# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/41 "2012-03-04T06:07:49Z")
I’m probably not an expert on “best practices” for bath towels since I’m a young bachelor. So yeah. If I think of it, I will wash them regularly. But usually it comes down to “hmm, these towels ain’t quite fresh. Probably time to wash them.” Same with bedsheets, unless fun-time has occurred. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/42 "2012-03-04T06:14:24Z")
If I just hang it up in the bathroom the towel will get a funky smell fairly quickly. But if I hang it up somewhere that it will dry quickly then it stays pretty fresh for a long time. ---
**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, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/43 "2012-03-04T07:19:37Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > (Bolding mine) How many clothes do you wear every day??? There are four us in this house, and that generates a lot of laundry. _shrugs_ That and towels and sheets. Don’t you people wash your clothes? Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/44 "2012-03-04T07:31:48Z")
2-3 times. Don’t want to wait until funky. ---
**Author:** ![SharkB8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@SharkB8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharkB8)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/45 "2012-03-04T07:37:59Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > And I frankly don’t understand how anyone can take a shower without a hand-held showerhead, or one that lasts less than twenty minutes. Mine are typically half an hour. Ever since Coast Guard bootcamp, 75% of my showers have been [sea showers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_shower). I can wash my shoulder-length hair, shave pits/legs/bikini, and soup up and rinse in less than ten minutes. This is from a normal shower head. I have the detachable piece, but never use it. As to the OP: I keep a towel for about a week. Whenever I do a couple loads of laundry, usually about once a week. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/46 "2012-03-04T11:31:35Z")
One time only. I use the same towels for hand and bath. So yesterday’s hand towel becomes today’s bath towel. If I used them more than once, I’d never remember how many times I’ve used it. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/47 "2012-03-04T11:42:08Z")
I will use the same towel for a week. I live in a hot, dry part of the country, so they dry out pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Einighausen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Miss\_Einighausen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Einighausen)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/48 "2012-03-04T12:52:25Z")
I wash them every time I use them. They get stinky, don’t they? And if you dry your underbody and the next day your face with it…yiek. ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/49 "2012-03-04T13:14:44Z")
> [@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. While I’d like to be able to indulge myself, and use a new towel with each shower, some of us have jobs and kids and other things going on that prevent us from doing laundry every single day. In addition, right now I have to schlepp it all to the laundromat, so towels get used more than once out of necessity. Plus, if your\* towels smell funky after one or two uses, I think you need to re-evaluate your showering standards. If you’re clean when you get out and dry yourself off, the towel isn’t going to be that dirty. Yes, I know you’re sloughing off dead skin cells when you dry yourself, but unless you’re drying yourself with a Brillo pad or sand paper, c’mon…it won’t be that bad. - Not necessarily you, **Guin** , I mean the general You. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/50 "2012-03-04T13:33:45Z")
I follow a pattern similar to what someone else mentioned. Fresh, dry towel: hair, face, upper body. Second use: crotch, crack and below. Third use: goes on the floor and maybe a final wipe of the feet. If I’m running low on towels, I don’t mind using them again, but in general the above is the rule, although once a floor towel it has to go to the laundry. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/51 "2012-03-04T13:42:04Z")
I voted “wait until they get funky”. Funky, in my case, is the slightest whiff of mildew, which usually translates to tossing all the towels in with the weekly(ish) laundry. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/52 "2012-03-04T13:50:46Z")
Ok so we’ve established that everyone (save one person) will at least change their towels out at some point. We’ve also established that, you’re going to get to a point where the towel starts to smell funky. This is because no matter how hard you scrub (and no one takes a loofah to every square inch of the body every shower) you’re going to leave stuff behind every shower drying. So it really then comes down to how much you desire a dirty towel. Me? Not so much. I use it twice and switch. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/53 "2012-03-04T14:56:02Z")
I usually go through 2-3 towels a week. ---
**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, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/54 "2012-03-04T15:11:39Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Even if you shower twice a day you are still rubbing off a lot of dead skin, body oils, sweat, deodorants, etc. Holy crap, the shower is supposed to get that _off_ you… seriously, you’re supposed to be clean when you’re done washing, that’s sort of the _point_, isn’t it? Use bodybrush or something. > [@](#): > > 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? Don’t you wash your crotch? What about oral sex, which is essentially face + crotch? Do you really regard your clean body with that much loathing? I find this level of germophobia to be bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/55 "2012-03-04T16:13:49Z")
I’d probably do more laundry if it didn’t cost me $3 a load and I had a window of time larger than a 4.5hr block on the weekend. What, I want to do something on a Saturday afternoon? Say goodbye to your chance to do laundry! I chose ‘funky’, btw. ---
**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, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/56 "2012-03-04T16:46:22Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Ok so we’ve established that everyone (save one person) will at least change their towels out at some point. We’ve also established that, you’re going to get to a point where the towel starts to smell funky. This is because no matter how hard you scrub (and no one takes a loofah to every square inch of the body every shower) you’re going to leave stuff behind every shower drying. > So it really then comes down to how much you desire a dirty towel. > Me? Not so much. I use it twice and switch. Not for me - any eventual funky smell comes from a slight mildew odor, and into the wash it goes. If my towel started smelling like body smell, I’d have to sign up for some how to wash properly lessons. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/57 "2012-03-04T17:00:44Z")
Jesus Christ, no. Even if I didn’t live in a one bedroom flat, with no tumbledryer, in a country that rains a lot, I don’t think I’d be that wasteful. Oh, and Guinastasia, I do a clothes wash about twice a week. It’s quite normal- i own more than one of most clothing items, you see. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/58 "2012-03-04T17:13:09Z")
> [@SiXSwordS](#): > > I follow a pattern similar to what someone else mentioned. > > Fresh, dry towel: hair, face, upper body. Second use: crotch, crack and below. Third use: goes on the floor and maybe a final wipe of the feet. Same here, then into the laundry. I actually had no idea this was unusual until I read this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/59 "2012-03-04T18:06:01Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > 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. But isn’t your crotch clean, since you just washed it? ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663/60 "2012-03-04T18:31:19Z")
> [@SharkB8](#): > > Ever since Coast Guard bootcamp, 75% of my showers have been [sea showers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_shower). I can wash my shoulder-length hair, shave pits/legs/bikini, and soup up and rinse in less than ten minutes. This is from a normal shower head. I have the detachable piece, but never use it. > > As to the OP: I keep a towel for about a week. Whenever I do a couple loads of laundry, usually about once a week. Wow, I had no idea I was taking a military style shower. My shower stall is small and there’s no room to move away from the water in order to lather up properly. So, I just turn it off while lathering. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-bath-towels-more-than-once-before-washing/614663.md?page=4)