Wearing the same pair of jeans day after day without ever bothering to wash them isn't as gross as it sounds.
University of Alberta student Josh Le wore a pair of skin-tight, "raw" jeans almost every day for 15 months, the Toronto Star reports. For Le, this started as a fashion experiment, but ended up a science experiment when he and his professor, Rachel McQueen, tested the dingy denim and found that germs levels weren't a worry.
The bacteria were the normal skin kind, nothing terribly icky or dangerous like E. coli. The highest counts of bacteria -- about 10,000 units per square centimeter -- were found in the crotch area.
“I was blown away. I thought there would be a lot more bacteria than was present,” Le told the Toronto Star. “It sort of shows that it is OK to not wash jeans.”
About halfway through the experiment, the jeans got too stinky to stomach, so Le threw them in the freezer and that seemed to help.
But why would a college kid wear dirty jeans over and over? (Also, where is his mother?) Apparently, it's a thing. "Raw" jeans are made of stiff, dark denim meant to be worn in until they are plastered to your figure. Le's jeans, by the way, wouldn't be confused with Lee jeans. They are $150 Nudie brand hipster jeans.
Do you live in your favorite jeans? How long do you go without washing them? Do tell.
