Do You Need to Wash Thrifted Clothes? Yes, and Dry Them Hot

Yes, you should wash thrifted clothes before you wear them. But most advice online gets the important part backwards. The washing is not what protects you most. The dryer on high heat is. Here is why: the two pests people worry about most, lice and scabies mites, die on their own within a few days away from a person, according to the CDC. The pest that does not die on its own is the bed bug, which the EPA says can live for months to a year without a meal. And the EPA's own answer for bed bugs on clothing is heat: a dryer at high temperature for 30 minutes.

Wash thrifted clothes for comfort. Dry them hot for safety. The dryer, not the detergent, is the step that matters.

That changes how you should handle a bag of secondhand finds, especially in winter, when coats, hats and sweaters are what people are buying.

Do you need to wash thrifted clothes before wearing them?

Yes. Anything that touches your skin should go through a wash and a hot dry before you wear it. That is the advice of public health agencies for clothing that might have been near a person with lice or scabies, and it is also simple common sense: you don't know where a garment has been, how it was stored, or what it was washed with.

A textiles professor interviewed by Estonia's public broadcaster ERR in November 2024 put it plainly: clothes that sit in big piles in plastic bags are a good place for microbes to hang on, so wash before wearing, especially anything worn close to the body.

The good news is that you do not need special products, a vinegar soak or a second wash "to be sure." You need the right order, and a hot dryer.

What can actually ride home on secondhand clothes?

This is the part most thrifting guides skip. Each of the usual worries behaves differently once it is off a person, and the agencies give different numbers for each. Here is what the official pages say, side by side:

Read that table across and a pattern jumps out. For lice and scabies, time is already on your side: a coat that has hung on a thrift store rack for a week is far less likely to carry either one. The CDC also says head lice spread mainly by head-to-head contact, and scabies mainly by long skin-to-skin contact; clothing is the less common route for both.

Bed bugs are the exception. They are, in the EPA's words, great hitchhikers, and they travel on furniture, bedding, boxes and clothing. A few weeks on a rack does nothing to them. That is why the hot dryer, not the wash, is the one step you should never skip.

Is the washer or the dryer doing the work?

Mostly the dryer. Look at the numbers again: the CDC's wash temperature for lice is 130°F, and many fabrics carry a care label that says to wash cold or warm. If your sweater says "cold wash only," the washer is cleaning it, not heat-treating it.

The dryer is where most items can safely get hot enough for long enough. The EPA's 2016 guidance for parents tells families with bed bugs to put clothing, backpacks, shoes and bedding in a dryer at high temperature for 30 minutes. The same sheet notes that backpacks and coats are the most common way a bed bug gets a ride to school.

So here is the order that follows from the official advice:

1. Bag it at the store. Keep your finds in a closed bag until you get them to the laundry. The EPA gives the same tip for shared laundry rooms.
2. Shake it out outside. Look along seams, collars, cuffs and inside pockets. Empty every pocket.
3. Check the care label. It decides what the wash can do.
4. Wash on the warmest setting the label allows.
5. Dry on high for 30 minutes if the label allows a hot dry. This is the step that counts.
6. Fold it at home, not in a shared laundry room, so nothing new comes along.

If a garment cannot go in a hot dryer at all, skip to the section on delicate pieces below.

How many times do I need to wash thrifted clothes?

Once, done properly, is enough. None of the agency guidance above calls for more than a single hot wash and dry. A second wash makes sense only for a reason you can see or smell: a stain that did not lift, a strong perfume or smoke smell, or an item you plan to give to a baby.

If a smell stays after one wash, the ERR interview has a free, low-tech tip from the professor: hang the garment outside. Sun, cold air and a good shake all help. Then wash again if you need to.

What about dry-clean-only pieces, coats and shoes?

Wool coats, structured blazers, leather jackets and anything labeled "dry clean only" are the items people most often wear straight home, and they are exactly the bulky, many-seamed pieces where something could hide. You have three choices, all from the agency pages:

• Dry cleaning. The CDC lists dry cleaning as an option for both lice and scabies.
• Time in a sealed bag. The CDC says two weeks for lice and 72 hours to a week for scabies. For bed bugs the EPA says items that cannot be treated may need to stay sealed for up to a year, so for that worry, bagging alone is a poor answer.
• Cold. The EPA says a sealed bag in a freezer set to 0°F for three days can work for bed bugs, but adds that many home freezers are not that cold. Use a thermometer to check.

Many winter coats with a "tumble dry low" label can still take a dryer; check before you decide a coat is dry-clean only. Shoes are their own topic, and we covered them in Is It Safe to Buy Used Shoes?.

Is it safe to buy used baby and kids' clothes?

Yes, with the same wash-and-dry routine, plus one check that has nothing to do with germs: drawstrings.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission treats hood and neck drawstrings on children's jackets, sweatshirts and other upper outerwear in sizes 2T to 12 as a strangulation hazard. Waist and bottom drawstrings on sizes 2T to 16 are limited to 3 inches outside the channel, with no toggles or knots on the ends. CPSC staff counted 26 deaths and 73 nonfatal incidents linked to neck and hood drawstrings between January 1985 and June 2019. Most happened when a toggle or knot caught at the top of a playground slide.

New children's jackets sold in the U.S. are expected to meet that rule. A hand-me-down, a jacket made years ago, or one bought from overseas may not be. Before a used winter jacket goes on a child:

• Pull any cord out of the hood and neck. It is a two-minute fix.
• Check waist cords: short, no toggle, stitched in place.
• Then wash and dry it hot like everything else.

The bottom line

• Yes, wash thrifted clothes before wearing anything that touches your skin.
• The hot dryer matters most. The EPA's figure for bed bugs is 30 minutes on high heat.
• Lice and scabies mites don't last long off a person, per the CDC, so a rack-aged coat is low risk for those two.
• Dry-clean-only? Dry clean it, or follow the CDC's sealed-bag times for lice and scabies.
• Kids' jackets: take out hood and neck drawstrings before they are worn.

Thrifting and buying secondhand keeps good clothing out of the trash; we looked at where old clothes end up in Where Do Old Clothes End Up? What EPA Data Shows. For bulkier finds like couches, see the EPA's bed bug checks for used furniture. You can browse what is on offer now at /categories, and questions about buying from us are answered on our FAQ.

Know someone heading out thrifting this weekend? Send them this before they unpack the bag.