got round to stopping doing that kind of work, they went up like a Roman candle

 

[Robson Valley]

If and when I got really muddy chasing birds, then I washed my outer wear. Went to a hunting store and bought a detergent that had NO UV brighteners in it. Claims here have been made that animals can see the UV fluorescence that our vision will dismiss. Whether you're a hunter or a photographer, you don't need to stand out.
I have NatGear snow camo. As long as I don't move, POOF!!!, I'm invisible in a snow-covered farm field. 25 years? 20+ hunting seasons? Never washed. Looks like dirt.

 

[John Fenna]

My outdoor clothing is also my everyday clothing - I wash it when it gets visibly dirty...

 

[Kadushu]

Pretty much like John says. I wear overalls every day that get washed when needed which may be after a month or 2. My waterproof jacket gets dried and brushed off if it's lucky. Woollen jumpers almost self clean and don't smell so they wait a few weeks too.

 

[Wander]

Define 'wash'.
It's a very nebulous term...

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

Define wash - Washing machine I suppose.

My down jacket hasn't been washed much, but isn't much, t-shirts, socks, underwear, thermals/base layers get washed daily as used.

Vidda pros which I waxed however.... I can't be bothered to rewax them,...

 

[SaraR]

Fleeces, jumpers and trousers get washed after a week's wear usually, unless they are very muddy or sweaty, in which case they get washed straight away (mud gets rinsed off first, before going in the machine!).

When on fieldwork, I have a "wet" set for outside and a dry set that I change into when back at base, while the wet set dries out (if you're lucky!). If there is the option of washing clothes, I do the same weekly routine with both sets, but the wet set might be rather manky by then.

Hiking clothes, including trousers, might get a rinse out in water with some eucalan (no-rinse delicate/wool laundry liquid) instead if only sweaty and not muddy and then used again for another hike before getting a wash.

High wool-content jumpers often get an airing and used again unless actually needing a wash and knitted woolly jumpers get aired out and only washed when absolutely needed. Jackets when they need reproofing, or for non-waterproof jackets if they get mud or other muck on them.

Clothes that are kept cleaner last a lot longer, but if you don't get them very dirty, just shake them off, air them out and let your nose guide you as to when they need a wash. Unlike some people, I'm not one for routinely changing clothes during the day, but if I'm about to do a mucky job I will, or I will at least wear something that's due to be washed anyway.

 

[oldtimer]

Whenever I fall in a river.

 

[FerlasDave]

Whenever I fall in a river.

Do you have some sort of routine for that?…

 

[Wander]

I don't just have 'clean' and 'dirty'.
There are lots of subtle grades in between.

 

[grainweevil]

Whenever I fall in a river.

Do you have some sort of routine for that?…

Once a year whether he needs to or not...?

 

[Toddy]

When digging, the trousers I wear to work in are changed out when we get back to where we're sleeping. Then they get put back on again the next morning to go to work.
When I got back home, then they were dried, brushed off really thoroughly and if necessary soaked in a big washing byne....think huge garden trug..... and then shoved in the washing machine once the worst of the mud and muck was off them.

There are, like Wander says, grades of clean though.
I don't wash my woollens every time they're on, I do wash underwear and inner socks though, but not my thermals or my thick outer pair of woolly socks.

At home I mostly wear frocks. I keep older ones for housework and gardening, and they just get aired and hung up. Rotated through, they get washed after maybe four or five days wear unless I've gotten really muddy. They take ages to dry though, so I'm inclined to wait for good weather.
Woollen cardigans and jumpers don't get a lot of washing. They don't need it.

Washing fades clothes, it makes them bobbly; if they're not stained, sweaty, smelly, they don't need washed every few hours wear.

My present wax jacket has never been washed. The last one got covered in sharn when cutting and carrying bracken down a hillside. I washed it and it was never the same.

 

[Ystranc]

It’s not so much about getting dirty, dirt brushes off easily enough but when clothes get sweaty or smelly it definitely time to wash them.

 

[Kav]

When large apex predators are observed fleeing their scent marked territories I wash.

 

[Erbswurst]

Well, the FR trousers are just over priced polycotton trousers like every others too. Would someone gift me a pair, whyever, I would throw them approximately once a week into the washing machine together with 2 sets of underwear. And I simply wouldn't wax them.

If I travel I use a set of clothing on the man and change into the spare set if I can wash and dry the first one. I never carry dirty clothing around.
In hot summer conditions I wash socks, breefs and shirt daily in the morning by hand, twist them out and put them on moist apart from the socks that I dry on the rucksack also on the move. I wash from time to time the shorts as well, why not?

 

[Tengu]

My new job will involve open fires a lot so I will have to get used to smoke.

 

[Kadushu]

Well, the FR trousers are just over priced polycotton trousers like every others too.

I've been thinking it for years but never had the guts to say it!

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

@Erbswurst & @Kadushu
Whilst you both may get a little joy from knocking FR, as someone who is 6'6"~2m tall, I require leg length which is impossible to find in most other clothes, the cut and the style and the comfort from the trousers makes them totally worthwhile for me. Now if I was sub 6ft, or even sub 6'6" I'd settle for clothing that was a lot easier to come by....

 

[homesicksteve]

A small hand held steamer & traditional clothes brush can work wonders on a surprising amount of garments.