To protect yourself against allergic reactions, rashes and even lice, after you buy a new piece of clothing, there’s an important step you need to take to protect yourself.
Wash it twice.
According to dermatologist Donald Belsito, who teaches dermatology at the Columbia University Medical Center, when you buy clothing, you can’t be sure it doesn’t contain questionable chemicals and you don’t know what may have been transferred to the clothing by other consumers who tried it on before you bought it.
As Belsito tells Heidi Mitchell of the Wall Street Journal, the synthetic fibers contained in many garments are often pigmented with what are called azo-aniline dyes.
Some people are especially sensitive to the residues of these dyes left in the clothing. They can suffer intensely itchy or painful rashes. In other people who are less sensitive, these chemicals can still lead to dried-out unsightly areas of patchy skin.
It usually takes more than one cycle through the washing machine to clean out and eliminate these substances. Otherwise, you may be in for some surprising discomfort when you don your new blouse.
According to Belsito, the inflammation on your skin from these allergens usually appears “… near the areas where there is friction or sweating, like the waist, neck and thighs and around the armpits.”
You need to be wary of other chemicals too. If you buy something made from a blend of cotton and polyester, chances are it contains a urea formaldehyde resin that prevents mildew from growing and resists wrinkles in the fabric.
The residue of this preservative can cause a type of eczema that results in a rash unless you wash it out.
Then there’s lice. And scabies. Both of them can be hiding in your new clothing courtesy of whoever tried the clothes on before you picked them out.
“I have seen cases of lice that were possibly transmitted from trying on in the store, and there are certain infectious diseases that can be passed on through clothing,” says Belsito. “The other infestation I’ve seen from clothing is scabies.”
So play it safe – wash new clothes at least twice before you wear the
