Are synthetic fabrics actually toxic for you?
I own several pairs and lululemon boxers. A friend recently told me about the toxic chemicals in the manufacturing process of the fabric.
Is it really harmful for me to wear them?
15 Replies
Synthetic fabrics themselves aren't going to be toxic/bad for you. Plastic is very non-reactive. If there was a big issue with it in clothing, then there are hundreds of millions of people wearing synthetics and we'd expect a lot of cases by now. That number includes athletes who primarily wear synthetics like lulu in hard, sweaty conditions.
If toxic substances were to be an issue, it would be in dying and other post-processing treatments to prevent wrinkling. These are generally fine for most people at the doses used in clothing, but it's not unheard of for there to be bad reactions. A few years ago, a number of American Airlines flight attendants sued (and won) after they received severe allergic reactions from new uniforms sent out in 2016. These uniforms it turned out were treated with formaldehyde to prevent wrinkling. This is a pretty common treatment for clothes. However with thousands of flight attendants wearing the same uniforms -- and wearing them every day at work rather than cycling between outfits -- it caused noticeable allergic reactions.
tl;dr, if you develop a rash, then toss them. Otherwise if your body feels fine then don't worry about it
Highly dependent on the specific fabric, most plastics use a collection of compounds besides the polymer base to change their properties, usually called plasticizers, as additives. The parent plastic can be totally fine and inert under standard conditions whereas the plasticizers aren't fixed into the structure as strongly and can leech out over time, this was the issue with bisphenol compounds like BPA which were found to leech into food and drink in water bottles and can liners and in the body disrupt normal hormonal functions due to being estrogen like and bonding to the receptors very strongly.
Personally I avoid synthetics for underwear and as much as I can for socks for this reason, and try to avoid it in general for the issues of micro plastics shedding from the washing process.
no
It'll be pretty case dependent though, the cheaper the fabric/brand the less likely it'll be good synthetic. Lululemon is a good bet for avoiding bad plasticizers
literally no lmfao.
You're correct, I made up all those words and am an idiot, your well articulated retort has proven so
Good you’re seeing it.
If your skin would absorb any old plastic compound that’s touching it your life would be pretty fucking horrible mate.
I thought Lululemon made their boxers with lead
I’ll make this easy: as long as you’re not eating or injecting your underwear you’ll be fine. And even eating will probably not be super problematic.
That was pre 2015
Estrogenizing water bottle
It's length of exposure, conditions such as heat and sweat saturation, whether washing the underwear in certain ways with certain detergents makes it easier/faster for compounds to release, etc.
Bisphenol compounds mimic estrogen in the body, though do not function the same. It causes issues with receptors bonding to these compounds instead of estrogen, inhibiting the normal function
Oh my God shut up
Do you know why sweat doesn’t go back into the body?