How many uses before your bath/shower towel gets laundered?

[Canadian Mountain Man]

I'm certain if you've stayed in a hotel in the last decade you've seen a sign similar to this...

But I'm referring to when you're at home and you, or your GF/SWMBO/mother/butler/etc., has to do the laundry.

I admit, I go through a lot of towels....usually only one use before it gets pitched in the wash. However I do my own laundry so not like I'm burdening someone with the work (actually enjoy doing laundry....really enjoy ironing).

Reason for asking is the GF & I have differing views on the subject. Her logic, and I can't disagree, is that if you've showered your carcass is clean so why do you have to have a fresh towel after every shower. But its not about that, its about a freshly washed towel feeling better.

You?

 

[BrushJockey]

People aren't THAT clean after a shower. If that were true, the towels wouldn't get dingy and stinky.

 

[Rhody]

So far no one is going to admit to not washing the towel every day.

I think we go a few days but not more that a week. Its more random and based on factors like if someone is sick or it falls on the floor or something. I don't think it needs to be washed every time. It also adds a lot to the mountain of laundry.

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

I usually go about a week or so. I just wait until the towel looks or feels funky, or starts to have an odor.

 

[Fordfather]

I wait until the towel walks itself to the hamper

 

[Earcutter]

I had to push through after reading that you "really enjoy ironing." I wasn't sure if this was the ramblings of a madman or not - but I powered through.



I'll gladly admit that I do laundry every week. As such, my towels get laundered every week on average. Laundering towels after one use, to me, is ludicrous. I have kids that need to live here when I'm dead.

 

[Mtn Man]

I have small cheap hand towels that I replace each day. After I shave I pat my face with them and then wipe up the big mess I made.
My Bath towel however I keep all week.
Towels do get dingy. You actually exfoliate a lot of dead skin with them. I buy white towels so I can use hot wash. A little vinegar every once in a while really helps get rid of soap residue. This seems to keep them fresh for me.

 

[Jer78]

I use my bath towel for shaving as well. I change it twice a week.

 

[ScottChapin]

We change ours just as soon as they are crusty enough to stand up on their own two hems.

Actually, we change them weekly. I would hate to think of a family of 7 having 49 towels per week to wash. Would they have time or capacity to wash their clothes? Would the phosphorus in the sewer be good for the environment?




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[seattleshaver]

I do laundry once a week (I live alone). I have two fluffy bath towels on the back of the bathroom door. I use one first when I get out of the shower and then use the other, mainly to dry my hair.

The next day, I start with the other towel (it's drier) and reverse the process. I wash the two towels once a week when I do the rest of the laundry.

 

[Lmarkow]

Wash is done weekly. Folding the wash is done less frequently.

 

[malocchio]

My head is shaved , so all I need to dry off is my wash cloth and a small hand towel....I change them every day.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

My bath towels will generally get two or three uses. As to hand towels, I generally have one for regular hand drying, and one for shaving. They all hit the laundry basket at the same time

 

[Canadian Mountain Man]

I had to push through after reading that you "really enjoy ironing." I wasn't sure if this was the ramblings of a madman or not - but I powered through.



I'll gladly admit that I do laundry every week. As such, my towels get laundered every week on average. Laundering towels after one use, to me, is ludicrous. I have kids that need to live here when I'm dead.

Ramblings...

I find ironing calming & rewarding And making something that was messy neat & orderly satisfies the OCD. I have the ironing kit set up in a guest bedroom near the laundry, put on some music and chill out on a Sunday afternoon. Its mostly shirts and a little embarrassed to say the tea towels I use for shaving. Shirts I take time with, use starch and am meticulous, the towels its just steam and can do one in under a minute. Having them, like anything, neatly stacked makes me happy.

I will also admit that not having kids probably does influence my actions but I do my part and am for the most a good steward of our little blue orb.

I have small cheap hand towels that I replace each day. After I shave I pat my face with them and then wipe up the big mess I made.

My Bath towel however I keep all week.
Towels do get dingy. You actually exfoliate a lot of dead skin with them. I buy white towels so I can use hot wash. A little vinegar every once in a while really helps get rid of soap residue. This seems to keep them fresh for me.

I used to do the same with hand towels but actually prefer the rougher texture of the kitchen/tea towels, same with why I would never use laundry softener since I don't like the slimy feel it leaves behind. Vinegar is great stuff, what I use for cleaning floors & counter tops.

I do laundry once a week (I live alone). I have two fluffy bath towels on the back of the bathroom door. I use one first when I get out of the shower and then use the other, mainly to dry my hair.


The next day, I start with the other towel (it's drier) and reverse the process. I wash the two towels once a week when I do the rest of the laundry.

Live alone, well kind of, and do the towels twice a week and the rest once a week. I do like your system of two towels tho.

Actually, we change them weekly. I would hate to think of a family of 7 having 49 towels per week to wash. Would they have time or capacity to wash their clothes? Would the phosphorus in the sewer be good for the environment?

I use the soap from Method that's supposed to be better for environment. As for the family question I don't know. Frankly I'm in awe of people who have one kid that they can keep clean, clothed & fed let alone five.

My head is shaved , so all I need to dry off is my wash cloth and a small hand towel....I change them every day.

Good man!

 

[Earcutter]

Ramblings...

I find ironing calming & rewarding And making something that was messy neat & orderly satisfies the OCD. I have the ironing kit set up in a guest bedroom near the laundry, put on some music and chill out on a Sunday afternoon. Its mostly shirts and a little embarrassed to say the tea towels I use for shaving. Shirts I take time with, use starch and am meticulous, the towels its just steam and can do one in under a minute. Having them, like anything, neatly stacked makes me happy.

I will also admit that not having kids probably does influence my actions but I do my part and am for the most a good steward of our little blue orb.

I was only joking, but yeah, not having kids is HUGE. I've long since given into providing the drycleaner my shirts. But ironing t's is the height of awesome.

 

[spr258]

I have the same view as your wife. I use two a week maybe one. Depends if I show once a day or twice a day. My wife changes hers everyday. Doesn’t like the smell and she doesn’t hang hers flat like I do. That is where the smell comes from. Wet towels allowed to sit I think.

 

[StillShaving]

When I was younger the thought of using a towel twice was unthinkable. Now they get used at least 3-4 times before getting tossed into the laundry basket.

When in a hotel I like fresh towels every day, sheets and bedding can be used multiple nights.

 

[Canadian Mountain Man]

Apparently I'm not the only person who thinks about these things....

I googled "how dirty is your towel"; 9,450,000 results

I looked at a few of the linked stories and while I normally dislike anything from the Oprah Universe one from doctoroz.com seemed to capture everything (my embedded comments are in red):

The Ultimate Towel Test – Separating Fact from Fiction

According to a recent Doctor Oz poll, there is not a lot of consensus on how long you should use a towel for. Some (16%) say they wash their towels daily (ha! I'm not as much of an obsessive weirdo as I thought), while most people say they do so less often, with 33% washing their towels two or three times per week, 40% once a week, and 11% said they wash their towels only every 2 weeks or more.

Washing your towels after every use may feel a bit excessive since it uses a lot of water and energy, and may wear down your towels more quickly. Plus after you take a shower, you are clean, so the towel you use to dry off should be clean too, right?

On the other hand damp, warm towels are a nearly perfect environment for microbial growth and rarely washing your towels might lead to towels that are—well—pretty gross.

So what’s the ideal number of days to use your towel so that you’re not exposing yourself to potentially nasty bacteria, mold, and yeast after taking a shower?

We teamed up with NSF International (www.nsf.org) to find out. Viewers from all over the country sent their towels to the NSF International laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan to see just how dirty they were. In total we tested 31 towels that had been used for either 1, 7, or 14 days. In the lab, NSF International scientists conducted microbiological tests on each towel in search of the following microbes:

• Yeast/mold — Microbes that can cause respiratory disease or magnify allergies.
• Aerobic bacteria — Bacteria that grow in the presence of oxygen and are a common cause of clinical infection.
• Coliforms — Bacteria of fecal origin that include E. coli.
• E. coli bacteria — Associated with food poisoning and a common cause of urinary track infections.

What we found was surprising (shouldn't be since those are naturally present on most of us or in our bathrooms). Significant numbers of bacteria were present on all of the towels we tested, including those used for only one day. Also significant yeast microbes were present on more than half of the towels and mold was present on nearly half of the towels. Some of the towels even held significant amounts of E. coli.

As you might expect, the test revealed that the towels tended to get dirtier the longer they were used. For example, towels used for 1 day were generally cleaner than towels used for 7 days. And towels used for 7 days were generally cleaner than the ones used for 14 days (no kidding). In fact, NSF International concluded that for every seven days a towel was used, the amount of microorganisms present on the towel almost doubled.

The study also compared towels used by women to towels used by men. While the towels used by men generally contained more E. coli, the towels used by women contained more yeast microbes. For example, the E. coli count was 10x greater in towels used by men after 14 days of use compared to towels used by women over the same time frame. However, towels used by women for just one day contained 100 times more viable yeast microorganisms than towels used by men.

Using towels with the levels of E. coli found at two weeks could potentially cause a serious illness or infection if the bacteria is ingested or comes in contact with an open wound. Personally, I wouldn’t want to dry my face with one of those towels!

Based on this study, we recommend using a towel for no longer than seven days. In fact its probably best to change your towel at least twice a week, because we found that after 1 week, while the levels of bacteria were growing, the levels of yeast and mold on the towels plateaued and you don’t really want to be rubbing those organisms all over your body either.​

A couple of other stories made mention of sharing bath towels. Just my opinion but that's even nastier than sharing a toothbrush...at least you know where a toothbrush has, or more importantly hasn't, been.

 

[BigJ]

Every second/third day around here.

 

[dfoulk]

Yeah, I change my towel usually every second or sometimes third day. Sometimes more frequently as it gets pulled every time we wash clothes as well even if I've used it one time.

Hand towels usually every other day and pulled every time we wash clothes even if it's a shorter duration.

Here's another question. How about the bed sheets? My wife washes ours every weekend and sometime more frequently than that. She uses some softener that makes them smell great and I love sleeping on freshly cleaned sheets. However, if I was living alone, that time frame would likely be a bit longer, and possibly part of the reason I'd still be living alone.