How often do (and should) single men change their underwear?

RECENT STUDIES HAVE CONFIRMED THAT SOME MEN DO NOT PAY AS MUCH ATTENTION AS THEY SHOULD TO THEIR UNDERWEAR, CONFIRMING SOME OF THE WORST STEREOTYPES ABOUT MALES PERSONAL HYGIENE.

If you are reading this it's probably because you are (or want to become) a fashion conscious male that cares about your underpants as much as about your shoes or tie. It also means you are somewhat picky about your personal grooming. Maybe you are already using ergonomic underwear. Though washing your underwear and changing it on a daily basis may not be an issue for you, it's not necessarily the case for every other male out there, as confirmed by some studies.

The first one is by market research firm Mintel, stating that "one in every five males do not change their underwear on a daily basis". Another research, by Marks & Spencer, a UK retailer, found that almost a third of guys change their underwear only every two to three days. Lastly, a 2011 poll by American bleach manufacturer, Clorox, found that one in every eight guys will wear their underwear twice or even three times before washing it.

Considering underwear is an intimate garment that is not always shown, and the fact that probably the respondents to these surveys have no reason to lie, the somewhat disgusting assumptions by these studies should be accepted without reason for doubt.

As much as we'd like to think it's the opposite, single males have normally low chances of showing their underwear on a daily basis. Thus, for some males, changing underwear is usually saved for special occasions, not for everyday wear. The fact that men have not been traditionally raised to do their own laundry, accounts for this issue as well.

The act itself of buying underwear is another factor that comes to mind for this type of behavior. Men don't do their own underwear buying until they are in their twenties or late teens. The conduct of washing or buying underwear is often learned at a later age, almost by accident and guided more by improvisation than by experience or knowledge. Especially considering most guys simply won't talk about their own underwear among themselves.

For these reasons, too many guys go out there with a fraternity-boy mentality when it comes to their personal grooming. For them, if there simply is no motivation to wear a different pair of underwear, why bother doing the cleaning or everyday changing?

Five Steps in Underwear Maintenance

If you are still hesitant about how to improve or correct your underwear acquisition habits, here are some handy tips to help you tackle this fraught business:

1. Change your underwear after intense physical activity and before going out for social events, right after shower, that is.
2. You should change your underwear on a daily basis, period.
3. Consider fully replacing your underwear once a year.
4. Stained underwear should be thrown out almost immediately. You don't want to give the impression that you have poor sphincter control!
5. Try to add some spice to your personal life by buying underwear at least once a month. You could try getting a pair of pouch underwear styles, or even more sophisticated cuts like bikinis, thongs or jockstraps.

Now you know it. If I were you, I would randomly share these tips; you never know who might be wearing dirty underwear!