What would happen if one always washed ones clothes in sea water/salt water and used them like normal?

Would the salt have any effect on the body or would nothing happen? What would happen to the fabric?What would happen if one always washed ones clothes in sea water/salt water and used them like normal?
Most likely there will be no serious effects from washing your clothes in salt water. Salt consists of Sodium and Chloride, both of these are isotopes that are found in ordinary tap water anyway. Of course the concentrations of these isotopes (Sodium and Chloride) will be higher than in tap water, it is still not going to be elevated enough to give you any toxic effects.





The main issue that you may run into is that it could cause you to have some dry skin. The drier your skin becomes, the more susceptible you would be to having minor skin irritations. So if you are someone that has sensitive skin, then you may want to consider not washing in the salt water, or at least if you continue to do so, make sure you are using a good hypo-allergenic lotion to keep your skin healthy and moisturized.





One other thing to consider that may be a positive take on using the sea water, is that Sodium and Chloride both can help to get rid of certain metals that exist naturally and accidentally in nature and water. Metals such as Lead and Antimony, which are classified as heavy metals due to the fact that they have a higher AMU (atomic mass units) than other metals. Most of these can be toxic in high enough levels, so at least with the brine or slat water, you are getting an extra filtration effect that can get rid of some of these harmful metals.





All in all you should not be concerned.What would happen if one always washed ones clothes in sea water/salt water and used them like normal?
There are several reasons you would WANT to wash your clothes in salt water, mostly to ';set'; the dye and prevent it from bleeding out. But why wash in salt water just for the fun of it? The salt left in the clothes may not cause any problems but I've read stories about some sailors having rashes caused by the salt left in the clothes. Folks (sailors) used to wash all their clothes in salt water and they survived, albeit a hard life. Here's a cute little article: http://seachestsecret.questacon.edu.au/a鈥?/a>





I'm not medical expert so you may want to wait for a dermatologist's answer.