It’s a comfort thing, kinda like an adult security blanket.
Nothing like coming home after a hard day’s work, and just curling up into an oversized terrycloth robe with a good book and a diet soda. The rest of the world goes away for about a half an hour. I then emerge from my personal cocoon fresh and renewed.
Of course from the looks of the robe, it may be time to get a new one, since I’ve had this one for years. It used to be a deep spruce green, now it’s more of a sorta kinda spotty grass and lime green (repeated washings, and (former)Roommate had put bleach in the wash one time - didn’t spot the robe, but the color is definitely uneven now). And the strings hanging off of it (the cat likes the robe also). Not as thick as it used to be, but there are no holes in it.
OK this thread is only increasing my frustration over my inability to find a nice, fluffy, long, comfortable, Nirvana inducing terry robe. I have insanely high standards for one, but of course, a limited budget. Terry cloth wishes on a flannel budget. I’ve been searching for eons. So if anyone happens to know of a great robe, great price… Lemme know!
I sleep in the nude. When I get up, I have to fix my daughter’s breakfast and get her situated before I can get in the shower. I use a bathrobe to cover up while doing that task. After I get out of the shower, I towel off and then slip my robe back on while I shave, eat my breakfast and brush my teeth. I don’t want to get food on my suit or get too wrinkled before work, so I always get dressed last.
I also use my bathrobe when I get out of the hot tub (which is outside on the deck). If the air temp is cold outside, I don’t want to just get out of the hot tub and stand there in a towel.
Perhaps it’s just me, but where does it fit into a college communal shower situation? Are you suggesting walking down to the showers naked under the robe, taking it off and hoping no one takes it since you don’t have a towel now, and then showering and walking back to your room in it?
I was wondering the same thing. I went to boarding school for a year, and on the list of things that we had to bring was a bathrobe. So, of course, I get a bathrobe and pack it with all my other stuff. I never once used it. I did, however, try to start using it for a few days a while back. I thought maybe I was missing something. I wasn’t. It just felt strange and pointless to wear it.
When I was living in the dorms in college, I always used a robe when heading to the showers in the morning. (No it doesn’t replace the towel. In addition to bringing a towel)
A couple of reasons:
While it wasn’t a coed floor, there were often lots of extra people around in the morning, and while I wore a t-shirt and shorts to bed, they were often thin or holey. (Robe for privacy)
There could be some long lines to get into the showers, and often the air temp in the halls or bathroom would be a little cool. (Robe for warmth)
If I had a decent robe, I could choose NOT to put my tshirt/shorts back on after the shower, while I was still damp. Just dry off, toss on the robe and gather my stuff up. (Robe for convenience)
I only really use my bathrobe in the winter. I like to sleep with the apt really cool (and the windows open if it’s not below freezing). I make it to the bathrom just wearing PJs. But when I get out of the toasty shower, I like to have something to throw on when I’m looking for something to wear in my cold bedroom. In the summer, it’s warm so I don’t need it.
Chaoticdonkey, you undress, put on your bathrobe, pick up your towel and shower bucket, put on your flipflops, and pad down the hall to the showers. You put your bucket in the stall, hang your towel on the hook, step into the stall and pull the curtain, disrobe, reach out and hang the robe on the other hook. After you shower, you dry off, put on your robe, ring back the curtain, grab your towel and bucket, and go back to your room to get dressed. I suppose you could walk to the showers and back clothed, but then you’d have to try to hang all your clothes on the hook, hope nobody steals your underwear (it’s happened, although I’ve never heard of anyone taking towels or robes), then try to get dressed in the confines of the tiny little stall, then undress and redress in your room. I suppose you could just wrap your naked body in the towel, but those are more prone to flapping or gapping and revealing bits you don’t want revealed. Also, some of us are too generously endowed to be adequately covered by the average bath towel.
I have an old white terry robe that I use to cover-up when I walk down to the pool/hot tub. I live in a small townhome neighborhood and the pool area is in the middle of it. I wear the robe so I don’t feel so “bare”. I have a nice terry robe which I sometimes use in the winter, but it mostly gets used when I have houseguests, so they dont have to look at me in my nighty. (I don’t want to scar them for life )
I own a white terry towelling bathrobe with a hood, and a chinese silk dressing gown.
I take one towel with me into the bathroom, use it to wip myself off, and dry my feet, then wrap it around my head. Then I put on the robe, to soak up all the rest of the moisture while I dry my hair and brush my teeth. Since I also air-dry my hair, if I’m not in a hurry I can wear the robe for a while before I get dressed, so my clothes don’t get soaked.
The dressing gown is for when I’m sick, to wear over pyjamas, when the bathrobe is in the laundry, or to answer the door if I’m awakened by the postman or a guest…I sleep nude and it’s rude to expect guests to wait while you dress fully.
I have long hair, half way down my back and long hair soaks up a lot of water in the shower. I don’t blow-dry or towel dry my hair my hair; blow-drying leads to damage, and you try untangling long wavy hair after towel drying it. If I get dressed immediately, instead of using a robe, my clothes inevitably get wet, and being cloth, they tend to stay wet for a good long time. Wearing my nice flannel robe until my hair is semi-dry means it not the clothes I intend to wear for the next serveral hours, gets wet. It can then be hung to dry, and I get to wear dry clothes. I bet you have short hair.
We found this outrageous silk satin quilted chinese one at an auction…a wonderfully baroque one, black on black brocade outside, purple brocade inside, and these wonderfully gnarly chinese dragons frolicing all over it=) It looks like one that you would see in a 30s light romantic comedy movie…it looks wonderful with his white cotton broadcloth jammies with black leather slippers.
My hair is also halfway down my back. After showering and towel-drying, I whip it into a loose frenchbraid and it dries that way. Odd, but I’ve never noticed that it gets my back wet, or even damp. (And believe me, I’d notice that – it’s the ADD in me.)
I guess the main reason for a bathrobe, judging by the responses, is for use around roommates or other people in the house so they don’t see you naked. That makes sense. I don’t have roommates or children, and the bathroom is right off my bedroom, so that eliminates my need for a bathrobe. My husband doesn’t mind if I walk around starkers.
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