Caring for Your Plastic Pants

Gary® uses the best quality plastic materials in making their pants, but care must be taken to keep the plastic soft and pliable. You should never use chlorine bleach or fabric softener when washing plastic or vinyl pants, since these products will damage the material. When your plastic pants are soiled and stained and you want to remove the stain, try boiling the pants in a pot of water with a little detergent.

Most quality plastic pants will tolerate rinsing this way, otherwise, and then just wash them in the normal wash, here again, without bleach or fabric softener. When drying your plastic pants, it is best to line dry them indoors as the UV rays from the sun will fade and harden the material. Never put plastic pants in the clothes dryer with your incontinence diapers, as the heat is too high and will melt the plastic. If you must use the dryer, set it to "fluff" with no heat and add a regular towel with the pants. One problem with vinyl or plastic pants is they can go bad quickly from contact with petroleum products or petroleum based products. Many otherwise fine products, such as Vaseline®, diaper rash ointments as well as hemorrhoid ointments, contain petroleum. Please check the ingredient list on the product to see if it contains petroleum by-products.

Do not use these products containing petroleum (such as Vaseline® and rash ointments) on any area of your body that will come in contact with the plastic pants The petroleum in these products will attack and degrade the plastic or vinyl materials, and will cause the material to become hard and brittle to the point where the material will crack. Do not believe that since the area being treated with these products is covered by an incontinence diaper that it cannot get to the plastic or vinyl pants. It does happen! Once the incontinence diaper has been wetted, the urine will carry the petroleum through the adult diaper, allowing it to come into contact with the plastic pants. Acid in urine is the biggest killer of plastic; clean and rotate your plastic pants often. "EuroFlex" (EuroFlex is not a plastic) is not affected by these problems and can last for an extended period of time.

Over time of use, the material becomes degraded to the point where the pants are no longer usable. Signs of material breakdown can be seen first in the crotch area of the plastic pants. That is the area where the highest concentration of petroleum containing product is used and it is also the area where the diaper is the wettest. To get the most use out of your plastic pants it is recommended to rotate 7 pairs, one for each day this will give the plastic the needed rest.