Hi. I was just wondering how often I should use a bath towel?
I was brought up to use a fresh towel and wash cloth for each shower. I buy the smaller, thinner towels and have a wash-load of bath linens at the end of every week. I have several large, thick, luxurious bath towels in my closet that go unused because I would have to do two loads of them every week–I live in an apartment and have to pay $2.50 per load, plus run back and forth to the laundry room, so one load of bath linens is enough on top of everything else that needs washed.
I know people who think I’m ridiculous to use as many towels as I do. They say they use one large towel per week. I’ve tried doing that and go back to my old ways after two days. Am I wrong? I would love to use the good towels I have, but would have to make one last for two or three days. Is there nothing for me to worry about, hygiene-wise, using just one towel every three days? I am being serious and would like to know what other people do in case my friends are pulling my leg. Thanks!
Hell, I have the same three towels that I rotate through in sequence, one per day. After I shower and dry off with one, I let it hang by the window to dry from sunlight and fresh air. Then I move to the next one the next day. I make sure each one has two days of drying before using it again.
Been using them for almost a year now. They don’t really smell or get moldy… sunlight does wonders. Of course, unseen to the naked eye, they’re probably positively dripping with dead skin cells and harboring the latest Ebola strain. I’d hate to look at them under a microscope. So I don’t. I also don’t tell people I do this. Problem solved
You use towels to dry yourself when you are clean. This is probably the cleanest you get in a day, and all you do is pat some water off yourself, how is that dirty? You probably leave behind some dead skin cells, but you’ll find those everywhere in the house anyway. Your sheets will be a lot dirtier, I would think.
I use my towels for one week, then they’re washed. They dry thoroughly in between. I usually put them in the one 60 C wash of the week, with other hand towels, tea towels etc.
Why do you go back to using them once whenever you try to use them more?
Keep in mind that you are wasting electricity (and money) washing that much, which is bad for the environment.
Actually, your bedsheets are probably the dirtiest textile items in your house, unless you sit naked on the couch or wipe your ass with the tea towels. In comparison, bathtowels are positively sanitary; not only are you essentially as clean as you will ever be short of a decontaimination shower, but the only bacteria they should have on them are those that you already have on and in you. I wouldn’t eat off of a bathtowel, but frankly, it might be cleaner than your kitchen table.
And fresh potable water, which is an even more precious resource. There is absolutely no reason to wash bathtowels more than once a week, provided they are hung to dry in between uses.
I use a big fluffy bath towel daily and wash it about once a week. As gracer says, you’re clean, so what’s the issue? I dry the towel between uses on a radiator or just by hanging it depending on the time of year, but each time I use it, it’s still clean and fresh smelling.
Washing towels every time you use them seems very environmentally wasteful to me and I’m hardly an eco-warrior.
Do you wash your bedsheets daily too? Because they’ll get much dirtier/sweatier on a daily basis than a towel.
The issue is that towels, even when hung to dry, get mildowy and lose softness. Different people have different amounts of times they can stand using the same towel over and over. I can maybe handle 2 or 3 times.
I hang* all *my washing to dry and never use a tumble dryer. I don’t have any problem with mildew (softness I’ll give you but I’m prepared to sacrifice that than invest in a tumble dryer).
The air flow was horrible in my previous bathroom, so my towels didn’t dry properly in between each use and they would get smelly after only a day or two. Now in my new home, they dry and I can get an entire week out of them.
I own four good towels and rotate them every week. Much easier than before.
No idea. I assume most people use heated towel rails these days so dank towels aren’t a problem. I’m a guy. If the towel smells a bit funny I chuck it in the wash.
You do? Really? :dubious: The other 99% have never seen a heated towel rack.
As for the OP; I shammy myself off with my washcloth first and I am practically dry when I use my towel; it’s hardly even wet when I hang it up. Still I wash it once a week.
Not very often. I am either at home alone or am with only my, live elsewhere, SO. In the morning after I shower I dry my hair so that I can brush it and give my hands and arms a cursory wipe and then just air dry as I dawdle about getting ready. I probably only wet about 5% of the towel each day and the bathroom window is virtually always open so drying is no problem.
I have always liked wandering around wet since my competitive swimming days. Everyone else would rush off to towel down but I used to love the feel of a breeze on my wet skin.
I’m in the “once a week or so” camp. Sometimes I just use it for my hair, then put on a fluffy bath robe and putter around until I’m dry before getting dressed.
Heated towel rails are wonderful, but a very rare thing in the U.S.
I use mine once. I’ve got some skin sensitivity issues and the dermatologist recommended using clean fresh towels each time to help prevent flare-ups, and it seems to work.
I use bath towels twice, and change the hand towel hanging by the sink about once a week - more if there’s been company. I don’t use washcloths, but I believe the wife uses them for a day or two before they go in the laundry.
