# Do you use bath towels more than once before washing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663 "2012-03-03T19:28:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/21 "2012-03-03T23:40:10Z")
When I lived at home (as in, with my parents) one shower, one towel, then it got washed. Now, there were 6 people living in that house and the washing machine had several loads going through it each day so tossing in a few towels really wasn’t a big deal. Now that I live alone, I just toss the towel in when I do my laundry which is usually about once a week or so (call it 6 times a month). Now, I shower in the morning, if by the time I go to bed I notice the towel isn’t dry (or is starting to smell funky) I will swap it for a clean one and that’s usually my cue to do a load of laundry. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/22 "2012-03-03T23:41:05Z")
I clicked on twice, though we only use bath towels once. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/23 "2012-03-03T23:52:46Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > So your answer is never? At least until the towels are too thin to block the light and you can’t find them anymore. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/24 "2012-03-03T23:54:27Z")
We have plenty of bath towels but I am happy to use them a few times before they go in the wash. I have a washing cycle that involves clothes (once or twice a week), bedding (once a week) and then towels (usually every two weeks). If they are looking particularly bad (my partner tends to get toothpaste on _everything_) then they’ll get washed more frequently but otherwise, I think they can bear to be used a few times before they need to be laundered. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/25 "2012-03-03T23:58:34Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > At least until the towels are too thin to block the light and you can’t find them anymore. Hm. Well, I have considered at length various responses to this, and I think I have settled on: Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/26 "2012-03-04T00:11:03Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > I don’t see why some people would use a towel only once; consider how much more laundry you would have to do. I have enough towels that even using them once it’s usually just one load of towels every week and a half to two weeks. No big whoop. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/27 "2012-03-04T00:29:36Z")
I have a heated towel bar. MI have towel large bath sheets that hang on it. I rotate one towel every day, then the other towel. I was my two towels about every other week, so they each get used for about 7 showers. StG ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/28 "2012-03-04T00:43:48Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > I can shower, wash my hair AND do a perfunctory shave of my legs in just on five minutes. After that time, I’m not going to get any cleaner. It’s just water running down the drain. I guess some people scrub and some just rinse. When I come home from work it takes me a good 10 minutes just to scrub my hands and forearms clean. Granted, my job is probably grubbier than some. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/29 "2012-03-04T04:31:25Z")
but then again, only I use this bathroom… ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/30 "2012-03-04T04:39:48Z")
God no! I would never re-use a bath towel, that is just disgusting. Even if you shower twice a day you are still rubbing off a lot of dead skin, body oils, sweat, deodorants, etc. How do you know that the part of the towel you are drying your face with the second time isn’t the part that you dried your crotch with the time before? Eeew! Three adults in the household and we have lots of bath towels. And just, eewww, is all I can say to the majority in this poll. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/31 "2012-03-04T04:43:45Z")
People’s wasteful, germophobic indulgences never cease to amaze me. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/32 "2012-03-04T04:55:35Z")
I hang my towels outside and they smell like sunshine. When they don’t smell like sunshine anymore, into the hamper they go, whether they’ve been used once or for the last two weeks. (It’s usually more than once, but not always.) ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/33 "2012-03-04T05:21:31Z")
I use one towel - dry my body, then wrap my hair and dash to my bedroom nekkid. Towel gets hung to dry, then used again the next day. I say I go about two weeks between changes. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/34 "2012-03-04T05:24:49Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Even if you shower twice a day you are still rubbing off a lot of dead skin, body oils, sweat, deodorants, etc. If you still have all that crap on your body after you’ve showered, I think you’re doing it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/35 "2012-03-04T05:25:06Z")
Nope, only once. What’s the big deal, I do laundry every day, anyways. You throw them in the washer, throw in some soap, close the lid, and voila! I like nice, soft, clean smelling towels. (Especially when they’re warm and fresh out of the dryer) It has nothing to do with being a “germophobe”. It has to do with like to be clean. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/36 "2012-03-04T05:30:25Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Nope, only once. What’s the big deal, **I do laundry every day, anyways**. You throw them in the washer, throw in some soap, close the lid, and voila! > > I like nice, soft, clean smelling towels. (Especially when they’re warm and fresh out of the dryer) > > It has nothing to do with being a “germophobe”. It has to do with like to be clean. (Bolding mine) How many clothes do you wear every day??? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/37 "2012-03-04T05:44:27Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Towels? Don’t Panic! ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/38 "2012-03-04T05:45:50Z")
My issue is not that the towel gets dirty, but that it does not dry fully in between uses. In the summer, if it’s hot in the house and the towel dries fully, I will use my towel twice. In the winter, it never gets fully dry and it just feels gross. We have plenty of towels on purpose so I only wash towels once a week. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/39 "2012-03-04T05:51:39Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I hang my towels outside and they smell like sunshine. When they don’t smell like sunshine anymore, into the hamper they go, whether they’ve been used once or for the last two weeks. This is what I do too, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/40 "2012-03-04T06:05:46Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > How do you know that the part of the towel you are drying your face with the second time isn’t the part that you dried your crotch with the time before? While I understand that this might at first seem to be an insoluble conundrum, concerned persons equipped with staggering intellects have, after generations of diligent research and experimentation, at last worked out that this can be managed by using a corner of the towel to dry your naughty bits and (this is the clever bit,) _not_ using the corners to dry your face. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663.md?page=3)