‘No more itching or readjusting: The benefits I found of going commando’

For some inexplicable reason, I recently found myself thinking ‘Why do we wear underwear?’ If I’m being honest, I’ve not worn underwear for some time now. Thanks to copious amounts of antibiotics, I found myself suffering continual bouts of thrush and contact dermatitis whenever I would put my underwear on. It was uncomfortable and extremely irritating (and that’s putting it mildly), not to mention a difficult area to scratch.

After I’d had an operation (and given I was experiencing both of these conditions), my home care nurse suggested I leave my knickers off. Being the ‘good little girl’ I am, I took heed of her advice. The result has been amazing. Within a week of no knickers my symptoms were gone! It’s the reason I’ve continued to go commando ever since.

However, it did get me thinking about why we wear underwear, and for women — why do we wear a bra. My research has uncovered that there is not a real reason. The pundits say a bra is necessary to support one’s breasts, but a bra doesn’t really do that. In fact, I found it difficult to find a bra manufacturer who openly made that claim. It seems bras just ‘lift them up and move them out’! This particular apparatus then causes endless pulling up of bra straps and re-adjusting of said apparel.

I didn’t just limit my curiosity to women’s underwear either. I put my ‘research hat’ on in an effort to find out why men wear underpants. A man’s ‘bits and pieces’ are designed to ‘hang loose’ and wearing undies seems to mean that they have to keep ‘re-adjusting’ themselves (something I’ve seen most men do often).

In essence, I could not find one single reference as to ‘why’ we wear underwear. We put them on everyday, we can only wear them one day at a time, but to avoid chaffing and irritation, I go commando. Truth be told, I don’t have a need to wear a bra (because I have nothing left to put in one anyway) and if I finish up going the hospital again without any knickers, I don’t care. Although, my long-departed mum would be horrified if she knew!

What are your thoughts on wearing underwear? Have you ever been commando?

Do you have a story to share with Starts at 60? We want to publish it. Sign up as a contributor and submit your stories to Starts at 60. Stories written by over-60s go into the draw for some great weekly prizes. You can also join the Starts at 60 Bloggers Club on Facebook to talk to other writers in the Starts at 60 community and learn more about how to write for Starts at 60.