# what do you do with your towel after you shower? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510 "2004-08-05T20:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/21 "2004-08-06T07:59:24Z")
I bought a longer towel rod. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/22 "2004-08-06T08:11:00Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > A towel should be cleaned with bleach after **EVERY** use. Hell, so should you - ever hear of Normal Regional Flora, aka the billions of bacteria swarming all over you at! this! very! moment!? I hammered a couple of spare picture hangers in the back of my bedroom door and hang my towel on them. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/23 "2004-08-06T15:48:42Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Huh? What do a towel and putting on deodorant have in common? Habit. Can’t put on deodorant without rubbing the pits down with a towel (old shirt, the cat, _something_) first. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/24 "2004-08-06T16:01:47Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > I’ve always favored hanging it over the shower curtain rod, but that means I have to bunch up the shower curtain, which gets moldy and mildewy over time due to being bunched up while still wet. I hang it over the shower curtain rod _and_ over the shower curtain. That way the shower curtain isn’t bunched up. TThe towel rod inside the shower had shelves hanging from it and the towel rod outside the shower is reserved for the hand towels. (I _never_ use the bath towel to dry my hands with. Yes, yes, I now all about the toilet’s aerosol plume…) My towels always dry just fine even when it’s humid out… ---
**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:** [August 6, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/25 "2004-08-06T16:01:53Z")
After I shower my towel goes over my heated towel bar, so it’ll be toasty and warm for the next day. In the winter I stack two towels and use the bottom one, which has been raised to a nice temp, after use, the towel I’ve used goes on top and the next day I pick the other towel. In the summer I only use one towel because I don’t need a hot towel, but I like it completely dry and not clammy with humidity. As an aside - once back in the '70’s at a home show, I saw a bathtub enclosure with a heated towel bar built in, closed off by a little door. I’ve never seen it since, but it makes so much sense. Your towel is right there when you finish you bath or shower, all warm and you don’t have to drip all over everything to get to it. I heart my heated towel bar - it just makes life a little nicer. StG ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/26 "2004-08-06T16:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > What do you do with your towel after you shower? Why, dry myself off with it, of course! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/27 "2004-08-06T16:31:27Z")
I hang the towel on the towel rack, folded in half lengthwise, to dry out. Sometimes it does. Other times, the goddamn dog goes into the bathroom, yanks it down, and drags it around the house, growling and shaking the hell out of it. He never does this with dry towels, just ones that are damp. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/28 "2004-08-06T16:36:36Z")
We have an old-fashioned coat hook that’s really big. Each hook is about the size of a baby’s arm. We keep two towels out, I’m a two-towel gal and hubby is a single-towel guy. Surprising, cuz he’s got lots of hair. Anyhoo, I always get two air-dried towels and he always gets a wet one. We use the same towels for an entire week. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/29 "2004-08-09T15:16:07Z")
Like **StGermain** we have a [towel warmer](http://www.totalhomecomforts.com/towel_warmers.htm) in our bathroom, and I totally love it. We usually work out in the afternoons, and this way our towels are totally dry from the morning showers. I cannot reccomend these little devices enough. If you have the space in your bathroom, try one out. I just wish we were able to get the kind you put on the wall, instead of the floor model we have now. Then I could put it in the actual shower room, instead of by the vanity. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/30 "2004-08-09T15:34:17Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > Habit. Can’t put on deodorant without rubbing the pits down with a towel (old shirt, the cat, _something_) first. Do you know that this is extremely strange behavior and could probably get you committed in some jurisdictions? Assuming you wash your “pits” with soap and water in the shower, what is the problem with using the same towel that you use on the rest of your body? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/31 "2004-08-09T16:06:00Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > A damp towel immediately above a _toilet?_ :eek: > > Read [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990416.html), and then enjoy rubbing down after you’ve got all clean and stuff. You did read this part, right? > [@](#): > > As Professor Gerba’s research would later determine, however, the bathroom was hardly the most dangerous part of the house, microbe-wise. The real pesthole: the kitchen sponge or dishcloth, where fecal coliform bacteria from raw meat and such could fester in a damp, nurturing (for a germ) environment. Next came the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, and the kitchen faucet handle. The toilet seat was the least contaminated of 15 household locales studied. “If an alien came from space and studied the bacterial counts,” the professor says, “he probably would conclude he should wash his hands in your toilet and crap in your sink.” Personally, I’d be much less concerned about the towel and more about your sink. Of course, I’m also reminded of an experiment done on _Mythbusters_. Essentially the same thing, but they had a toothbrush in the bathroom, one in the kitchen, and a new one that didn’t see air exposure. All had the same amount of coloform bacteria on them. So really, stop worrying about it, there’s fecal matter and bacteria everywhere, suck it up. As for my towel, it goes on my towel rack. It’s big enough to hold the towel unfolded. ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/32 "2004-08-09T17:40:34Z")
From **StGermain -** I heart my heated towel bar - it just makes life a little nicer. 🙂 My husband bought one for my bath and I thought it was a little over the top and never had him install it…maybe I will give it a try. When you have more guests than towel bars, like a family vacation, have everyone use a coat hanger as a towel bar and take it and hang it their room. Keeps the shared bath reasonbly clutter free and everyone knows whose towel is whose. Or even better, whose towel is NOT whose. 🙂 ---
**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:** [August 9, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/33 "2004-08-09T18:13:37Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > You did read this part, right? Personally, I’d be much less concerned about the towel and more about your sink Yeah-- that’s the point. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > The real pesthole: the kitchen sponge or dishcloth, where fecal coliform bacteria from raw meat and such could fester in a damp, nurturing (for a germ) environment. Damp cloth is a nearly-perfect substrate for bacterial colonization. The aerosolized _e coli_ ejected from a flushed toilet aren’t such a big deal ordinarily, because they mostly come to rest on relatively unhospitable environements. If you put a damp towel _immediately_ over a toilet, you’re providing a virtual Shangri-La for microbial life. The relative few that land on it have ample opportunity to multiply into sick-making numbers during the time it takes the towel to dry, before the next time you rub it all over your face. ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/34 "2004-08-09T18:20:14Z")
Ooops…got so carried away being Heloise I forgot to answer the OP. :smack: (been wanting to use that little guy) I am a towel freak…have way to many towels for a 2 person household. I usually use them once because that is easier than keeping up with them. If I do leave one in the bath it is on a towel ring which seems to dry ok, but then at that point I am just using it as a big hand towel instead of the hand towel which hangs beside the sink to use on my face. When I shower I just get another towel. One towel is an exception. I bought a microfiber hair towel a few weeks ago and it is great. My hair is almost dry enough to leave the house without the blow dryer when I use it. I keep it hanging by the shower. No problem there because it dries really fast. Note to self: I sound kind of weird about towels. ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/35 "2004-08-09T18:29:35Z")
Ooops…got so carried away being Heloise I forgot to answer the OP. :smack: (been wanting to use that little guy) I am a towel freak…have way to many towels for a 2 person household. I usually use them once because that is easier than keeping up with them. If I do leave one in the bath it is on a towel ring which seems to dry ok, but then at that point I am just using it as a big hand towel instead of the hand towel which hangs beside the sink to use on my face. When I shower I just get another towel. One towel is an exception. I bought a microfiber hair towel a few weeks ago and it is great. My hair is almost dry enough to leave the house without the blow dryer when I use it. I keep it hanging by the shower. No problem there because it dries really fast. Note to self: I sound kind of weird about towels. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/36 "2004-08-09T18:51:01Z")
**Smartini** - Do give it a try - they’re wonderful! And if you don’t like it, just send it to me. I wouldn’t mind an extra. 😃 StG ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/37 "2004-08-09T19:19:00Z")
I’m kind of surprised everyone re-uses their towels before washing. I wash a towel after it’s been used. Do you want to be rubbing your face with the same cloth area you were drying your crotch and rear end with? Seems kind of funky. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/38 "2004-08-09T19:27:01Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I’m kind of surprised everyone re-uses their towels before washing. I wash a towel after it’s been used. Do you want to be rubbing your face with the same cloth area you were drying your crotch and rear end with? Seems kind of funky. Seeing as how one has just got done showering, I don’t think dirtiness is much of a concern. Even if it were, I’m not wiping my ass with the towel as if it were toilet paper… ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/39 "2004-08-09T19:40:47Z")
**astro** , unless I’ve done a terribly poor job of cleaning myself in the shower, that towel is as clean after drying myself off as it was before. It’s simply soaking up the excess clean water on my skin. The towel then air drys, and is ready for me the next morning. 🙂 I know you’re not alone regarding the need to have a freshly laundered towel for after each shower. My older brother is the same way. Drives his wife nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510/40 "2004-08-09T20:32:23Z")
Outside our bathroom, there’s a little hallway where we’ve strung a permanent clothesline. Used towels get pinned to that line and are air dried, because there’s a convenient draft in there. When they are dry, they return to the bathroom. My SO and I each have our own towel, and this procedure is repeated untill the towels no longer smell nice, after 5-6 days or so. For drying -ahem- TMI alert ! contaminated crevices like between our toes in case of fungus infection we use tissues. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > Do you know that this is extremely strange behavior and could probably get you committed in some jurisdictions? **Shagnasty** , I’m curious: why [do you keep saying things like this?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=266702&page=1&pp=50) Do you have some Big Brother-esque experiences yourself, and do you want to warn others about the ever-watchful Normality Police? Or are _you_ the one who thinks [the odd little habits we all have](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=41543) are, in some way, abnormal behavior that should be condemned? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-your-towel-after-you-shower/258510.md?page=3)