When the New Year rolls around, many of us are quick to brandish a blank notebook and write down our goals. And while most pertain to getting stronger in the gym, shaving minutes off a running PB, or making greater strides in our careers, it’s also impossible to overlook that for many, finding love – or at least, some kind of connection – by way of a relationship is also a driving force that catapults us into January. Our phones suddenly groan under the sudden weight of freshly downloaded dating apps, and our weekends are cleared in anticipation for those dates we hope to line up.
For all the messy complexities that make up dating in the modern age, there are also those turn-offs that do little to aid your quest for romance. And when it comes to single men, most are guilty of one habit that women have been quick to label “disgusting.” As it turns out, single men aren’t exactly the most hygienic and tend to sleep on bedsheets that are in desperate need of a wash.
According to a British study which sought to analyse how often adults change their bed sheets, it was found that single men have “significantly worse hygiene than women.” Almost half of the UK’s single men admitted they wait up to four months to wash their bed sheets, while another 12 per cent said they only ever wash them when they remember to do so, which can be even longer than the four months.
The study revealed that it was only when in a relationship that bedding came to be changed more regularly, which says less about the men and more about the women who continue to perform majority of household chores, as evidenced by a recent study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Women fared much better in the study, changing their sheets more regularly with 62 per cent cleaning their bedding every two weeks.
Yuk !! How unhealthy, I change my bed linen once a week, use towels 3 times then wash. Their bedrooms must stink to high heaven.
— Pat Hall (@PatsPat) April 29, 2022
The findings have left women understandably shocked and you need only peruse the responses voiced online to see that if you’re looking to find a relationship this year, you might want to begin improving your own hygiene and doubling down on that wash schedule. As one woman pointed out when the findings were published by the BBC, “Maybe that’s why they’re single?”
Another wrote, “Huge red flag, I’d rather stay single,” while another pointed out, “How about home economic classes for men so women don’t have to educate them!! Division of labour is still an issue.”
The comments were something of a contrast to the response of men to the study, with a comment feed in which they shared certain tricks and hacks they’d learned to help preserve their sheets a little longer between washes. As one commented, “I get 8 months actually…just flip it over and it’s brand new…saves on water and electricity…just doing my bit for the planet.”
Another jokingly commented, “You can get another 4 months if you turn it inside out,” while another commented: “When I was single, once a month. These days my Mrs does the job.”
So, just how often are we meant to clean our sheets? According to experts, sheets need to be washed every week due to the dead skin cells and body oils that are quick to accumulate on them and can attract dust mites. And for those single guys out there, should you turn into a weekly sheet washer, it might just be a noteworthy point for the Tinder or Hinge bio.
