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Can You Freeze Jeans to Clean Them?

Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 6,500
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Though it sounds like an urban legend, you can actually freeze jeans to keep them clean. One student wore the same pair of jeans for 15 months without washing them as an experiment to see whether the levels of bacteria on the jeans would increase if he merely froze the jeans instead of washing them. It turned out that the levels of bacteria were the same after wearing the jeans for 13 days, then washing them, or wearing them for 15 months and only freezing them when they felt dirty.

More facts about jeans:

  • Americans own an average of seven pairs of jeans.

  • Several jeans-making companies recommend their customers to wash their jeans only once a month, if at all — a few actually recommend the freezer method.

  • More than 200 pairs of jeans can be made from one bale of cotton.
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Editors' Picks

Discussion Comments
By anon188728 — On Jun 21, 2011

i like to set mine on fire.

By Ferenghi — On Jun 21, 2011

I've heard about this -- some of my friends do it -- but I just can't believe it works. How can they not smell after a couple times you wear them? Freezing can't get that odor out. I wash my jeans but I don't wash them every time I wear them -- probably once every two or three times I wear them. Freezing can't work for white jeans though, right?

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