# Lamest poll ever! Towel usage. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 20, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393 "2004-03-20T14:42:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/41 "2004-03-21T21:52:40Z")
I’m prone to a nasty skin infection called cellulitis. Do not, under ANY circumstances, Google for images of cellulitis. Just take my word for it that it’s nasty, and hard to control. Therefore I take extra precautions. First, I’ll only use a washcloth ONCE before laundering it, even if it’s just to wash my face. Before I step into the shower, I squirt a little liquid antibacterial soap onto the washcloth. I get myself wet all over, wash my hair, leaving the shampoo in while I wash my face with the liquid soap and wash cloth. Rinse my face with the washcloth. Apply antibacterial bar soap to washcloth, and scrub up the rest of my body. I let the lather stay in my pits and nether regions while I rinse my hair and put conditioner on it. Then I rinse my pits and nether regions, and soap them up again. I tend to get a rather strong body odor if I don’t soap those areas twice. Rinse conditioner from hair, rinse soap from body. Scrub any dry skin with washcloth, to try to exfoliate it. Get out of shower, tell the cat (who has closely supervised my activities to make sure I don’t drown myself) that I’m safe now, and dry off with a clean towel. I usually take the towel into my room and spread it on my chair and sit on it until I’m completely dry. I SHOULD apply moisturizer after I shower, but I usually don’t. The towel goes into the hamper after I’m dry. Before I get into the shower, I brush my teeth with a wet toothbrush, no toothpaste. Then I pour hydrogen peroxide on the toothbrush, and brush my teeth and mouth again. I get into the shower, do my business, and then I brush my teeth again, this time with toothpaste. It seems to whiten my teeth a bit, plus of course it helps my gums. Since I eat frozen blueberries on my cereal at least four times a week, I NEED to take tooth-whitening action! ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/42 "2004-03-21T22:58:56Z")
Each towel, each wash cloth only gets used once in our house. The towels get dropped on the floor after use. The wash rags get dropped on the shower floor or left on the sink. We have a ton of towels and wash clothes and we have a washing machine and dryer in our house so doing laundry isn’t a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![AZCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/97f17d/32.png) [@AZCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AZCowboy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/43 "2004-03-22T00:09:04Z")
Towel laundered once a week, or until it stinks, whichever comes first. And not that it really helps, but I always hold the towel with the tag down, use the top third of the towels to dry my hair, face, shoulders and arms, the middle third of the towl to dry my mid-section, and the bottom third of the towel to dry my legs and feet. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/44 "2004-03-22T01:48:04Z")
> [@trudi fermelli](#): > > When I fill the tub for a bath, the water is the same level of blue as a swimming pool. Overly high doses of chlorination in treated water is one of the reasons tap water isnt good to drink if I recall my information correctly. It makes me ill to drink it either way. This is the city of Chicago tho, and other places I have lived do not chlorinate at the same level. Either way, my suggestion that the chlorination of the water was doing some work on bacteria was half in jest of this high level and half out of curiosity as to whether it made a difference at all. Okay, something else must be going on here. Swimming pools are blue because (i) the bottom of the pool is usually coloured blue; and (ii) they reflect the colour of the sky. Chlorinated water is not blue; it’s colourless, IIRC. OTOH, dissolved copper compounds are blue, so maybe something funky is happening with the metal of your bath tub. 🙂 Sorry for the continued hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Anaptyxis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anaptyxis/32/3171_2.png) [@Anaptyxis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaptyxis)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/45 "2004-03-22T03:24:11Z")
> [@Another Primate](#): > > Hey, those of you who “soap only” (no washcloth or scrubby): how do you get clean? I thought the scrubbing action actually did more cleaning than the chemical action of the soap. I don’t use a washcloth or scrubbie, I just lather up my hands and sort of scrub with my hands. After all, when you wash your hands at the sink, you just do the same thing, right? Besides, I’m not prone to being too stinky, so I don’t even really try to soap every bit of myself. In fact, in the winter I tend to avoid soaping my arms, legs, or back at all because my skin gets really dry and itchy. As for using a scrubby/poofie thing, I would be a giant red rash if I ran one of those over my poor, sensitive skin. :eek: **Screech-owl** : I have a very functional-looking hand towel in the bathroom right next to the sink, so guests will use that instead of my personal towel. (I live in an apartment with one shower/bath.) And I am _amazed_ by how often everybody is washing their towels, **Qadgop** ’s colorful descriptions of bacteria notwithstanding! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/46 "2004-03-22T04:14:54Z")
Towels are washed approximately once a week. Washcloths go in the same load. I have two towels on the go at all times - one for hair and face, one for body (including nether regions.) Two washcloths at all times - one for face, one for body (including nether regions.) I never use soap on my face or body - ever. I have very little body odour, and never get skin or wound infections. I also have no foot odour - ever. (Just for interests’ sake, **Qadgop** , as a lab tech student, we all pressed our fingers on bacterial growth media to illustrate how dirty skin is. Mine grew nothing at all - apparently, I have normally have very little fauna on my skin.) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/47 "2004-03-22T12:08:14Z")
About poofies. I never wash them. The 99 cent store by me sells them in 6 in a tube. I use 'em and toss 'em. ---
**Author:** ![brix11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@brix11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brix11)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/48 "2004-03-22T20:38:21Z")
It’s just my wife and me in the house. We each have our own towels and wash them once a week. Hand towels, kitchen towels, bath mat, poufs, etc. all go in that load too. Guests always get clean towels. And I hate using anything less than “bath sheet” size. I use the tag on the towel as a reference point for which area of my body I dry with a particular section of the towel. Head comes first with the top front of the towel. Eventually I get to my feet and “nether regions” with the bottom of the opposite side of the towel. (If you’ve seen the novelty “Butt-Face” towels, then you’ll have a better idea of what I mean.) Does anyone else do this? I’ve always wondered if this is another symptom of my own anal-retentiveness, but it is a bit comforting to know I’m not shoving the “business end” of my towel in my face. ---
**Author:** ![Parallax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Parallax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parallax)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/49 "2004-03-22T20:56:47Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > Aren’t we _all_ conceived and born in the nether regions? With the magic of today’s technology I don’t think there are any guarantees there. 🙂 For example - both our kids were born via c-section - they came out close to the nether regions but not quite via the nether regions. 😉 And with the fancy artificial insemination methods lately you could end up being conceived in a glass dish. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/50 "2004-03-22T21:51:42Z")
My husband and I each have our own towels, which get washed about once a week. Now that I’ve read this thread though, I think I am going to start washing them more often. ew. Although I do have a separate face / hair towel and body towel, so that is comforting. How germy do the poufs get? I rinse it after each shower and it hangs freely so it has the chance to dry completely in between each shower. Should I replace it more often too (I usually use them about a month or so or until they start to fall apart)? This thread is reminding me it’s time to buy more towels. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/51 "2004-03-22T22:19:42Z")
In my bathroom, there’s a hand towel by the sink, plus a face/hair bath towel, a body bath towel, and a washcloth. The boy has his own bathroom, and he uses one bath towel and one hand towel. His bathroom doubles as the guest bath, and when we have houseguests, they each get a bath towel, a hand towel and a wash cloth, plus access to the linen closet if they want more supplies. I’d say all that stuff gets washed about every week and a half or so, along with dish towels. I don’t keep close track. ---
**Author:** ![LVgeogeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b19c9b/32.png) [@LVgeogeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVgeogeek)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/52 "2004-03-22T23:02:23Z")
I only do laundry once a week- because that is all the time I have for that mundane chore. So shower towels get used daily. I figure i wash myself with plenty of soap and hot hot water (think lobster color when I get out) that I am clean enough that I dont have to use a new towel every day. I use a towel for my body (I buy those big bath sheet style towels) and I have a towel I use on my face and hair only. My husband on the other hand would use a towel until it could crawl off by itself if I let him (ick :eek: ). I have a shower poof that I replace every 3 months. I use one wash cloth daily when I wash my face at night. I normally don’t reuse wash cloths because my face is “touchy” and will break out if I look sideways at it (damn facial skin- I hate you) 🙂 I wash all the towels in hot water (they dont fade as much if you use clorox 2 powder bleach) ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393/53 "2004-03-23T06:04:37Z")
Hoooboy. Could there be a weirder poll? _(Hmm. What order do you eat your dinner? Meat, potatoes, peas? Peas, potato, meat? Potatoes, meat, peas? All mashed together in a bucket?)_ I change my bath-towel three times a week, usually. I have six towels so this gives me a decent rotation, plus spares for guests. 🆒 Hand-towels get changed once a week, or sooner if they look like they need it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lamest-poll-ever-towel-usage/235393.md?page=2)