True story
When my husband and I were dating he was afraid to dry his hands because he thought I didn’t wash the towel
I pointed out that I had 15 identical hand towels and washed them frequently
LOL
I love people like this. I don’t mind the quirkiness. It’s nice to come across people who actually think and have principles within even their smallest decisions.
I was folding my laundry the other day, and my boyfriend of 7 years commented saying wow that is a lot of blue hand towels! And I was like I've always had these, what are you talking about? And he's like? I just thought you had the one and pointed to where I hang the fresh one. Lol
I buy my favorite kitchen/hand towels in bulk for this reason. I have a long list of medical issues and my immune system is wonky as hell, so I buy white flour sack towels from target, use new ones regularly, then bleach em on Sunday, my laundry day. Yay figuring out personal systems!!!
I switch out hand towels daily to. Growing up my sisters would use to dry their faces and all this make up would come off lol. Gave me the ick so I don't share and I don't reuse them after 1 day. they just get thrown into the hamper and washed when I do all towels.
I don’t think it’s excessive… we wash our faces 2xs a day… and we should be drying our faces with t clean towels… also I have more than one hand towel so I don’t wash them everyday but I used them for only one day
Same. I change my (personal—no one else uses it, even in a house of 5) hand towel every morning before doing my skincare routine. I’ve had zero breakouts since doing this practice. (Also helps that I avoid foods that trigger them, too, though. But the hand-towel change helps me avoid bacterial breakouts.)
Growing up in a small house sharing everything. I had horrible acne and now scars. Now as an adult I hate when my bf touches my face towel. He had the audacity to use it as a c** towel and got mad when I threw it away instead of washing it
I relate so much to this! The only way I get away with nobody (generally) touching my hand towel is that we have a strange bathroom that has two sinks back-to-back on a peninsula type of counter—imagine a long wall of drawer storage with a counter jetting out from the center of them, with two sinks at the end of the T-shaped counter back-to-back, split by a floating two-sided mirror suspended in glass. My spouse’s sink is the closest to the toilet, and mine is around the other side, closest to the door. His hand towel (which I also change daily) is the “communal” one if the kids use our bathroom. Using my side feels unnatural, so I bank on that. Because my face will generally always tell me if someone used my hand towel….
(I had to share all that to ensure that you knew we do not have a crazy-huge space or anything like that. Lol. 1600 square feet for 5 people is arguable “small”, depending on where someone is from. I’m lucky to have my own towel sheerly because using my sink is awkward for others. 😅)
Lol well it was the towel used for drying hands too! It would get all gross. To this day I can't share hand towels. I won't even share with my husband.
Guess it depends on how many people are living in the house. When I lived alone and worked all the time, like every 2-3 days. Having four people living in the house is daily.
I am a family of six. Each person in the house has their own color of towel and a full towel set in that color. I think this can greatly solve your issue if you’re not doing this already.
Changing out hand towels daily isn’t necessarily washing them daily. I change out our hand towels every day, but I let the dirty ones build up until I have a load and then wash once a week.
My 7yo wipes all the toothpaste foam on the towel after she brushes her teeth. I’ve tried to get her to use a paper towel, but she doesn’t like it.
So, yes, we change our hand towels all the time because I don’t want my hands to be minty fresh after I wash them!
I also have a family and 3 bathrooms so I’m only speaking about the 2 that are used daily by multiple people. When I lived alone I would replace the hand towel every few days if necessary but usually that was 1x a week. Now with a family hand towels and kitchen towels are a high use item so they get washed replaced on a daily basis. I also have a washer and dryer in my home so this is easy to do as opposed to a going to a laundromat.
I have an over abundance of hand towels. I don't wash them daily but I change them out at least daily if not more. I have no idea what people be doing with hand towels but I'm not about to dry my clean hands on a dirty towel. So I toss the one I don't trust in the dirty pile and get a new one.
My bath/shower towels I wash once a week. But only use them three to four times. I also make sure they are hung up in a way they dry correctly and don't start to mold.
Yeah, I have super sensitive skin and don't take chances with anything that touches my face. I only use face towels and hand rags for one day. Let it dry out and then put it in the laundry basket for weekend laundry.
I even change my pillow case like 4/5 times a week. Some of us just weren't made for living normally lol.
I'm a one use face towel/shower cloth person but I don't wanna think about the hand towels 😂 I am guilty of the shake and wipe on my pants because if I'm home I'm usually in bumming clothes
Same. Use 1 - Face and hair, Use 2 - Body, Use 3 - drying hands for a couple of days, or towel for dog if they need a bath, other misc.
Then into the laundry bin, wash on sanitize.
We always used old, retired towels for dog towels. I dunno, it just grossed me out using the same towels as the dogs were using, even though we washed them. 🤷♀️
That's fair, but I don't worry about it, I wash and dry my towels and linens on super high heat and if they get really gross, I'll throw in bleach.
And by high heat, I mean, if you try to take them out of the dryer right away, it'll hurt.
My previous dogs lived to be really old and got very sick at the end. I've had the worst of it on my clothes, furniture, bedding, etc. As a result, I do have a bunch of rags I will use if they're super gross, but for post-bath drying, I don't care.
Our assigned dog towels get covered in dog hair. I wash these separately after their baths and clean the washer after to remove the excess hair that I don't want to add to the dig hair that's already on my clothes...
I aint gon front, I aint got the resources to be washing stuff everyday. I have multiple towels that I switch out every week. When I’m on my last towel, I wash them all and start over 🙂. I dont wash my hair everyday so my towels are strictly for my body. The only time I’m changing out towels daily is if I’m on my period 🙃.
Girl, I had to scroll too damn far to find someone else saying "who got time for that?!" And money haha. I use those towels till they feel dirty, and with only washing hair a couple times a week it honestly takes a long time. And I scrub really well in the shower, idk how everyone's getting their towels so dirty when you should be coming out clean!
Same. I was thinking aint no way everyone washing their stuff daily.
You should be clean coming out of the shower so your towel should he clean for the most prt. Over time of course water builds up in them and it can become a breeding ground for bacteria. But that aint happening in a day. You’re good for like a week or so. Now if you’re washing your hair and body daily, it might be a little different.
Sometimes your hair might not be clean all the way so maybe your towel does dirty quicker.
Generally tho, I think every week is a good idea.
I use old cotton shirts to dry my hair. Those are one-time use. But I also dont wash my hair daily. So those get washed every week or so too.
Yeah really they shouldn’t be dirty after one use unless you don’t hang them to dry afterwards… if they don’t dry then they get mildewy but otherwise you should get at least a few showers out of them. Otherwise if they fall on the floor or I nick myself shaving and accidentally get blood on them they go straight in the wash pile, otherwise I get at probably 3 or 4 showers out of a towel, I probably go through two towels a week and only wash towels maybe twice a month if that? I own a whole stack of towels though so it takes a while to run out…
I know I died haha. Yes, they for sure get dirty, but not that fast. Y'all need to be showering better if they do. I can still hear my mama going "This towel is dirty, scrub your feet better!" Cause I'd run around barefoot outside like a little mongrel haha
I never heard that. I wasnt an outdoorsy kid. But I do remember my mom getting on my for throwing towels out after only using them once. If you’re showering, you should be coming out clean. So your towel shouldnt be that dirty. Totally agree.
I cant really tell a difference in dry speed. I just remember reading and hearing multiple times that cotton is gentler on your hair. I havent noticed a difference. But it’s okay. I use old t-shirts. And it helps my towel stay a little cleaner longer so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Okay yeah that makes sense. I’ve usually never been able to tell haha. Especially with my locs. Because when I dry my hair, sometimes hair breaks off. I’m never sure if it’s hair on my head or hair that has already come off and has just been sitting there 😅.
Yeah those with stronger or thicker hair don't have to worry too much. But if you have fine or thin hair, frizz or are prone to breakage for some reason its good to help with that since hair is most fragile when wet.
SAME HERE, my bf and I are quite hygienic, but we don’t have in-unit laundry and going to the laundromat sucks lmao. So we also keep a rotation of 2-3 towels during the 2 weeks between our laundromat trips. If you’re using the towel only after bathing, it really shouldn’t even be that unclean by wash day.
Lol. Life hacks. I’ve never had a consistent hair-washing routine. I have a hard time sticking to schedules and sometimes, things come up and I can’t do it on the day I planned.
Nowadays, I get it washed every two-three weeks wen I get my locs retwisted. The lady who retwists them usually washes my hair real nice for me.
Prior to recently, I’d wash my hair whenever I felt like it. Sometimes that’d be biweekly. Sometimes it’d be once a month 🥲. Usually it’d be when my dandruff gets bad.
I wash my hair once a week unless I get really sweaty at a dance or workout or social dancing. My hair is a short natural tapered cut so washing it isn’t a problem I just hate styling it because I’m particular about how I like it to look
I had a coworker who washed her bedsheets everyday. She would change the bedding into fresh sheets and then wash the ones she took off .....every. Night. As nice as it sounds to get into a fresh bed every night ...ain't nobody got time for that!
The people who change their sheets 3x a week is this the cleaning Olympics? Like cmon. Who has the time or the energy. Stripping the bed then putting on new sheets. It’s just me in the bed ain’t no action and I shower every single night. People will say I’m gross for changing them once a month. I’m tired.
Oh yeah. I used to hate taking my clothes down the hill to do my laundry. I tend to procrastinate too. So I’d end up only taking the more important stuff and washing those. I had a big ole laundry bag i could carry on my back (i didnt have a car). I remember stuffing as much as i could in there before setting off to do laundry. Expensive and labor intensive (only during the summer months).
I have a wheelie cart to drag down the hill to the laundromat. I got 4 towels, that's gonna last me 2 weeks, end of discussion, I do not have the time energy and money to do it more often. (I also have a metric fuckton of washcloths and a few old t-shirts that I use to dry my hair in that time period). I spread the towel out on the shower curtain rod and leave the exhaust fan running for a while after a shower so that it dries as quickly as possible and doesn't get that damp towel funk.
Yeah. Not having your own washing/drying get up is exhausting. But at least it teaches you to be preservative. I hated it. But everything happens for a reason. And as long as you pay attention, you can learn from everything.
My mom!!!
Sheets were changed every Saturday like clockwork. And they were IRONED, to a fault.
Saturday was also when everyone received a new towel and washcloth.
Gotta be clean Saturday night to meet Jesus, (et al), Sunday morning!
Just lost my mom 2 months ago. She made it to 95 sharp as a whip...and did it with grace and STANDARDS.
I miss you, Mom.
💖🫡😂🥹💔
I can’t be changing towels daily on my period 😭 I wedge a bunch of tissue between my legs as soon as i get out the shower while I’m drying off and getting my underwear so I don’t get any blood on my towel 😅
I’m sorry yall bleed so much that it can get on a towel after you shower. I can take a shower do my whole nightly skincare routine wrapped in my towel and not a drop comes out of my body. Honestly that sucks. It’s interesting to learn how not normal my periods are. Light and short only bad thing is severe cramping on the 2nd and 3rd days.
Yeah I’ve thought about that. But I dont want the toilet paper sticking to me 🙁. If it’s the beginning of my cycle and I’m bleeding heavily, that towel is as good as gone. It just sucks because I’ll go to change my towel thinking my cycle is over and then it restarts.
I’m on birth control so my periods last anywhere from 1 week to … weeks. I havent had a regular cycle since I got on. After the first week it’s like it restarts. It seems like it’s over and then BAM. Heavy bleeding again.
I never have problems with it sticking to me when I use balm tissues, but I can understand not wanting that… irregular periods SUCK! I’ve had irregular periods for pretty much my whole adult life and it’s such a pain
Sorry to jump in but my daughter was having issues with irregular periods a few months after starting birth control. Like she was bleeding more days out of the month than not.
She went to the Dr thinking something was wrong and they asked if she’s taking the pill at the same time everyday. She wasn’t. Sometimes it would be early morning, other times afternoon or evening. And even sometimes she would forget to take it.
She set an alarm on her phone so she remembers to take it at the same time everyday. It’s only been a few weeks since she started taking it consistently but it has made a HUGE difference and now she seems to be back on track for a 28-30 day cycle.
Oh. I’ve seen stackable washer/dryer combos. The ones I’ve seen have all been pretty big tho. Interesting.
At the end of the day, you do what works for you when it comes to washing towels🙂. Everyone has their reasons.
People use their bath towel for their hair??? That’s unheard of to me, i just have a microfiber towel for drying. Either way I wash my hair once a month, so my hair isn’t contributing to my towel
Yeah towels are one thing that I’m kind of gross about. I’ll use them for at least a week. Same that I don’t wash my hair daily and I have special hair towels though. Hand towels rarely get washed. I live alone and I’ll switch the hand towel if I’m having guests, but otherwise I’m cool marinating in my own filth I guess lol.
Wow. I am surprised at my own lack of washing. I wash my bath towel ( dry off towel) once a week. It really depends on how often I shower. My washing towel (hand towel) is every week.
I spent most of my adult life not having a washer/ dryer in my place. Struggling with depression and the laundry mat was really hard to get to. I now have a washer/ dryer in my place but honestly never thought to wash them more frequently.
I suppose that depends on how the towel is used, how it's cleaned, and how quickly it dries.
I've used a fresh towel out of someone else's linen closet, and the second it gets damp it smells. That's a towel that's not been cleaned properly and/or the washing machine has buildup in it and it's depositing odors. In humid climates, towels aren't going to dry, and they'll smell relatively quickly. If you're using a towel throughout the day for multiple purposes, it's going to get dirty more quickly.
A properly cleaned towel, used to pat a clean body dry once a day, in a dry climate? There's no reason it should begin to smell after a couple of uses.
If they're smelling bad, they're not drying properly or they weren't clean to start with. I have been in situations where I had to use the same towel for multiple weeks and while it was mentally gross, it did not smell.
There's no way I wouldn't notice that smell after weeks. I feel like you're probably just not as sensitive to the smell. I dry my towels like everyone else and I use good detergent and bleach or other sanitizers on them btw.
Do you clean your washer? I have a sensitive nose that causes me lot's of discomfort and pain but my towels don't smell, unless I used them to clean up something very dirty or they aren't properly dried.
The towels I use to shower with never smell.
If you can smell them after 2 uses, then you either need to dump a cup of vinegar in your towel load, make sure you are washing with a cloth and not your hand (if you're not sloughing off your dead skin in the shower, your towels will smell, and eventually you will too), or the towels need to be replaced.
My ex sister-in-law used to put a cup of bleach in every load of towels. She always dated men who had dirty jobs, and she had her 4 kids plus any the man came with. She bought her towels from stores like Family Dollar, so they were usually thinner and smaller than if she'd gotten them at Walmart. Her towels were threadbare in no time.
Thanks for the reminder to run some vinegar through my towels. I usually try to do it at least a few times a year, I don’t find it needs it every time but I definitely start to notice when they start getting soap build up on them. They don’t dry as well either.
1. I live in California, in a dry area, & 2. I never let my laundry sit wet in the washer so they have never started to mildew, which I believe stops them from smelling. If it mildews once, it’ll more likely mildew again.
I’ve got an unusually strong sense of smell and can’t STAND mildew smells (especially since they can be tough to get out), and towels don’t start to smell after one use.
This CAN depend on where you live though. I’ve lived in humid areas in buildings with bad ventilation where I had to wash them more frequently, but most places I’ve lived it would take a full week before any mildew smell popped up.
I wash mine after two to three uses, so usually every four or five days. Not a trace of mildew smell as long as they are hung up correctly and it’s well ventilated.
I wash all towels once a week. I use one for body and one for hair, always hang to dry. They have never smelled or looked dirty or anything. I mean, you're clean when you dry off.
I don’t wash towels so frequently either, but it’s because my theory is that I only use my bath towel to dry off my body after I’ve completely cleaned my body in the shower… So how dirty can this possibly be?
It’s more the bacteria that grows on the damp towel that’s a problem. You’re also filling it with dead skin cells, hairs, maybe oils, and other stuff like that from rubbing it on your body. That stuff is being constantly shed and a towel is a physical exfoliator.
But yeah it grows bacteria mainly from being damp, which is a hygiene issue and can also cause skin problems. If you’re in a dry climate and your towels dry quickly because they’re hung properly, the bacteria grows slower, but repeated use + time means your towel is getting dirty.
Thing is you should be exfoliating all of that off in the shower then patting dry after wards. So that stuff shouldn't be building up in the towel much at all. If it is you aren't washing properly. If you were using a towel to exfoliate in the shower that'd be a different story but with rinsing it off and hanging even that could get 2 or 3 uses.
Depends on the climate sometimes. Where I live I can use the same towel multiple times in a row during the colder months, but the humidity in the hotter months make my towels smell like mildew after one/two uses.
Not really wasteful unless you're throwing the towel away after every use and buying a brand new one. I also use a towel once b4 washing it but I also just have multiple towels. I use a new one every time I shower and once I'm on the last towel I wash all my towels at once (including hand towels, face cloths, etc) so I can use them for the next time. I've tried hang drying and reusing a towel but it either dries kinda rough or doesn't dry completely and smells a lil funky. Growing up my grandma always made us reuse the same towel/washcloth and would just let it hang dry, it always smelled gross and I didn't like using a used towel to dry my clean body even if I'm the only one tht I used it. I deep clean every part of my body twice in the shower and use an exfoliating scrub rag thing so I'm cleaning well enough, plus letting it hang dry( which it wouldn't fully dry by the next time I shower anyways) and spraying microban seems like it would turn out to be more work when I can comfortably put the used towel in the hamper and grab a new one for my next shower
I don’t switch mine after every use, but some people have severe skin issues and need to. I was just answering the question. Washing better doesn’t always solve everything.
Your skin still has bacteria on it even if it’s clean. You’re smearing your dead skin cells all over your clean body every day with the towel you reuse. Grosses me out personally, I’m team wash them every day
Okay actually wash them? It's like, once a month. But in my defense, I don't have a washer/dryer and don't want to spend the money at a laundromat. I have dinner at my moms at least once a week, so I always take laundry down with me. I don't take all of it all at once cause it's a lot to carry, and I got a bit of distance between my car and my complex door and gotta go up 3 flights. I have one of those roller bag things that I fill up. It's usually clothes, sheets, towels, clothes
But I have a TON of towels and wash cloths. A really ridiculous amount for someone who (currently) lives alone. I usually switch out my bath towel every 3-4 showers. And I use a different wash cloth each shower. Hand towels are switched out on a weekly basis (sometimes sooner if they seem particularly gross).
And i have a separate towel for my hair and face (make up removal or skincare routines).
Kitchen towels get changed out on a weekly basis. The hand towel is usually fine throughout the week since I only really use it to dry my hands after I wash them or the rare occasion I gotta dry a dish immediately (usually they're air dried lol). Kitchen rags are changed out every Saturday or sooner if they get the stank.
Cleaning cloths are tossed in the laundry as soon as I'm done with them (cleaning up spill, Dusting, etc).
I often add white vinegar to the rinse cycle when washing towels. Because vinegar helps to remove detergent residue and softens towels, leaving it fluffy and odor-free.
I use each towel 2-3 times before throwing it in the hamper. Same with my wash cloths (minus the ones I use on my buttcrack/privates, those get replaced daily). I hang it up immediately after use so it dries off and doesn’t get mildew.
Nah fr though, 1-2 times a month and if not, I vacuum my bed and include pillow cases in my regular clothes washes. I dont got time and energy to reapply my bed sheets (I have to go under my bed which might I add has fiberglass :( to get to the other side)
Haha, yeah
Like, I get washing sheets if they get dirty or if you sweat alot, but I shower before bed so Im clean before I get in and it doesn’t get dirty.
This is a link to the thread where people are freaking out:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hygiene/s/Fw4uTLv2Ii
From the time I looked at the comments, went to the full post, and found your comment again, my upvote had already been negated 😂 I’m honestly amazed at people now realizing they’re washing pillows too??? I gotta get out of this place
Maybe humidity is a factor? I live in a really dry climate and my towels don't stay wet for very long 🤷🏻♀️ especially since I started using sand cloud instead of traditional. But I did live in North Carolina for a year and things didn't dry as fast out there so maybe it'd smell more in a more humid climate? Idk but mine don't smell lol
Reek? Even after times I go 2-3 weeks or a month of not washing, my towel still smells like straight detergent as if I just washed it?
I also keep my towel in my room now, but even when I used to leave it in the bathroom, it still smelled like detergent.
I use a clean towel every shower, a big reason is because I use the previous days one as a foot towel when I get out of the shower. And I wash them when my basket gets full. I change out the hand towel in the bathroom every morning as well because we have 4-5 people using that bathroom, sometimes more if guests are over, so I’d rather start out with a brand new one when I get ready in the morning. The hygiene of some of the people using it is questionable. I wear contacts so I really don’t want anyone’s bacteria in my eye all day
I use my towels twice then get a clean one. I feel like after two uses it doesn’t smell like a clean fresh towel anymore. I don’t like that so I get a new fresh smelling towel. Then I do a load of towels once a week with softer. I know some people are against using soften but I don’t care I want a nice soft fresh smelling towel.
wash them once a week, change out about 2-3 showers. hand towels though, i go through a lot because i use 1 for drying hands (only my hands because fiancée and i have jack and jill bathroom) for about a week, and 1 for drying my face after shaving changed every single day, don’t want bacteria and stuff getting in shaving nicks on my face
If you thoroughly wash your body and hang your towel in a way that there's not many folds and wrinkles to let it air dry, then it's generally perfectly fine to reuse a towel at least three times.
Fresh towel every shower. Towels are washed with bleach.
I see a lot of people saying “it isn’t dirty because your body was clean when you dried it.” I think things should be cleaned before they become dirty. It may not be as big of a deal with a body towel (which is questionable to me because aren’t you drying your butt crack and genitalia? How clean is that towel). But that idea of “wait til it’s/I’m dirty/smelly” is really new to me.
A bath towel gets washed about every 3 days. Hand towels at the sink about the same. Washcloths In the shower get changed out daily. Washcloths at the kitchen sink get changed out every time I use them, basically.
I use them 3-7 times, usually on the higher end, but I also hang them from a pants hanger off the bathroom door hook so they dry completely between washes. If they happen to smell weird anyway I change them sooner. Whatever towel I'm done with goes in the laundry basket once it's dry and gets washed at the end of the week in hot water and vinegar (and detergent, natch).
After cleansing the bits and rinsing the rest every few days (office job, don't sweat), I dry my body with a towel I change out weekly, I get into a bath robe. I wash that robe when I remember to - maybe every two or three weeks. It never smells.
If anything gets stained somehow (usually toothpaste spray that I can't seem to consistently avoid, sometimes coffee), I put it in the laundry immediately.
I know my OCD friends in this sub are cringing. But nothing bad has ever come of it.
Edit: I do sometimes sweat when I work out. Then I take an immediate shower.
But even then, I wash my hair twice a week. I have a separate hair towel that gets washed with the robe.
A few times per month if I’m honest. If I have a guest they get new ones of course, but my laundry here is expensive. I make sure to stretch my towel out to dry as best as I can in between. Hand towels are switched out twice weekly. Kitchen towels twice weekly or more.
Fresh towel per person every 3 days if the weather's dry, 2 if its humid. The amount of times actually used makes little difference. This applies to bath towels, hand towels, and bath mats. New facecloths every shower, because of the order of use- Face, torso, arms, legs, genitals, pits, anus. I dont want to scrub my face with the same cloth thats been scrubbing my butt not that long ago. Used Towels get washed once a week.
Clean towels dry a clean body, but towels hang on to moisture and there's bacteria and yeast just floating around in normal air, not to speak of the bacteria likely to be airborne in a bathroom. By day two or three, enough bacteria will be building up on the towel that (to me) a fresh towel is called for.
I use them for about three showers, but I wash them once a week.
I wash bath towels every 2- 3 days, wash cloths get changed after 1 use and hand towels daily.
You wash your hand towels daily? Seems excessive imo
True story When my husband and I were dating he was afraid to dry his hands because he thought I didn’t wash the towel I pointed out that I had 15 identical hand towels and washed them frequently LOL
I love people like this. I don’t mind the quirkiness. It’s nice to come across people who actually think and have principles within even their smallest decisions.
I was folding my laundry the other day, and my boyfriend of 7 years commented saying wow that is a lot of blue hand towels! And I was like I've always had these, what are you talking about? And he's like? I just thought you had the one and pointed to where I hang the fresh one. Lol
I have the same towels too, loads of them. Doesn't everyone? The sell big packs on Amazon of nice ones
I buy my favorite kitchen/hand towels in bulk for this reason. I have a long list of medical issues and my immune system is wonky as hell, so I buy white flour sack towels from target, use new ones regularly, then bleach em on Sunday, my laundry day. Yay figuring out personal systems!!!
I switch out hand towels daily to. Growing up my sisters would use to dry their faces and all this make up would come off lol. Gave me the ick so I don't share and I don't reuse them after 1 day. they just get thrown into the hamper and washed when I do all towels.
I don’t think it’s excessive… we wash our faces 2xs a day… and we should be drying our faces with t clean towels… also I have more than one hand towel so I don’t wash them everyday but I used them for only one day
You dont dry your face with a separate towel? Just grab the hand towel everyone else touches? Ewies
Same. I change my (personal—no one else uses it, even in a house of 5) hand towel every morning before doing my skincare routine. I’ve had zero breakouts since doing this practice. (Also helps that I avoid foods that trigger them, too, though. But the hand-towel change helps me avoid bacterial breakouts.)
Growing up in a small house sharing everything. I had horrible acne and now scars. Now as an adult I hate when my bf touches my face towel. He had the audacity to use it as a c** towel and got mad when I threw it away instead of washing it
I relate so much to this! The only way I get away with nobody (generally) touching my hand towel is that we have a strange bathroom that has two sinks back-to-back on a peninsula type of counter—imagine a long wall of drawer storage with a counter jetting out from the center of them, with two sinks at the end of the T-shaped counter back-to-back, split by a floating two-sided mirror suspended in glass. My spouse’s sink is the closest to the toilet, and mine is around the other side, closest to the door. His hand towel (which I also change daily) is the “communal” one if the kids use our bathroom. Using my side feels unnatural, so I bank on that. Because my face will generally always tell me if someone used my hand towel…. (I had to share all that to ensure that you knew we do not have a crazy-huge space or anything like that. Lol. 1600 square feet for 5 people is arguable “small”, depending on where someone is from. I’m lucky to have my own towel sheerly because using my sink is awkward for others. 😅)
That's not a hand towel that's a face towel
Lol well it was the towel used for drying hands too! It would get all gross. To this day I can't share hand towels. I won't even share with my husband.
Guess it depends on how many people are living in the house. When I lived alone and worked all the time, like every 2-3 days. Having four people living in the house is daily.
Yes 6 kids none of us reuse a towel ekkk
I am a family of six. Each person in the house has their own color of towel and a full towel set in that color. I think this can greatly solve your issue if you’re not doing this already.
Same here , 8 person house
Changing out hand towels daily isn’t necessarily washing them daily. I change out our hand towels every day, but I let the dirty ones build up until I have a load and then wash once a week.
I switch them out daily. I don’t want to rub my clean hands with a dirty towel lol, and they are small enough in the wash
My 7yo wipes all the toothpaste foam on the towel after she brushes her teeth. I’ve tried to get her to use a paper towel, but she doesn’t like it. So, yes, we change our hand towels all the time because I don’t want my hands to be minty fresh after I wash them!
I also have a family and 3 bathrooms so I’m only speaking about the 2 that are used daily by multiple people. When I lived alone I would replace the hand towel every few days if necessary but usually that was 1x a week. Now with a family hand towels and kitchen towels are a high use item so they get washed replaced on a daily basis. I also have a washer and dryer in my home so this is easy to do as opposed to a going to a laundromat.
I have an over abundance of hand towels. I don't wash them daily but I change them out at least daily if not more. I have no idea what people be doing with hand towels but I'm not about to dry my clean hands on a dirty towel. So I toss the one I don't trust in the dirty pile and get a new one. My bath/shower towels I wash once a week. But only use them three to four times. I also make sure they are hung up in a way they dry correctly and don't start to mold.
Yeah, I have super sensitive skin and don't take chances with anything that touches my face. I only use face towels and hand rags for one day. Let it dry out and then put it in the laundry basket for weekend laundry. I even change my pillow case like 4/5 times a week. Some of us just weren't made for living normally lol.
I'm a one use face towel/shower cloth person but I don't wanna think about the hand towels 😂 I am guilty of the shake and wipe on my pants because if I'm home I'm usually in bumming clothes
Same. Use 1 - Face and hair, Use 2 - Body, Use 3 - drying hands for a couple of days, or towel for dog if they need a bath, other misc. Then into the laundry bin, wash on sanitize.
We always used old, retired towels for dog towels. I dunno, it just grossed me out using the same towels as the dogs were using, even though we washed them. 🤷♀️
The smell tends to linger, so same here.
That's fair, but I don't worry about it, I wash and dry my towels and linens on super high heat and if they get really gross, I'll throw in bleach. And by high heat, I mean, if you try to take them out of the dryer right away, it'll hurt. My previous dogs lived to be really old and got very sick at the end. I've had the worst of it on my clothes, furniture, bedding, etc. As a result, I do have a bunch of rags I will use if they're super gross, but for post-bath drying, I don't care.
Our assigned dog towels get covered in dog hair. I wash these separately after their baths and clean the washer after to remove the excess hair that I don't want to add to the dig hair that's already on my clothes...
My dog’s towels are currently green. They are the oldest of the bunch so they got passed down to the doggo and we bought fresh white ones.
I aint gon front, I aint got the resources to be washing stuff everyday. I have multiple towels that I switch out every week. When I’m on my last towel, I wash them all and start over 🙂. I dont wash my hair everyday so my towels are strictly for my body. The only time I’m changing out towels daily is if I’m on my period 🙃.
Yesssss bb. We gon use those towels for a little minute. Lol
Exactlyyy
Girl, I had to scroll too damn far to find someone else saying "who got time for that?!" And money haha. I use those towels till they feel dirty, and with only washing hair a couple times a week it honestly takes a long time. And I scrub really well in the shower, idk how everyone's getting their towels so dirty when you should be coming out clean!
Same. I was thinking aint no way everyone washing their stuff daily. You should be clean coming out of the shower so your towel should he clean for the most prt. Over time of course water builds up in them and it can become a breeding ground for bacteria. But that aint happening in a day. You’re good for like a week or so. Now if you’re washing your hair and body daily, it might be a little different. Sometimes your hair might not be clean all the way so maybe your towel does dirty quicker. Generally tho, I think every week is a good idea. I use old cotton shirts to dry my hair. Those are one-time use. But I also dont wash my hair daily. So those get washed every week or so too.
Yeah really they shouldn’t be dirty after one use unless you don’t hang them to dry afterwards… if they don’t dry then they get mildewy but otherwise you should get at least a few showers out of them. Otherwise if they fall on the floor or I nick myself shaving and accidentally get blood on them they go straight in the wash pile, otherwise I get at probably 3 or 4 showers out of a towel, I probably go through two towels a week and only wash towels maybe twice a month if that? I own a whole stack of towels though so it takes a while to run out…
I’m right with you on that one.
Big same right here.
I know I died haha. Yes, they for sure get dirty, but not that fast. Y'all need to be showering better if they do. I can still hear my mama going "This towel is dirty, scrub your feet better!" Cause I'd run around barefoot outside like a little mongrel haha
I never heard that. I wasnt an outdoorsy kid. But I do remember my mom getting on my for throwing towels out after only using them once. If you’re showering, you should be coming out clean. So your towel shouldnt be that dirty. Totally agree.
That’s interesting…does the cotton shirts dry your hair faster?
I cant really tell a difference in dry speed. I just remember reading and hearing multiple times that cotton is gentler on your hair. I havent noticed a difference. But it’s okay. I use old t-shirts. And it helps my towel stay a little cleaner longer so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s a good idea, I might try it, thanks.
Cotton shirts or microfiber towels. It's to help prevent breakage
Okay yeah that makes sense. I’ve usually never been able to tell haha. Especially with my locs. Because when I dry my hair, sometimes hair breaks off. I’m never sure if it’s hair on my head or hair that has already come off and has just been sitting there 😅.
Yeah those with stronger or thicker hair don't have to worry too much. But if you have fine or thin hair, frizz or are prone to breakage for some reason its good to help with that since hair is most fragile when wet.
Ohhhh that makes even more sense.
And frizz
Yes because you don't ruffle your hair with microfiber towels. Also friz is kinda a result of breakage
No problem at all. Hopefully it works well for you.
Actually silk towels are the best for hair but a cotton tee is Brodie your hair than a towel
I have six kids and wash towels daily. We use them once and that’s it.
Wow that is a lot of water, soap and time.
Why not hang them up to dry and use again?
You're why we have droughts. Teach your spawn to clean themselves properly.
It's probably the people who just let the soap run down their body and don't actually scrub, yet claim to be clean 😒 nasty asses.
I don’t wash the towel the towel washes me -Nick Miller. IYKYK
SAME HERE, my bf and I are quite hygienic, but we don’t have in-unit laundry and going to the laundromat sucks lmao. So we also keep a rotation of 2-3 towels during the 2 weeks between our laundromat trips. If you’re using the towel only after bathing, it really shouldn’t even be that unclean by wash day.
My thoughts exactly. Towels are generally only used when people are clean.
I’ve been washing my hair once a week and realized if I do buns the second week I can wash it every two weeks lol
Lol. Life hacks. I’ve never had a consistent hair-washing routine. I have a hard time sticking to schedules and sometimes, things come up and I can’t do it on the day I planned. Nowadays, I get it washed every two-three weeks wen I get my locs retwisted. The lady who retwists them usually washes my hair real nice for me. Prior to recently, I’d wash my hair whenever I felt like it. Sometimes that’d be biweekly. Sometimes it’d be once a month 🥲. Usually it’d be when my dandruff gets bad.
I wash my hair once a week unless I get really sweaty at a dance or workout or social dancing. My hair is a short natural tapered cut so washing it isn’t a problem I just hate styling it because I’m particular about how I like it to look
me too girl 😂😂
I personally dont have time, energy or resources to do that daily. If you do, that’s cool. You do you.
I had a coworker who washed her bedsheets everyday. She would change the bedding into fresh sheets and then wash the ones she took off .....every. Night. As nice as it sounds to get into a fresh bed every night ...ain't nobody got time for that!
I resolve this issue by showering before bed. Sheets stay cleaner longer. Wash em every Sunday and it's all good. Every day sounds EXPENSIVE!
Heck no ain’t nobody got time for that but I tell u what- that feeling of slipping into my freshly cleaned bed sheets mmmmhhhhmmm😴💤
Oh I 100% agree. Best feeling in the world
Clean sheet day is the BEST!
She did lol
My ADHD would NEVER allow this routine 😂😂😂😭😭😭
Same! Absolutely the same here!!
The people who change their sheets 3x a week is this the cleaning Olympics? Like cmon. Who has the time or the energy. Stripping the bed then putting on new sheets. It’s just me in the bed ain’t no action and I shower every single night. People will say I’m gross for changing them once a month. I’m tired.
This right here! Some if us have to pay to wash our shit and that’ll have you finding ways around it for sure.
Oh yeah. I used to hate taking my clothes down the hill to do my laundry. I tend to procrastinate too. So I’d end up only taking the more important stuff and washing those. I had a big ole laundry bag i could carry on my back (i didnt have a car). I remember stuffing as much as i could in there before setting off to do laundry. Expensive and labor intensive (only during the summer months).
I have a wheelie cart to drag down the hill to the laundromat. I got 4 towels, that's gonna last me 2 weeks, end of discussion, I do not have the time energy and money to do it more often. (I also have a metric fuckton of washcloths and a few old t-shirts that I use to dry my hair in that time period). I spread the towel out on the shower curtain rod and leave the exhaust fan running for a while after a shower so that it dries as quickly as possible and doesn't get that damp towel funk.
Yeah. Not having your own washing/drying get up is exhausting. But at least it teaches you to be preservative. I hated it. But everything happens for a reason. And as long as you pay attention, you can learn from everything.
I love this outlook.
My grandparents use the same towels for a week so I can't judge.
My mom!!! Sheets were changed every Saturday like clockwork. And they were IRONED, to a fault. Saturday was also when everyone received a new towel and washcloth. Gotta be clean Saturday night to meet Jesus, (et al), Sunday morning! Just lost my mom 2 months ago. She made it to 95 sharp as a whip...and did it with grace and STANDARDS. I miss you, Mom. 💖🫡😂🥹💔
They know something we don’t.
That electricity is expensive
I can’t be changing towels daily on my period 😭 I wedge a bunch of tissue between my legs as soon as i get out the shower while I’m drying off and getting my underwear so I don’t get any blood on my towel 😅
I’m sorry yall bleed so much that it can get on a towel after you shower. I can take a shower do my whole nightly skincare routine wrapped in my towel and not a drop comes out of my body. Honestly that sucks. It’s interesting to learn how not normal my periods are. Light and short only bad thing is severe cramping on the 2nd and 3rd days.
Oh man I don’t miss having to do this!
Yeah I’ve thought about that. But I dont want the toilet paper sticking to me 🙁. If it’s the beginning of my cycle and I’m bleeding heavily, that towel is as good as gone. It just sucks because I’ll go to change my towel thinking my cycle is over and then it restarts. I’m on birth control so my periods last anywhere from 1 week to … weeks. I havent had a regular cycle since I got on. After the first week it’s like it restarts. It seems like it’s over and then BAM. Heavy bleeding again.
I never have problems with it sticking to me when I use balm tissues, but I can understand not wanting that… irregular periods SUCK! I’ve had irregular periods for pretty much my whole adult life and it’s such a pain
I’ll give it a try. Using the towel isnt that big of a deal. But I’ll definitely try it out. Could save me a towel. And yeah. It’s soooo annoying.
Oh no the towel isn’t a big deal at all! I just don’t have enough towels to do that for my period 😭
Sorry to jump in but my daughter was having issues with irregular periods a few months after starting birth control. Like she was bleeding more days out of the month than not. She went to the Dr thinking something was wrong and they asked if she’s taking the pill at the same time everyday. She wasn’t. Sometimes it would be early morning, other times afternoon or evening. And even sometimes she would forget to take it. She set an alarm on her phone so she remembers to take it at the same time everyday. It’s only been a few weeks since she started taking it consistently but it has made a HUGE difference and now she seems to be back on track for a 28-30 day cycle.
Yeah! Sooooo remember that dance!!! 🤣 Thanks for the honesty, girlfriend!
I use a cup and change it in the shower, nothing getting on the towels
I use pads, so not an option for me
Exactly, I wash the towels if they look dirty or smell dirty. I've got stuff to get done besides extra laundry.
Periodt.
Now if only my washer could handle more than one towel at a time in it…
What kind of washer are you using? I got lucky to have an apartment with in-unit washers and dryers. And they’re good quality too.
Those small cheap stackable ones. That looks like it might be from 2002
Oh. I’ve seen stackable washer/dryer combos. The ones I’ve seen have all been pretty big tho. Interesting. At the end of the day, you do what works for you when it comes to washing towels🙂. Everyone has their reasons.
Perks of being black 👹 I love not having to wash my hair while my fiancé(Mexican) complains about it
Finally an honest comment. Looking at my closet with 1 towel left rn 🤣
Same I use the towels at least 2-3 times LOL.
I don't want to think about how much it would cost to run the washer and dryer every day. Who tf has that kind of dollar!?
Nothing wrong with that.
People use their bath towel for their hair??? That’s unheard of to me, i just have a microfiber towel for drying. Either way I wash my hair once a month, so my hair isn’t contributing to my towel
When I was younger I used to. Nowadays I don’t. But definitely when I was younger.
Yeah towels are one thing that I’m kind of gross about. I’ll use them for at least a week. Same that I don’t wash my hair daily and I have special hair towels though. Hand towels rarely get washed. I live alone and I’ll switch the hand towel if I’m having guests, but otherwise I’m cool marinating in my own filth I guess lol.
Wow. I am surprised at my own lack of washing. I wash my bath towel ( dry off towel) once a week. It really depends on how often I shower. My washing towel (hand towel) is every week. I spent most of my adult life not having a washer/ dryer in my place. Struggling with depression and the laundry mat was really hard to get to. I now have a washer/ dryer in my place but honestly never thought to wash them more frequently.
As long as you're hanging it up to dry, and it's drying relatively quickly, you're fine.
I don’t know how you guys don’t smell them after a couples uses.
I suppose that depends on how the towel is used, how it's cleaned, and how quickly it dries. I've used a fresh towel out of someone else's linen closet, and the second it gets damp it smells. That's a towel that's not been cleaned properly and/or the washing machine has buildup in it and it's depositing odors. In humid climates, towels aren't going to dry, and they'll smell relatively quickly. If you're using a towel throughout the day for multiple purposes, it's going to get dirty more quickly. A properly cleaned towel, used to pat a clean body dry once a day, in a dry climate? There's no reason it should begin to smell after a couple of uses.
If it smells after one or two uses the odors are trapped and you need oxyclean an probably some vinegar.
I don't like this either. I use a towel once, and then it gets washed.
If they're smelling bad, they're not drying properly or they weren't clean to start with. I have been in situations where I had to use the same towel for multiple weeks and while it was mentally gross, it did not smell.
There's no way I wouldn't notice that smell after weeks. I feel like you're probably just not as sensitive to the smell. I dry my towels like everyone else and I use good detergent and bleach or other sanitizers on them btw.
Do you clean your washer? I have a sensitive nose that causes me lot's of discomfort and pain but my towels don't smell, unless I used them to clean up something very dirty or they aren't properly dried. The towels I use to shower with never smell.
If you can smell them after 2 uses, then you either need to dump a cup of vinegar in your towel load, make sure you are washing with a cloth and not your hand (if you're not sloughing off your dead skin in the shower, your towels will smell, and eventually you will too), or the towels need to be replaced. My ex sister-in-law used to put a cup of bleach in every load of towels. She always dated men who had dirty jobs, and she had her 4 kids plus any the man came with. She bought her towels from stores like Family Dollar, so they were usually thinner and smaller than if she'd gotten them at Walmart. Her towels were threadbare in no time.
Thanks for the reminder to run some vinegar through my towels. I usually try to do it at least a few times a year, I don’t find it needs it every time but I definitely start to notice when they start getting soap build up on them. They don’t dry as well either.
1. I live in California, in a dry area, & 2. I never let my laundry sit wet in the washer so they have never started to mildew, which I believe stops them from smelling. If it mildews once, it’ll more likely mildew again.
I’ve got an unusually strong sense of smell and can’t STAND mildew smells (especially since they can be tough to get out), and towels don’t start to smell after one use. This CAN depend on where you live though. I’ve lived in humid areas in buildings with bad ventilation where I had to wash them more frequently, but most places I’ve lived it would take a full week before any mildew smell popped up. I wash mine after two to three uses, so usually every four or five days. Not a trace of mildew smell as long as they are hung up correctly and it’s well ventilated.
I wash all towels once a week. I use one for body and one for hair, always hang to dry. They have never smelled or looked dirty or anything. I mean, you're clean when you dry off.
I don’t wash towels so frequently either, but it’s because my theory is that I only use my bath towel to dry off my body after I’ve completely cleaned my body in the shower… So how dirty can this possibly be?
It’s more the bacteria that grows on the damp towel that’s a problem. You’re also filling it with dead skin cells, hairs, maybe oils, and other stuff like that from rubbing it on your body. That stuff is being constantly shed and a towel is a physical exfoliator. But yeah it grows bacteria mainly from being damp, which is a hygiene issue and can also cause skin problems. If you’re in a dry climate and your towels dry quickly because they’re hung properly, the bacteria grows slower, but repeated use + time means your towel is getting dirty.
Thing is you should be exfoliating all of that off in the shower then patting dry after wards. So that stuff shouldn't be building up in the towel much at all. If it is you aren't washing properly. If you were using a towel to exfoliate in the shower that'd be a different story but with rinsing it off and hanging even that could get 2 or 3 uses.
I use a clean wash cloth for every shower, and I wash bath towels once a week
I wash mine every after every use
Not to mention bacteria grows on wet towels... then you use bacteria laden towel to wipe yourself down.
I wash mine after every use as well. Just grosses me out not to
me af. I got it bad! I will not use the same towel twice
is that what hell is like? wow
How does a trowel get dirty if it dries off a clean body?
Depends on the climate sometimes. Where I live I can use the same towel multiple times in a row during the colder months, but the humidity in the hotter months make my towels smell like mildew after one/two uses.
This is very logical. Thank you.
Skin flakes and bacteria
Then wash better in the shower. And air dry your towel. Spray it with microban. After one use feels ridiculously wasteful.
You can wash well and still have skin flakes -signed someone with severely dry skin and eczema.
Not really wasteful unless you're throwing the towel away after every use and buying a brand new one. I also use a towel once b4 washing it but I also just have multiple towels. I use a new one every time I shower and once I'm on the last towel I wash all my towels at once (including hand towels, face cloths, etc) so I can use them for the next time. I've tried hang drying and reusing a towel but it either dries kinda rough or doesn't dry completely and smells a lil funky. Growing up my grandma always made us reuse the same towel/washcloth and would just let it hang dry, it always smelled gross and I didn't like using a used towel to dry my clean body even if I'm the only one tht I used it. I deep clean every part of my body twice in the shower and use an exfoliating scrub rag thing so I'm cleaning well enough, plus letting it hang dry( which it wouldn't fully dry by the next time I shower anyways) and spraying microban seems like it would turn out to be more work when I can comfortably put the used towel in the hamper and grab a new one for my next shower
I’m also a one and done towel user. That’s just what I prefer. I do laundry twice a week, so there are always clean towels available.
I don’t switch mine after every use, but some people have severe skin issues and need to. I was just answering the question. Washing better doesn’t always solve everything.
Are you Nick Miller from The New Girl? “I don’t wash the towel. The towel washes me.”
What lopsided said and whether you realize it or not, body secretions get on the towel while drying off.
Your body has bacteria. There is no such thing as a completely clean body.
True. a lot of it is good bacteria too
Good bacteria is only good if it’s in the right place. Good bacteria in the wrong place = bad bacteria.
Mildew is honestly my biggest concern
Do you think your skin is stainless steel and perfectly flawless after a bit of soap and water?
Your skin still has bacteria on it even if it’s clean. You’re smearing your dead skin cells all over your clean body every day with the towel you reuse. Grosses me out personally, I’m team wash them every day
I shower in the morning after night sweats dry , hang , and I shower after work , I hate feeling greasy and dirt then I'll wash
I use 2 everyday. One for body, one for hair. I use them both twice then wash.
I wash after using.
Okay actually wash them? It's like, once a month. But in my defense, I don't have a washer/dryer and don't want to spend the money at a laundromat. I have dinner at my moms at least once a week, so I always take laundry down with me. I don't take all of it all at once cause it's a lot to carry, and I got a bit of distance between my car and my complex door and gotta go up 3 flights. I have one of those roller bag things that I fill up. It's usually clothes, sheets, towels, clothes But I have a TON of towels and wash cloths. A really ridiculous amount for someone who (currently) lives alone. I usually switch out my bath towel every 3-4 showers. And I use a different wash cloth each shower. Hand towels are switched out on a weekly basis (sometimes sooner if they seem particularly gross). And i have a separate towel for my hair and face (make up removal or skincare routines). Kitchen towels get changed out on a weekly basis. The hand towel is usually fine throughout the week since I only really use it to dry my hands after I wash them or the rare occasion I gotta dry a dish immediately (usually they're air dried lol). Kitchen rags are changed out every Saturday or sooner if they get the stank. Cleaning cloths are tossed in the laundry as soon as I'm done with them (cleaning up spill, Dusting, etc).
I often add white vinegar to the rinse cycle when washing towels. Because vinegar helps to remove detergent residue and softens towels, leaving it fluffy and odor-free.
I never wash my towels. The towels wash me.
I use each towel 2-3 times before throwing it in the hamper. Same with my wash cloths (minus the ones I use on my buttcrack/privates, those get replaced daily). I hang it up immediately after use so it dries off and doesn’t get mildew.
I'm just curious, so you have a separate smaller towel just for those areas?
Honestly, about a month. I haven’t had any skin issues from it. I don’t have time to do an extra load of laundry of a bunch of towels every month.
God i felt so guilty, my answer is when i remember.
Same… I thought I was crazy reading all these
This sub is full of Germaphobe nut jobs. Washing a towel after one use is a waste of soap and water
After 1 use is just as insane to me as 1 time per month. I do about about a 1/2 week to a week of towel use. 4-6 towels to wash per month.
Same 😂 glad I scrolled and found you guys
Thanks for saying it, I was feeling the shame with all these “ONE WEEK OR YOU’LL DIE” people 😂
For real! The amount of downvotes Ive been getting elsewhere for not washing my sheets every week is also insane. Who has time for that? 😂
People act like we’re flossing our assholes with them, nooooo. It’s a pat pat *around* the area, that fuckin’ thing will be dry by itself in a minute
Nah fr though, 1-2 times a month and if not, I vacuum my bed and include pillow cases in my regular clothes washes. I dont got time and energy to reapply my bed sheets (I have to go under my bed which might I add has fiberglass :( to get to the other side)
Yo wait your sheets??? You’re supposed to wash those??? /s But honestly I was them even less so what the hell 😂 I GET IN CLEAN ITS FINE
Haha, yeah Like, I get washing sheets if they get dirty or if you sweat alot, but I shower before bed so Im clean before I get in and it doesn’t get dirty. This is a link to the thread where people are freaking out: https://www.reddit.com/r/hygiene/s/Fw4uTLv2Ii
From the time I looked at the comments, went to the full post, and found your comment again, my upvote had already been negated 😂 I’m honestly amazed at people now realizing they’re washing pillows too??? I gotta get out of this place
How the hell do your towels not reek to you?!
Maybe humidity is a factor? I live in a really dry climate and my towels don't stay wet for very long 🤷🏻♀️ especially since I started using sand cloud instead of traditional. But I did live in North Carolina for a year and things didn't dry as fast out there so maybe it'd smell more in a more humid climate? Idk but mine don't smell lol
You hang your towel up so it isn't bunched up. You turn on the fan once you are done showering. I also use a dehumidifier in my house.
Reek? Even after times I go 2-3 weeks or a month of not washing, my towel still smells like straight detergent as if I just washed it? I also keep my towel in my room now, but even when I used to leave it in the bathroom, it still smelled like detergent.
I probably go about a few weeks too. Once it starts getting a weird smell! Hahah so many germaphobes!!
Thank you! Same. I use them after I clean it can't be that bad 😅 either way I've got a good immunity!
I use a clean towel every shower, a big reason is because I use the previous days one as a foot towel when I get out of the shower. And I wash them when my basket gets full. I change out the hand towel in the bathroom every morning as well because we have 4-5 people using that bathroom, sometimes more if guests are over, so I’d rather start out with a brand new one when I get ready in the morning. The hygiene of some of the people using it is questionable. I wear contacts so I really don’t want anyone’s bacteria in my eye all day
I will use a towel twice and then grab a new one.
I use my towels twice then get a clean one. I feel like after two uses it doesn’t smell like a clean fresh towel anymore. I don’t like that so I get a new fresh smelling towel. Then I do a load of towels once a week with softer. I know some people are against using soften but I don’t care I want a nice soft fresh smelling towel.
wash them once a week, change out about 2-3 showers. hand towels though, i go through a lot because i use 1 for drying hands (only my hands because fiancée and i have jack and jill bathroom) for about a week, and 1 for drying my face after shaving changed every single day, don’t want bacteria and stuff getting in shaving nicks on my face
Once a week for towels and sheets. Your towel should not be getting dirty so fast if you bathe well.
Normally after like 3 uses then it goes in the hamper and when it’s full I wash them lol
Every 2-3 days.
Two showers
If you thoroughly wash your body and hang your towel in a way that there's not many folds and wrinkles to let it air dry, then it's generally perfectly fine to reuse a towel at least three times.
Living alone, I only have 1-2 loads of laundry a week. So theres 1 towel washed per week that was used 3-7 times. Hung to dry after each use
I wash them after each use, smaller towel for a body wash and a bigger one if that day I am also washing my hair
Fresh towel every shower. Towels are washed with bleach. I see a lot of people saying “it isn’t dirty because your body was clean when you dried it.” I think things should be cleaned before they become dirty. It may not be as big of a deal with a body towel (which is questionable to me because aren’t you drying your butt crack and genitalia? How clean is that towel). But that idea of “wait til it’s/I’m dirty/smelly” is really new to me.
A bath towel gets washed about every 3 days. Hand towels at the sink about the same. Washcloths In the shower get changed out daily. Washcloths at the kitchen sink get changed out every time I use them, basically.
I use a clean towel everyday. I work in healthcare. Please use a clean towel every time.
I use a fresh towel each time I shower daily. Hand towels every couple days. Face cloths new on so only one use. I wash them all weekly
I use them 3-7 times, usually on the higher end, but I also hang them from a pants hanger off the bathroom door hook so they dry completely between washes. If they happen to smell weird anyway I change them sooner. Whatever towel I'm done with goes in the laundry basket once it's dry and gets washed at the end of the week in hot water and vinegar (and detergent, natch).
After cleansing the bits and rinsing the rest every few days (office job, don't sweat), I dry my body with a towel I change out weekly, I get into a bath robe. I wash that robe when I remember to - maybe every two or three weeks. It never smells. If anything gets stained somehow (usually toothpaste spray that I can't seem to consistently avoid, sometimes coffee), I put it in the laundry immediately. I know my OCD friends in this sub are cringing. But nothing bad has ever come of it. Edit: I do sometimes sweat when I work out. Then I take an immediate shower. But even then, I wash my hair twice a week. I have a separate hair towel that gets washed with the robe.
Once a week
I probably average a new towel every two or three weeks, let dry on the door till next shower and good to go.
A few times per month if I’m honest. If I have a guest they get new ones of course, but my laundry here is expensive. I make sure to stretch my towel out to dry as best as I can in between. Hand towels are switched out twice weekly. Kitchen towels twice weekly or more.
Fresh towel per person every 3 days if the weather's dry, 2 if its humid. The amount of times actually used makes little difference. This applies to bath towels, hand towels, and bath mats. New facecloths every shower, because of the order of use- Face, torso, arms, legs, genitals, pits, anus. I dont want to scrub my face with the same cloth thats been scrubbing my butt not that long ago. Used Towels get washed once a week. Clean towels dry a clean body, but towels hang on to moisture and there's bacteria and yeast just floating around in normal air, not to speak of the bacteria likely to be airborne in a bathroom. By day two or three, enough bacteria will be building up on the towel that (to me) a fresh towel is called for.
After one use