Buying second hand shorts - health issues?

mr.b-campag

As per the title really. I see a lot of second hand shorts on sale (and presumably sold) here and elsewhere. Are there any health issues with buying second hand shorts, or will a low temperature wash (all that is possible with shorts)/use of chamois cream/time etc. deal with any germs/bacteria etc. that the previous owner might have (knowingly or otherwise)?

Thanks

B

haydenm

It'll probably be fine but that won't stop the forum arguing about it. I personally wouldn't but I know it is mostly in my head.

fenix

I thought it was only perverts buying the shorts ?

slowbike

hah - I know what you mean - but tbh, a wash with a suitable detergent will be enough.

Personally, I wouldn't do s/h shorts - except the ones I get from my brother - but that's ok - it's family

mugensi

I have bought two pairs of second hand shorts, both very lightly used but I washed them both maybe 4 or 5 times before wearing them myself...just to be sure.

CitizenLee

HaydenM wrote:

It'll probably be fine but that won't stop the forum arguing about it. I personally wouldn't but I know it is mostly in my head.

This is how it usually goes...

OP asks a question
A forum regular answers it
Another regular disagrees
More regulars join to offer their tuppence-worth
Argument ensues
OP never returns
Thread is heavily derailed but still makes it to 5+ pages
7 years later new a new member appears to necro bump the thread

veronese68

MugenSi wrote:

I have bought two pairs of second hand shorts, both very lightly used but I washed them both maybe 4 or 5 times before wearing them myself...just to be sure.

Even that is probably a little OTT, but as with a couple of posts above I wouldn't myself although I know that may not be entirely rational. Although wasn't there once someone on here that listed a pair of shorts with a visible skid mark on them? Big difference between well used and worn once and didn't get on with them of course.
Just read CL's post and wondering if I should delete this.

cooldad

Yuck.

That's all.

mr.b-campag

Thanks CL, and sorry to ruin your argument ;-) I guess what I was hoping for (doubtless naively) was that there might be someone on here with actual scientific knowledge about what might be contained on shorts, how long it lasts for, whether anything can be transmitted etc. In the meantime happy to be entertained as per your narrative description.

joey54321

Have you thought about people trying on new shorts and returning them, then you try them on/wear them?

Just a musing.

mr.b-campag

I would always try shorts on for size while wearing boxers, but I guess not everyone is the same? (Good enough to understand the sizing whilst not being inconsiderate).

webboo

I would suspect that unless you had open cuts/sores on you groin and said shorts had some sort of infection on them. There is little chance of anything being transferred.
Using soap to wash things tends to get rid of most germs, hence with hand hygiene the washing of hands with soap and water is preferred to the use of alcohol cleansers.

CitizenLee

Mr.B-Campag wrote:

Thanks CL, and sorry to ruin your argument ;-)

We allow for the occasional exception

imposter2.0

Not a lot different from the notion of buying secondhand underpants or socks. Not sure I would do that either. I've bought secondhand jerseys/jackets, but that's probably a bit different..

fenix

You can buy secondhand socks ??

Wouldn't they be secondfeet socks ?

CitizenLee

Fenix wrote:

You can buy secondhand socks ??

Wouldn't they be secondfeet socks ?

tangled_metal

Doesn't washing with soap work because you wash off the outer layers of dead skin cells taking the germs living on or very near the surface with them? The alcohol gel works if the germs contact the alcohol gel but potentially don't contact because they're in among the outermost dead cells on your hands. If you rub your hands vigorously enough with the gel you can get the high levels of germ killing often quoted just add you can get low levels if you wash with soap badly.

Sorry, I read up on it after reading an Internet forum digression that involved links.

webboo

I’ve never looked in to the detail. I just believed what the infection control nurse told me I.e washing with soap was the best.

keef66

The scientific tide is turning! It's slowly dawning on a lot of people that in our ultra clean environments we don't encounter nearly enough microbes, especially in early years. And if our immune systems don't get a good work-out tackling a range of potentially harmful bugs, they start to react to benign things like peanuts, or attack our own tissues causing a range of auto-immune conditions.
Added to which our increasing understanding of the importance to health of our microbiome, the billions of things living on and in us, means I'm now even less worried about "germs" than I used to be, which wasn't much. As a kid I spent a lot of time on the farm next door, and later worked weekends there with turkeys, pigs, sheep and lots of dust, censored and dead things. Possibly as a consequence, I appear to have the immune system of a komodo dragon. (which fact is currently annoying my wife, who has caught the stinking cold our son arrived with last week).

So second hand shorts wouldn't worry me. Quick wash in some Halo or similar and dry inside out on the line - the current weather should provide quite a dose of UV irradiation.

Obviously if you're suffering from issues with broken skin, saddle sores or are immunosuppressed, you might not want to take the chance, but for the remaining 99.9% of us it'll be fine.