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WE’VE always known most bachelors aren’t the neatest, cleanest bunch but a new survey shows they’re literally not into airing their dirty laundry.
According to a British survey, it’s quite common for single men to change their bed linen only four times a year. In comparison single women change their bedding on average every two and a half weeks and couples come out tops, putting fresh sheets on their beds every two weeks.
According to Jed MacEwan, public relations officer of the company that conducted the survey, thousands of fragments of dead skin are left behind on your sheets after a night’s rest. If you don’t wash regularly, the consequences can be unpleasant.
“Such dirty sheets are the perfect habitat for dust mites and it’s well known that they can cause allergic reactions, asthma, nasal infection and other physical reactions,” he told dailymail.co.uk.
The survey also showed single men had only one set of bed linen whereas single women on average had three sets.
Men and women aged 35 to 40 years, according to the survey, maintain the best hygiene – they wash their bedclothes weekly – but women make up 62 per cent of this group.
How do South African men fare? Johannes Stemmet (56), a broker, said he’d been married 28 years but he’d never asked his wife how often their bedding is changed. “But believe me it’s never smelt dirty!”
A 26-year-old restaurant manager of the Southern Cape had an interesting excuse for changing his sheets just once in two months. “I live in quite a small place and it’s difficult in winter to wash sheets – there’s nowhere to hang them. Sometimes two months can go by without me scrubbing them.” Bet the ladies will not love that.
– Christiaan Boonzaier
How often do you change your sheets? Tell us!
