One in four men don't change underwear daily, survey finds

One in four men don't change underwear daily, survey finds. Photo / Supplied

A survey into hygiene habits has found a disturbing trend when it comes to men and their underwear — 22 percent admitted that they didn't change their undies everyday.

That means one in four guys walking down the street could be wearing their knickers inside out.

Women didn't come out of the survey basking in glory either, with 18 percent admitting they reused their underwear.

That wasn't even the most disturbing thing the survey found out.

One in 20 men admitted to re-wearing their jocks for five times or more before throwing them in the washing machine.

The survey was conducted by online shopping company OnBuy, where they asked 2,790 of their customers, both men and women, about their laundry habits.

And while men definitely came out the worse for wear, women weren't shown to be the epitome of cleanliness either.

Of those who admitted to not changing their underwear each day, 76 percent of men and 69 percent of women said they turn them inside out for a "cleaner feel".

The survey revealed that 25 percent of male and 20 percent of female respondents would re-wear underwear if it didn't smell dirty.

And if it doesn't look dirty, 29 percent of men and 30 percent of women had no qualms about reusing their underwear.

The survey also found that people held onto old, threadbare underwear for years to get their money's worth.

Thirteen percent of men and four percent of women kept their old underpants for more than three years. Meanwhile, 40 percent of men and 55 percent of women buy new underwear every year.

Re-wearing underwear might be gross, but it's also detrimental to your health, according to experts.

"By not changing your underwear every day, you will start to have an accumulation of bacteria like Escherichia coli, staphylococcus, streptococcus and many others that are perfectly normal and useful when they remain at their required levels," skincare specialist Nichola Cosgrove told Metro UK.

"The effects of these can be as simple as a bad odour, a rash, excess itching, to full-on yeast infections, urinary tract infections and potentially life-threatening staph infections.

A survey from last year was even more damning, which found that 45 percent of men wear dirty jocks for two days or more.