oooh eeerrr...second hand clothes

Second hand stuff…but who had it first?
 

 Everyone knows that buying clothes from a second hand shop is sooo much cooler than just going to a shop and buying a new item of clothing. Second hand stuff is cheaper so that’s good, but it also freaks me out. It’s not just like second hand furniture, its actual material that’s been pressed against another person’s body. A body that sweats and stuff. And a body belonging to a person that I don’t know. Most people can put that out of their mind and that’s great – that’s why they are normal and I am not. It’s the not knowing of who’s body wore those clothes that is the issue. If I am given clothes by someone else that I know then it’s fine… assuming they appear to be a nice clean human being.

But just say for instance that those cool funky jeans you bought from the second hand shop, let’s just say the previous owner was not a fan of underpants. I don’t know, you never know? I love pants, can’t get enough of them, well, one pair a day suffices, but I hear that not everyone loves wearing pants. Are you really okay with that, you’ll never know right, but that’s exactly the problem, how can I be sure that my second hand jeans were always worn with underpants on?!!! God forbid.
 

Let’s veer away from the focus on underpants, take for instance, the fab funky new top from the second hand store, what if the previous owner had BO, what if they were just dirty, I know I know, you just wash the clothes, but there’s always that feeling that not the full essence is ever really gone. Don’t say you can’t understand, I’ll give a better example….your nan dies in a car crash (Sorry I didn’t mean for this to be a morbid disturbing example…but I won’t bring underpants back into this I promise), and she is wearing a cardy, a real nice woollen one, and she dies. (sorry this isn’t real- all hypothetical) and afterwards your mum washes the cardy and says hey do you want this cardy? There was some blood on it and stuff but I’ve washed it off. Would you be happy to wear it, or would you be like ugh no? If you’d wear it I think you’re a bit weirder than me, but I would say that.
 

And so I’m sort of uncomfortable with second hand stuff from total strangers. Even if it’s been washed lots. But footwear, footwear is sort of worse, the amount of sweating that happens in your footwear, it’s pretty nasty, can shoes and trainers even be properly washed? I saw some trainers (Velcro one’s believe it or not- see previous post regarding love of Velcro) on ebay and I love them so much but they’d been worn before, they were so nice and so cheap and hey really who cares if I put my foot in a used shoe, I’ll have a sock on and my feet will sweat too, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t handle the second hand shoes.