The subject of the thread is bath towels. It seems that some people throw their towels into the hamper after a single use. Others reason that since you presumably cleaned yourself in the shower, the towel isn’t dirty just wet and can be hung to dry.
So the question is am I putting myself at risk if I use the same bath towel for weeks on end? By risk I mean are bacteria and germs multipling at an exponential rate on my reused bath towel? Is there a recommended usage that I should adhere to? And if there is, why?
You’re probably not at risk for anything really wicked, but as you’re rubbing the towel over yourself, it’s picking up loose skin cells and skin oil. (Unless you bathe in naptha, you’re not likely to remove every last trace of natural skin oil from yourself in a bath or shower.)
Between the oils and skin cells, and just getting wet and slowly air-dried, towels tend to get funky after a few days.
Your tolerance for “funk” may be different, but my bath towels get washed about every 5 days. Much longer than that, and the feeling is “I just got clean, I don’t want to rub *that * all over myself!”
Yes. You’ll be dying of a horrible all-over towel-related fungus disease shortly. Your bones will be found in the middle of a large wobbly blob of goo on your bathroom floor.
I wash all towels, even after a single use. No matter WHAT. It all started when my husband got a staph infection after a spider bite, and the dermatologist said that the staph infection IS contagious, and all towels (and all of his clothing/anything he touched) should be washed in hot water, alone, with no one elses clothing/towels. It lasted for several months, and I just stuck with it from then on. All towels get washed after one use. It’s not going to hurt anything, and since I’m always doing other laundry anyway, it’s not a big deal. An extra load of towels isn’t going to kill me.
Did anyone ever die from towels washed once a week?
That seems to be the standard. If anyone EVER died from something you do regularly…then it’s quits for you!
I think a lot of it may depend on just how clean you’re getting yourself in the shower. If you use an antibacterial soap, lather up good and wash all over plus shampoo your hair then you’d probably be safe with longer durations between laundry. But if you just step in, slap a little soap on and quick rinse then obviously you’re encumbering your towel with more of the dirty.
When I practice the former then a week will go between laundries. Otherwise, I shorten it accordingly.
Not sure what planet you live on, but all of my showers are exactly the same. Everything gets washed everytime, and thoroughly.
I re-use the towels about three of four times, then toss them in the hamper. Since I (usually) shower daily, a towel will last less than a week.
I alternate towels after a shower, and they get washed about once a week. Longer if the wife is out of town. But same same…I’m as clean as I’m ever gonna be right then, so it doesn’t really bother me much. Although I’ve never gotten to the “solid towel” stage.
I take showers of varying length for a variety of reasons. Soemtimes it’s just to wake up before heading out to work in the yard. Sometimes it’s to cure bed head. Sometimes it’s a quick post workout rinse before a meal if others are waiting on me.
Seeing as this is GQ, it might not be wise to assume everyone everywhere showers “exactly the same” everytime.
Towels in our household usually get two or three uses before they’re tossed down the laundry chute.
I think the most important factor is whether the towel gets completely dry hanging on the rack. If it doesn’t, you’re going to get mildew, and while it probably won’t hurt you, I think it’s a little icky.