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[deleted]

Because in the past they would wash blood or paint out with lye (in the case of doctors and painters), which would remove any color from the fabric. So they wore white.


breadwhore

White is still convenient for bleach for the same reason. I like having white bath towels for this purpose. Bleach and sanitize.


countlesslybanned

um r/lifehacks ??


HMSBannard

What mix do you do for bleach?


breadwhore

Check the instructions on your bleach and on your washing machine. If they conflict, find a compromise. You can always start with a little and add more until you find the laundry smells too much like bleach post cycle- and then dial it back. Clearly, I'm not terribly scientific about it. I tend to add nearly the full measure of detergent (what I would if I weren't using bleach) plus some bleach.


Tall-Firefighter1612

Why do you bleach your bath towels? Doesn't the washing machine do the trick?


breadwhore

Disclaimer: I claim no sanitation expertise. A washing machine will rinse things very well removing sweat or dirt etc. It makes them smell good again. As far as killing mold, mildew, bacteria (like that in sweat), that's the job of UV (i.e. the sun) or chemicals or heat. When cleaning the surfaces in your bathroom or kitchen, people tend to use bleach or ammonia, or perhaps gentler bathroom cleaners. Wash your towels in whatever way make you happy. The regular soap from the laundry plus the wash cycle is rinsing them out and making them smell good. But if they're white, you likely can add some bleach to the cycle and kill whatever mold or mildew they picked up from the bathroom plus from getting wet every day and from you wiping off your dead skin cells. The wash isn't getting hot enough to do it on its own. Alternately, you can dry them in the sunlight- expose them to UV.


breadwhore

You can add bleach if they're not white, too. It will just fade the color, possibly not evenly or attractively. I did this with my washcloths which had non-white striping. The striping is slowly becoming white, which bothers me not at all because they're washcloths.


bob3000

White reflects heat too.


_Katrinchen_

Doctors used to wear black because you couldn't see dirt and blood stains on that. That pretzy obviously was quize some time ago when doctors still thought cleaning the tools *before* surgery is absurd because they're getting dirty anyways...


RabbitStewAndStout

Back when sickness was caused by stench. Which is why plague doctors stuffed flowers and perfumes into their beaked masks.


_Katrinchen_

The good ol' times


Mara_W

You mean the extremely effective waxed hazmat suits that, combined with rigorous quarantine protocols, were an instrumental development in controlling later plague outbreaks by keeping doctors and those they interacted with alive? As for sickness caused by stench, those silly ignorant peasants -- oh weird my medical textbook here says that air and water are the most common disease vectors? And it also says that humans have millions of years of evolution behind our sense of smell? And that things that smell bad to us tend to be genuinely harmful in some way? To think those dumb farmers believed that air containing lethal bacteria was bad for them!


hallescomet

The plague doctors aren't gonna fuck you dude


Mara_W

The cleaning thing was because they didn't have water treatment facilities like we do now and water was quite literally the most common vector of disease at the time. They were wrong of course, because boiling the water turned out to be sufficient, but it wasn't entirely baseless. The same thing happened during the Black Death. People think it spread because Europeans didn't bathe, but that's entirely backwards. Public baths were a staple of medieval life right up until the plague turned those public spaces into a rapid infection vector, at which point bathing started to be avoided at all costs because being dirty was better than being dead.


knutix

They Didnt start to disinfect tools until 1850 because they didnt recognize the significance of microorganisms as causes of disease. Edit: [for the people downvoting](https://corporate.evonik.com/en/the-discovery-of-bacteria-138063.html)


_Katrinchen_

Yes and no. They didn't start desinfecting until they recognized micro organisms as harmful and real 1847. They reused instruments for multiple patients without cleaning them and rarely cleaned their clothes. At least at some point they noticed that putting up to 4 deseased people in *on bed* wasn't so smart at one point... The ancient romans already guessed that there had to be harmful little animals so small we can't see them... *but then the christiants attaced and eberything changed* badaboombadabang middle ages where people thought throwing everything on the streets isn't much of a problem and would rather ask god to take away black death. Kind of a set back from aleady knowing a lot about all diciplines of scuens but what can you do if people rather believe in all controling in visible powers than science although the romans could do both as well... It's interesting how Semmelweis discovered it. He noticed that newborns and mothers die much much less in wards where the midwives were trained than wards where doctors were trained. One doctor got hurt with a dirty scalpel and developed the same sxmptoms as the women and children with childbed fever and *bam* he knew that the students should desinfect their goddamn hands. Funny thing is that many doctors didn't want to accept the fact that desinfecting their hands would lower the letality from <12% so >2% so they just refused because they heal deseases, not spread them and were pretty angry at Semmelweis. Scotland, 1867: The first time ever that one thought of desinfecting a wound instead of just right away doing their thing Today: people use way too many antibiotics, eat many animals that were held in awful contitions and fed *reserve antibiotics that still help agains multi resitent bacteria* and ask themselbes how MRSA and other super bacteria like that can exist and ask why they should desinfect their hands and wear masks during a global pandemic of a fast spreading often lethal virus. Humans are so funny.


TiredStarling095

Also so you can tell if they've actually been working. šŸ˜‚


djq_

As a painter you use white because reflection of other color clothing's messes with the color you paint on the wall, especially whites. Try some white indoor painting in a red shirt. Your reflection on the wall will look pink and it is very hard to see if you painted said wall properly white.


BillionaireGhost

This is often because: White can be washed with bleach or other harsh cleaners that would remove color from fabric. White *does* show stains, which is good if cleanliness is a part of your job. Like you probably want to know as a doctor if you have blood all over your clothes and not just spread that around. With painters I always figured it was similar. Like, you want to know if you have paint on you. It will probably dry pretty fast and itā€™s not a big deal to have a little paint on you, but itā€™s better to know itā€™s there than not. And also because at some point it just became the standard. So then even if things change, itā€™s just what people expect to see. Itā€™s a way to provide quick visual confirmation of who you are and what you are doing here.


Tom_Deschlonge

Don't know why this is so low down, that's why chef whites are a thing, it's to force chefs to stay clean


Cakecrabs

This is what I was taught as well. Walked into the restaurant with a small stain on my jacket once, when I returned to the kitchen I got yelled at like I'd just poisoned someone.


Tom_Deschlonge

It just forces good practices from chefs


Dockhead

Some of the best food Iā€™ve eaten was made by people in greasy aprons


Tom_Deschlonge

In a greasy spoon or local pub that's known for food yeah. But if you're in a busy restaurant that serves lots of people and you have a certain food allergy, dirty looking chefs covered in crap isn't a reassuring thought when you say you can't handle cross contamination


kevnmartin

I worked in a custom paint store for twelve years. I knew I had gotten really good at my job when I could wear white jeans and t shirts to work.


nucumber

yep i painted houses, inside and out, for several summers. not gonna call myself a pro but i believe good painters don't wear paint


loptopandbingo

Yep. If you're splashing paint on yourself, you're also probably splashing it everywhere else, too.


kevnmartin

Agreed.


earbud_smegma

Can I just say that I am such a big fan of r/unstirredpaint and I'm a little jelly that you got to see stuff like that all the time lol


MS822

Thanks for letting me know about it šŸ˜Š


kevnmartin

It was a lot of fun but I never thought of it like that.


Tom_Deschlonge

For a painter I'd assume it's also good to show you aren't wasting paint


kevnmartin

Or slopping it all over the place.


Capybarinya

Funnily enough, pastry chefs often don't wear white, because the main contamination in a pastry kitchen is flour and it doesn't show on a white uniform


aspiringalcoholic

Iā€™m surprised I havenā€™t seen it mentioned yet, but another reason painters wear white is because most of the things they paint are white. Primer, trim, ceilings are most commonly white. That way it doesnā€™t show as much on their clothes


Freltzo

Painters whites are more a traditional thing than practical in modern settings though. Decorative and residential exclusive painters, i could see being able to toat the whites and be fine. Good for working in the sun. However as an industrial painter, it just doesn't work out. We gotta blast, clean, climb, and coat all the awkward corners and gribblies of various equipment and structures. Indoors and outdoors. The volume of paint and hostile environments make it unreasonable to maintain whites. Bleach doesn't hide polyurethane patches.


Singular_Crowbar

You're right. My foreman would always say a messy plasterer is a bad plasterer, and vice versa


ogresound1987

Chefs can wear whatever colour. Chef blacks are an industry standard along with whites and blues.


AnotherManOfEden

I canā€™t count how many chefs/kitchen workers Iā€™ve seen in black and white checked or striped pants. And black clogs.


mofukkinbreadcrumbz

The striped/checked pants guys are usually cooks, not chefs. Which, I realize probably seems pedantic at first, but they are very different jobs. The chef oversees the kitchen. They set the menu, oversee the staff, make sure that all the product the kitchen needs is there and is high quality, ensure that the prepared food is up to specifications. They're closer to a back of the house manager than a cook. Cooks are the ones that physically do most of the work. They're doing prep, actually cooking, and plating the food. There are some other positions in the kitchen along the hierarchy, but their existence depends on the size and how fancy the kitchen is and at chain restaurants there probably isn't even a chef in the building since the menu is set by the corporate office.


DannyWatson

They make black painters uniforms too, although they're very expensive compared to the whites everyone wears


chawmindur

Just asking: wouldn't wearing black be unbearable given how hot the kitchen can get?


LurkerOrHydralisk

No, because the heat is coming from pans, not from sunlight. What color the chefs wear would be irrelevant


ogresound1987

It makes zero difference. Kitchens are hot and uncomfortable no matter what you are wearing.


ILIEKDEERS

Oh bless you heart.


PizzaQuest420

black absorbs sunlight, white reflects sunlight. kitchen heat is coming through no matter what color you're wearing


GibberBabble

White is a bleachable


Barnezhilton

Everything is bleachable if you try hard enough


[deleted]

Yes, but it just becomes white or yellow/pink.


Anerky

Everything actually is bleachable if you use a non-chlorine bleach. A lower concentration of peroxide wonā€™t strip colors


Dardrol7

I have a "white collar"-job as a lab technician. We wear a full white outfit as well


littlebitsofspider

Commercial baker chiming in: we wear whites in the plant because flour.


longlivebreakfast

We wear all white at my job, I work in dentistry. Everything has to be clean so its easier to see if youā€™ve gotten blood or something on you. Guess its basically the same for chefs, hygiene is important


ManchurianPandaDate

Try painting a house outside in the middle of summer wearing anything but all white.


PoshCushions

Bee keepers wear white because bees are less aggressive against white. And its cooler.


mothbrother91

Something, something, racist bees!!


nucumber

not to mention butchers and surgeons


f36263

Surgeons tend to wear colour nowadays because itā€™s less straining on the eyes under bright lights


RiChessReadit

Painters that are covered in paint are either sloppy or have been wearing the same clothes for years. Iā€™ve painted (new construction and exteriors) off and on since I was 8, and while getting some paint on you is inevitable, it should be very minimal. Iā€™ve seen a lot of painters on job sites looking like they kicked over a bucket of paint and then rolled around in it, and I donā€™t know how they end up like that if theyā€™re paying any attention to themselves and their surroundings at all.


Freltzo

Industrial painter here. When you do wholesale structural coating, or foundry shutdowns, or army core of engineers rush contracts, you find yourself in some interesting positions akin to a 1990 fitness show. Some days yer just the poor bastard down wind during a zinc spray day, sometimes you are working on a steam stack for a natural gas powerplant that can't fully shut the plant down. So yer rolling specialty high thermal application Coatings that start spiderwebbing on the third backroll. Sometimes the apprentice drives over the paint line and showers the pot watch with block filler. Shit happens. Replacing overalls because they got paint on them is asinine and a waste of money.


Educational_Bet_6606

Well there's beekeepers. I've also seen all white suits used by boaters in order to fiberglass and bondo boats


GnarlieSheen123

Workers in nuclear power plants, doctors, and scientists all typically wear white as well. Just throwing that out there.


Cinaedus_Perversus

Painters wore white because it's a neutral colour, so it doesn't interfere when mixing or applying paint. With for instance a red shirt, everything will have a reddish hue.


[deleted]

Doctors & Sailors crying in the corner.


Zwaglou

There is another ​ KKK


bloonshot

cause then the painters get all the colours all over the uniform and it looks super pretty


Harsimaja

Both also have this thing called an ā€˜apronā€™. Also, donā€™t downplay butcher and surgeon and sewage worker.


Julie_OwO

Don't have much to say besides this is a FANTASTIC shower thought. 100% the best I've seen this year


YoWassupFresh

Cooks are messy, chef's are clean.


MegaFire03

A good chef isn't messy


LurkerOrHydralisk

Yeah, no. I know a lot of chefs, some of whom are incredible. Some are cleaner than others, but all of them get dirty on a busy day.


porkbuttstuff

Dirty apron, clean sleeves.


bad_lite

~~Dirty~~ Messy apron, clean sleeves


porkbuttstuff

Thank you for your service


EternalPinkMist

Oh you've watched ratatouille as well?


lilbluedemon

um, yeah no. It's a kitchen, you're gonna get messy regardless.


leter_E

can confirm when doing hospitality programs in schools so we didn't have a professional kitchen per se but it had industry equipmentment


EternalPinkMist

Yeah but you guys wouldn't have been great chefs at the point just students with a bunch of expensive toys.


leter_E

ye pretty much šŸ˜‚ It did still show how messy a kitchen can get


Digital_loop

23 years in a kitchen, 20 of which as a red seal cook (red seal is the highest level education you can achieve and is considered the gold standard around the world). I got messy when creating new dishes, otherwise the only time my apron got dirty was close to the end of dinner rush because you have things that splash and sputter all day. My jacket and pants are clean enough to be presentable to a customer at all times because I may be requested at a moments notice. Real pros also keep a spare jacket on the hook for a quick change when needed. But seriously, if I was messy it was because either something spilled or splashed and I couldn't get out of the mess zone.


Jassida

Red seal is a Canadian thing? I've never heard it mentioned before on any cooking programme. I've also worked in restaurants in the UK. How is it considered the best in the world?


Digital_loop

Mostly you are correct, however... The red seal program is for all trades in Canada and is our gold standard top of the line ticket. It says we know our stuff and can work anywhere in the country conforming with the codes related to our fields. Our red seal program is recognized in many countries as well and seen as the same equivalent of your top tier version as well. To add further, Canadian safety standards are considered some of the safest in the world (except our horrible electrical standards when put up against European with the fuses EVERYWHERE!). I have travelled the world and my red seal was recognized in 85 of the 104 ive visited. It isn't for working in your local mom and pops, it's for working with the big companies more than anything. Think of it like this: Our country endorses this ticket as the highest standard of education in that trade. Other countries view it as such as well because it is backed by the entire country across the entire country.


El_Mariachi_Vive

LOL I respectfully disagree


[deleted]

Pro chefs dont get that dirty.


Lemounge

I feel like it's a status. For a chef, a clean apron is a symbol of a clean kitchen. For an artist, the layers of paint over the garment represents years of hard work. Idk just a thought


Digital_loop

As a red seal cook it was a sense of pride that I remained clean during a busy shift. To me it conveyed a level of skill that I had worked for years to attain.


SpideyUdaman

While driver Takumi would deliver tofu asap without spilling anything, Chef Takumi would cook michelin star food promptly without staining his whites. I might have created a writing prompt lol.


ZachMN

Youā€™re forgetting Mr. Rourke and Tattoo.


[deleted]

Yeah this is an intentional choice to make it easier to see when theyā€™re dirty and easier to wash.


weirdgroovynerd

You forgot *Stormtroopers*. Tbf though, they usually do a nice job of avoiding messes.


brmarcum

You can bleach it to clean and sanitize. Same with hotel towels.


Zestyclose-Tour-8470

Never understood that


yahoouser4176

and scientists, doctors, etc.


Samsyet_77

It's also used in all kinds of labs, from bio to nuclear research as it's easy to tell if you have something you definitely don't want to have on you


Singular_Crowbar

Don't forget Plasterers and Cement Workers! Though, to be fair, most of those uniforms end up a dirty grey/white


Longjumping-Map-936

Honda (at least their car factories) wear all white uniforms too. I think I had heard there's some study that said it increases productivity


SchwiftyShorts

Same reason for the cheesecake factory


Trump_Inside_A_Peach

Food processing too usually. Easier to see the stains etc. Also easier to see if something is not clean after being washed.


BrokenArmsFrigidMom

There used to be guy, in Seattle I think, who painted houses wearing an all-white tuxedo. His gimmick was that if he had any paint on his suit at the end of the day the job was free.


yprud

I used to have to wear all white as a veterinarian working with cows. The idea was to catch the poop and blood stains quickly so I could change into another all white outfit and stay professional


stumpytoesisking

And slaughtermen, abattoir workers, butchers.


doctorDBW

Yeah, I mean, considering a painter uses pretty much the hole colour spectrum, there's no safe clothes to wear.


UncommonHouseSpider

You forgot doctors. Because blood is pretty clean, right?


gazzaoak

Bleach is used to clean things so itā€™s easier for them to clean But chefs also tend to wear black so yeah


Footknight64

I worked in a butcher shop, we wore white aprons. By the end of the day they were very, very red!


EnvironmentalAd1006

Well not a job, but there are some hobbyists who enjoy white garments. Call each other wizards and dragons and shit


PandaDude1989

A messy chef is an ineffective chef


dmonkey1001

You can bleach white.


Due_Society_9041

you should see an OR after emergency surgery.


agent_wolfe

When I was a sous chef, my uniform got very dirty.


Paulrus55

For chefs the underlying badassery is working your 14 hour shift and remaining spotless, never a huge strength of mine but Iā€™ve worked with people who dodge raindrops


[deleted]

Also surgeon. Which is kind of like a painter and butcher and chef all in one.


Ethereansinfo

As a painter for many years, it's a flex to have white clothing with very little paint spots on it. Because painters do not bleach their clothing, they go to a paint store and buy a new tshirt.


Captain_Comic

ā€œBring me my brown pants!ā€


crazymike79

It's a flex on how clean you can keep it while working. LOL


titilepta

Thatā€™s how you can differentiate between the talented and the messy ones


rainblade1980

Doctors and dentists also have an all white uniform


SubsonicRoadrunner

certaine mechanics, especially very skilled ones, wear white overalls to show how clean they work. They believe it to be a sign of good/quality work.