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Men's Underwear Basics: Underwear, Undershirts

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
You can usually use less laundry detergent and bleach than what's recommended on label. If you have reasonably soft water you can get away with half the detergent recommended, and I tend to use that as a rule of thumb on bleach as well. Half the value of bleach on underwear is as a germ killer, and the smaller amount is adequate for that, too.
I feel extremely uncomfortable without a t shirt underneath. They seem to moderate the extremes of hot and cold, and in New York you tend to get extremes of temperature from minute to minute, outside in the cold with heavy coat, then in the subway with excessive heat.
 

Bugsy

One Too Many
Messages
1,126
Location
Sacramento/San Francisco Bay Area
HistoricDetroit said:
Geezaloo... I haven't worn briefs regularly in years. After the ones I had became worn out and outgrown, I replaced them with boxers, and I've stuck with boxers since. That was back in high school, when no guy who didn't want to get a complementary wedgie wore briefs. I recently found a single pair of briefs lying around in my undershirt drawer, and wore them for a day, then tossed them out. I found them to be far less comfortable / more restricting, and almost confused myself when I went to use the urinal. Perhaps this is because I'm used to the boxers now.

I have nothing against briefs though, many of my male family members still wear them.
Where can one purchase American made briefs?

You shouldn't have thrown them away. They make great dust rags.
 

scotrace

Head Bartender
Staff member
Messages
14,381
Location
Small Town Ohio, USA
I am liking the tie backs from Vermont Country Store very much. They sit very high at the waist (above the belly button) and from the back they look almost Williamsburg-Colonial. Hard to describe. They are also more fitted in the seat than common boxers. I don't think they would work out if a chap had much of a front porch.
They are also very comfortable as there is no elastic to dig at your middle.
 

Bugsy

One Too Many
Messages
1,126
Location
Sacramento/San Francisco Bay Area
shindeco said:
Bugsy,

Have you tried their French backs? I've tried both and can't decide which I like best but I think the French back wins by a hair.

I have tried the French back boxers, but the buttons seems to get in my way for some reason. The tie backs were also easier to adjust--at least to my waist. However, like you, I have both.

Best,
R
 

shortbow

Practically Family
Messages
744
Location
british columbia
Undershirts

It is currently 100 degrees, so I am indoors wearing a "wifebeater" undershirt, so as not to frighten the dog by going bare chested. Forgive that appellation but I don't know what they are properly called in NA, although I believe they are known as "vests" in the UK.

Anyhow, I only have this one, and I save it for this purpose. My question is:

As an undershirt, what is the point of them as opposed to T's? Seems to me they can't protect the shirt's underarms nor the neck area. I know they were universally used in days of yore, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why.

Can anybody enlighten me?

Apologies to the ladies and those of a delicate sensibility, but where else could I ask?

Thanks eh?
 

univibe88

One Too Many
Messages
1,146
Location
Slidell4Life
I believe it is properly called an A-shirt. I find that when it is so hot that I'm going to sweat through a t-shirt undershirt anyway, that I'll go for the a-shirt and try to keep a little cooler
 
I've never quite been able to work out whether the undershirt was intended for:

1) protection of the overgarments from sweat

2) layers for insulation in colder weather

3) prevention of unsightly nipple showing through the overshirt.

Maybe it was for all 3. The only one which a vest is useless for is the first, since the armpits are the greatest sweat producers in the upper body.

bk
 

Flivver

Practically Family
Messages
821
Location
New England
A-Shirts...back in the early 1960s, Boston radio personality Dave Maynard (WBZ) waged a campaign to convince the men of New England to stop wearing exposed sleeveless undershirts. He considered them to be the height of tackiness and my mom agreed. She would never let my dad wear one under any circumstances.

Our next door neighbor *always* wore one of these shirts when he worked in the yard. My mom used to complain: "If only Dave Maynard could see *this*!"
 

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