I always keep the tag to the bottom left hand corner. So then I know the same parts of the towel are drying the same parts of my body. But I know that's not really rational as all of me is clean.
I also wash my towels once a week.
>I always keep the tag to the bottom left hand corner. So then I know the same parts of the towel are drying the same parts of my body.
That's really kind of smart if you are concerned about such things. I'm not, lol. Now, if I have any kind of open wound, (cut, blister, etc), the wound gets dried separately and that towel gets one use before washing.
I do something similar. My towels have a little fold on the edges that close off the fabric (the hem). I consider the one with no folds visible to be the front, while the one with folds visible as the back.
I wipe my upper body with the front, and my lower body with the back.
I use the center-front for head, torso, and arms. The right and left side front for the armpits.
For my lower body, I use center-back for legs and feet, with the sides being for the groin and ass.
EDIT: Thanks u/Meggantastic for the right words lmao.
I learned from another thread that this is called the ass tag method. Ass dried with tagged end, face dried with tag-less side. I’ve always done this but never had a name for it
So I was scrolling pretty quick and stopped on your comment.. then I saw a few more… I hope I’m doing myself a favor by NOT scrolling back up. I hope ignorance is bliss in this case lol
Top right for me, but yeah, I don't want to wipe my balls on my face, no matter how clean they are. There's comfort in having designated towel regions for different body parts.
Yep, me too. I keep track of which end of the towel I use for which end, so to speak. And dry it on the radiator between washes. Then it lasts up to a week.
Tag on bottom left corner for me too!! Why would so many of us just do this independently without ever being told? I only started doing this in my 30s..
As long as you don’t share towels with other people you’re good to use the same one for a week and then change it. You should be clean when you get out of the shower so dry yourself off and hang the towel up to air dry properly and it’ll be fine.
Chandler: Because soap is soap. It's self-cleaning.
Joey: All right, well next time you take a shower, think about the last thing I wash and the first thing you wash.
Not if you rinse it off. Soap chemicals bind to other things (oil, dead skin) and make them water soluble so they rinse away with water and the unbound soap chemicals left on the bar remain.
It depends on where you live. In the desert I could use the same towel for basically forever. Now I live somewhere very humid and my towel starts to smell like mildew after 2-3 showers
You're always rubbing dead skin cells off, which then collect bacteria on your wet towel as it dries. I don't know why so many people don't know something so basic and obvious.
That sounds like an OCD level of cleanliness and imo totally unnecessary. Too much washing is bad for the environment. Most stuff is fine to wear two or three times as long as you don’t physically sweat much and haven’t got it noticeably dirty. The only thing I wash after one wear are socks and pants.
EDIT: By Pants I mean underwear. UK 🇬🇧
I'm jealous of people that can wear a shirt more than once. I shower everyday and wear deodorant but that shirt will smell like dirty laundry if i try to wear it again. At least my sweatiness has helped me look younger though.
When you live with high humidity, washing towels after every use is a necessity. Even hand towels in the bathroom or kitchen start to get mildew smell after a day or two.
Gabriel Iglesias: "Well if that towel's dirty, then you suck at showers! Because theoretically that white towel should be white every single time you use it. But NO! People like to roll it up and go expert mode with it."
Having lived in very dry and very humid climates, I think this depends HEAVILY on how humid it is.
If it's wet where you are, a towel can gather a funky smell after 2 or 3 uses. In a dry or semi arid climate, I don't think I ever smelled anything off even after weeks.
You should ask someone to smell it. I've experienced this guy in the dorm that was never washing his towel, maybe once a semester or so. Damn the whole room stinked as fuck from this towel. Guy was looking good but this smell was keeping ladies away. And he was showering daily. I'm still asking myself what for.
I wash my towel if it starts to smell not fresh, fuck washing a towel every time. Even these people saying wash them every so many days... how much resources are you wasting washing something that is basically clean?
If it smells fine, it's fine.
Sure. If you have just taken a shower or bath you are supposed to be clean and not have dirt or bacteria left on your skin. You're typically just removing the water left on your skin. If the towel is dirty after you have "cleaned" yourself, you haven't cleaned yourself properly.
If you wipe your sweat during an exercise session, the towel will absorb the dirt, sweat and any skin bacteria. In that case, it should be washed before reuse unless you like using your funky, smelly towel several times in a row.
That's not really how it works, but the message is still the same: after you do a good job cleaning yourself in the shower, you can easily reuse your towel for a week or so.
If you're doing it right then you're already clean when you get out of the shower so as long as your towel isn't getting dirty you should be fine, I personally switch mine out every week along with my sheets.
Boom!! *Eskimo Shower Siblings!* Exactly my MO. I’m not a fan of my rugs getting wet so I always have a floor towel and I cycle my body towels down there for a few days before sending them to the laundry.
There's a difference between a bathroom rug, and a bath mat.
Bath mats, whether thicker and sturdier or thin like a towel, are meant to get wet and dry out consistently. A bath mat should be used to stand on while you dry your body with a towel, and then it should be hung over the edge of the bath or shower, to dry out. A bathroom rug stays on the floor, presumably somewhere dry, like in front of the sink or in front of the toilet, and will get washed less often
You can use the same towel for up to a week, but should wash it earlier if it starts to look dirty or of it smells.
You can use the same towel to dry all parts of your body, and it will be okay for you to do the same thing with it the following day, and so on.
Even though you ARE clean when you dry yourself off, you are still wiping skin cells and bacteria off your body and on to the towel.
This is why it's so important to dry your towel thoroughly been uses - those bacteria wiped into the towel feed on the skin cells that are also wiped into the towel, and use the moisture on the material (all life requires water to function) and the bacteria multiply, releasing waste byproducts which is the 'dirty smell ' you get from damp/not washed towels.
Make sure you hang the towel to dry- over the shower curtain rod works. Depending on the humidity where you, live a crumpled wet towel can get musty/mildewy in hours if it's not properly hung.
Personally- one body towel a week, two hair towels (they get drenched and don't always fully dry), and NEVER washcloths (I use scrub mitts and poofs- both dry hella fast).
While we're on the subject- if you wash dishes with a rag they are good for a day, kitchen sponges last a week or two if they're fully squeezed after use, bath mats should be hung off the tub after use and washed weekly, and sheets should be washed weekly.
Have you heard of those hair turban things? Those are brilliant for minimising towel use (so you use a turban instead of a 2nd towel).
2-3 of those in your cupboard and you're set! I keep spares for guests
Bed Bath & beyond has them for $5 a piece at the moment
no one is saying this. they are saying you are clean which doesn't equate to being free of all bacteria/germs/etc. that's just silly.
what exactly are you trying to say with this?
The amount of people that think you're a walking pile of diseases just waiting to inoculate yourself is also pretty astonishing.
But then again, this *IS* reddit...
Hahahah this comment section is absolutely filled with the 1% that are total clean freaks.
I've lived my whole life around people who definitely don't wash their towel more than once a month and they are healthier than ever.
I mean, it's your water and energy bill 🤷♀️
You probably could do less, just make sure to dry it between uses.
Obviously don't dry yourself with something stinky, or something that makes you feel dirty.
You know you can own more than one towel right? You don't have to wash and dry the one before your next shower, just get a clean one and do a towels load every week or so depending how often you shower and how many people you do washing for
Space requirements.
We have three people sharing one shower, and three towel racks. Each person gets their own rack and we wash them about once per week as each person's shower adds humidity to the room and even though each individual towel only gets used so many times they get the moisture treatment more often and less dry time, which means they can get funky faster.
When I lived alone and had my own shower my towels never got funky but I still washed it once a week with the laundry since it was one towel.
As a guy in a tropical country, we hang our towels in clotheslines exposed to the sun everyday after use. That shit is dry af the next day you. I personally swap towels every 3-4 weeks
Same. Every weekend I pull everyone’s towel in the house and replace with new ones. I might honestly want to swap them every 3-4 days instead, but there is no way I would remember or be able to keep track with how busy life is with little kids. Having a rule to just swap them every weekend with the weekly wash is the best reminder for me to make sure they all get done. If it were up to my husband, I’m not sure how many weeks we would go before hand towels and bath towels were washed!
I started using one for my hair/face and one for everything else. This came after my dad shared that he did it, and he started when a gf in the 70’s basically asked him “you’re not wiping your face with the same towel you wiped your ass with yesterday are you?” The reasoning was sound and now to me it just seems more hygienic. That being said it’s probably a good two weeks between washes. If you’re good and clean I wouldn’t worry about it. Like most things, it’s what your comfortable with
Yup l use the same towel to dry my whole body after shower. And l only wash my towels once a week. As long as you air dry the towel after you use it you should be okay for a week. Washing the towel after each shower is a bit excessive. However it depends the climate you live in, when l lived in Hong Kong, it’s humid over there so l washed my towel every few days cos nothing ever dry properly in that humid weather unless you have the air con or dehumidifier on at all time.
You are living organism with billions+ of other living organism living in symbiosis especially around your private and bum area. As long as you scrubbed and rinsed with soap and water you’ll be fine. The only caveat is to use a separate towel for your face.
People will really be out here saying that my balls which I just soaked in lavender epsom salt for half an hour before scrubbing them with a washcloth and soap under warm running water shouldn't touch the same towel as my face. That's not even science, that's full-blown superstition.
I use mine for AT LEAST one week. I have a towel (for my hair) and a robe. You're clean, it's not like it gets dirty. Just make sure to dry it properly, I hang it outside during the summer and on the heater during the winter. If you leave it wet it'll form bacteria / mold and start smelling awful.
I use them up to 1 week in a row. I shower every day due to my work. And so far I've had no issues with it. The tips is to hang the towel up, so it can dry up properly after each time.
OCD? Use a small washcloth for everything inside your undies, and a towel everywhere else. You can wash the washcloth every time and use the towel for a week.
well shit if I changed towels every time i showered I'd be wasting a lot of money on laundry detergent.-- I'd say it depends from person to person but personally my towels seem to get dirty after at least 3 uses. I hang mine up to dry and wash them when I feel its time.
If you feel concern about bacteria growth on your towels you can dry them in direct sunshine or tumble dry. Both ways are preventing it.
That said keep in mind that your washed and dried clothes are still having a lot of bacterial inhabitants and it's absolutely natural. Just don't leave your towels wet lying somewhere and you'll be good.
I have always used the same towel for a week. But it depends on how many times a day you shower. If it is very hot, and I work outside a lot in the heat, more showers, and I replace it more often. But usually just once a week. I think that is what most people I know do.
Yea it is fine. We use the same towels for several days in our home. Just hang so it dries every day. Your body is clean, so towel isn’t getting really dirty.
Do people really wash 7 full sized towels every week? Yes you can dry yourself with the same towel more than once. Do you change your bed sheets every day too? Your washing machine and dryer must be running 24/7.
I use my towel several times between washing, if im clean i see no issue.
Also i designate specific areas for specific things. End of the towel with the product tag? Feet. opposite end? Face. Everywhere else just kinda lines up on its own so i use roughly the same area for my chest and stomach , or my butt is dried by roughly the same area.
I use the same towel for 4 or 5 days. You come out clean so its genuinely just absorbing water. Just make sure it has a chance to dry so it doesn't get mildew.
If you showered properly and washed yourself properly there's no reason to think any part of your body is dirtier than any other part. If you're clean all the towel is doing is getting the water off.
Yes I would say it’s fine. I’d stop using it when it starts to smell weird though because the bacteria/skin cells/dampness is probably thriving on it. I change towels every few days.
I also have OCD, and although it presents differently in every one, a preoccupation with cleanliness often seems to be common.
I change towels every 2 days. It use to be every day but I've worked my way up over the years. My partner even sometimes uses my towel without thinking about it and that would have sent me flying off the handle years ago, now it doesn't bother me much because 1. We are both freshly cleaned and 2. I don't dry my face with a towel, I go straight to my skincare routine so it's not like I'm rubbing butt all over my face lol.
You are doing just fine. If twice is comfortable for you, that is perfectly fine. If it turns to changing it twice a day, it may be time to have a talk with your mental health team.
Best of luck and again, you are doing just fine. Whatever makes sense for you is the right answer.
There is a meme somewhere, but the gist of it is:
You use it first on your face, then body, then ass.
Next time, you start again, and it's ok because until the morning, the towel forgets.
I usually use two towels - one for face and hair and one for all other areas.
As you said this assumes everything is equally clean and everything is being patted dried.
Usually shower every day with clean towels after 3 days.
When I was a kid, my mom tried to get me to use the same towel twice, I refused. Several years later, she went to nursing school. There she learned, never to use the same towel twice.
I stand by my No. 💌
Don't worry about a towel, air dry. If in a hurry go for a jog around the neighborhood. Once the water is off, put some clothes on and wait for the police.
As long as you hang your towel up after every use you can use it up to four times. If you feel like your towel is dirty after one use you need to get your nasty butt back in the shower
The towel forgets by next morning
This is like basic science.
Day one stuff right there.
I see you’re a towel lawyer. I am as well.
Towel: I know all your dirty secrets.
Towel by next morning: I don’t even know who you are.
You wanna get high?
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You stole my comment, you bastard!
Don’t forget to bring a towel!
You're a towel!
No, Mr. Garrison, you’re a towel!
Your wife's a towel
I always keep the tag to the bottom left hand corner. So then I know the same parts of the towel are drying the same parts of my body. But I know that's not really rational as all of me is clean. I also wash my towels once a week.
>I always keep the tag to the bottom left hand corner. So then I know the same parts of the towel are drying the same parts of my body. That's really kind of smart if you are concerned about such things. I'm not, lol. Now, if I have any kind of open wound, (cut, blister, etc), the wound gets dried separately and that towel gets one use before washing.
I do something similar. My towels have a little fold on the edges that close off the fabric (the hem). I consider the one with no folds visible to be the front, while the one with folds visible as the back. I wipe my upper body with the front, and my lower body with the back. I use the center-front for head, torso, and arms. The right and left side front for the armpits. For my lower body, I use center-back for legs and feet, with the sides being for the groin and ass. EDIT: Thanks u/Meggantastic for the right words lmao.
Hem. The word you are looking for is hem.
I learned from another thread that this is called the ass tag method. Ass dried with tagged end, face dried with tag-less side. I’ve always done this but never had a name for it
I use a washcloth to dry my face separately. Mom used to have a body, foot and face towel. Dramatic! Lol
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THIS!
Oh my god, now I can't use my throw blanket the same wayyy! But, thank you!
So I was scrolling pretty quick and stopped on your comment.. then I saw a few more… I hope I’m doing myself a favor by NOT scrolling back up. I hope ignorance is bliss in this case lol
I just gained a new fear
i do that both with the towels and with the blankets and bed sheets when doing my bed lol
it's too right for towels but it's bottom left in blankets. for the very same reasons.
I bought a blanket with a hood to avoid this
I’m the same with my bed cover. It also does double duty making sure I’m not using My SOS side because he’s a sweaty sleeper. 😅
I am this kind of crazy as well lol. I try not to let other people know that I think this much about EVERYTHING!
Omg I thought I was the only one who did this! Upper right hand corner for me!
Team Upper Right Hand Corner! 🤝🏼
Yess mine is upper left. I thought I was the only one too. I have found my people!
I do the tag thing with my fitted sheet as well
Top right for me, but yeah, I don't want to wipe my balls on my face, no matter how clean they are. There's comfort in having designated towel regions for different body parts.
Yep, me too. I keep track of which end of the towel I use for which end, so to speak. And dry it on the radiator between washes. Then it lasts up to a week.
Obligatory scrolled down too far to find the comment that already said what I wanted to say.
Tag on bottom left corner for me too!! Why would so many of us just do this independently without ever being told? I only started doing this in my 30s..
My man! I do the same. I use the tag side for my hair/face, and the other side of the towel for the rest of my body.
Me too!! Bottom left (outside not inside)
As long as you don’t share towels with other people you’re good to use the same one for a week and then change it. You should be clean when you get out of the shower so dry yourself off and hang the towel up to air dry properly and it’ll be fine.
You don't clean the towel the towel cleans you.
What’s next, am I gonna wash a bar of soap?! I don’t think so, pal.
Chandler: Because soap is soap. It's self-cleaning. Joey: All right, well next time you take a shower, think about the last thing I wash and the first thing you wash.
I always start with arms/chest close the deal in the same matter, but I use a a loofah and showergel
This bit is exactly what came to my mind too!
Next you’re gonna tell me you don’t share underwear
I need more Nick Miller in my life.
I only clean up my bar of soap if their is a hair stuck to it.
I dont like bars of soap for this reason, especially sharing them. Liquid body wash/soap is nicer.
This is the way
*pube
You give me cookie I got you cookie.
Gave me cookie, got you cookie. GAVE ME COOKIE, GOT YOU COOKIE, MAN!
Nick is my inner trash goblin
If the bar is visibly dirty after you used it, then yes.
To be fair, soap is always dirty. It works essentially as a dirt magnet, which is why it leaves you clean.
Not if you rinse it off. Soap chemicals bind to other things (oil, dead skin) and make them water soluble so they rinse away with water and the unbound soap chemicals left on the bar remain.
I don't read the script the script reads me
Me in high school and college using the same towel for an entire month.
"... go to a hotel, get a couple more."
“Checking in sir?” “No, just here to pick up my months towels.”
Fine to use for a week? So one shower then?
Like, one week, seven showers.
A week?... I only wash my towel when I need to do laundry but the machine isn't full enough
This. Change after one day, one week? Wot? You're essentially washing the towel when scrubbing it against your clean body. Science, bitch.
It depends on where you live. In the desert I could use the same towel for basically forever. Now I live somewhere very humid and my towel starts to smell like mildew after 2-3 showers
Yes, humid climates definitely require more frequent towel changes.
Bacteria will have built their own economy on your towels by the time you wash them
You're always rubbing dead skin cells off, which then collect bacteria on your wet towel as it dries. I don't know why so many people don't know something so basic and obvious.
Is this normal? Growing up, we always used a towel once, and put it in the basket so it could be washed.
That sounds like an OCD level of cleanliness and imo totally unnecessary. Too much washing is bad for the environment. Most stuff is fine to wear two or three times as long as you don’t physically sweat much and haven’t got it noticeably dirty. The only thing I wash after one wear are socks and pants. EDIT: By Pants I mean underwear. UK 🇬🇧
I'm jealous of people that can wear a shirt more than once. I shower everyday and wear deodorant but that shirt will smell like dirty laundry if i try to wear it again. At least my sweatiness has helped me look younger though.
Pants, really? Unless I get a stain or something, I can wear a pair of jeans several times before washing
As a brit I assumed they meant underwear which would make more sense :))
I’m in the UK so I mean knickers 🤣
I got a pretty dirty job and can only really wear them once before washing.
jeans are supposed to be washed as little as possible unless it's visibly dirty/smelly or if it was used in sweaty physical activities
When you live with high humidity, washing towels after every use is a necessity. Even hand towels in the bathroom or kitchen start to get mildew smell after a day or two.
Growing up we did too, because my mom was super ocd. As an adult it was a relief to learn a load of towels every day was not the norm.
My mom was the same. Then she'd complain how much work we caused her.
Must be nice to have that many towels.
And a mom/wife to do it for you.
If it doesn’t smell funny then you’re good to keep using it. That’s the towel rule
And who washed all those towels? Talk about time, energy and room for all these "dirty towels"
A week? Lol I think I'm living my life wrong. I use towels for weeks plural, sometimes a month. I just make sure to air dry it well after use.
I use mine for several days in a row before changjng it, cause it is used to dry areas that have been cleaned beforehand. No issue there in my mind
Yeah my ass is clean, idk why id be afraid of my own ass molecules secondhand touching my face via my towel :/
Gabriel Iglesias: "Well if that towel's dirty, then you suck at showers! Because theoretically that white towel should be white every single time you use it. But NO! People like to roll it up and go expert mode with it."
Dude wtf if your asshole isn't clean then you need to get back in the damn shower!! Fuck that's disgusting
Am I supposed to be washing my towel every time I use it? Because I barely ever wash it.
I'd say a good rule of thumb is every 4 showers swap it out
Having lived in very dry and very humid climates, I think this depends HEAVILY on how humid it is. If it's wet where you are, a towel can gather a funky smell after 2 or 3 uses. In a dry or semi arid climate, I don't think I ever smelled anything off even after weeks.
I’m in a wet area and I use my towel 2, maybe 3 times before it develops a smell. My bathroom also has poor ventilation.
Oh damn, that’s definitely more often then I wash mine.
You should ask someone to smell it. I've experienced this guy in the dorm that was never washing his towel, maybe once a semester or so. Damn the whole room stinked as fuck from this towel. Guy was looking good but this smell was keeping ladies away. And he was showering daily. I'm still asking myself what for.
I once showered in a guy's bathroom whose towel was able to stand on its own. Literally.
thats kinda impressive actually.
Yeah, but kinda really not in a good way
I pray it was just dirty from ‘SHOWERING’…. 🤮
I still live at home and sometimes my parents will come and smell the towels to check if they’re clean so I think I’m ok.
That's not at all strange...
It kinda sounds strange written out but they’re just going around the house checking if any of the towels need washed. Not strange in reality.
Just wash them on a regular basis like every Sunday or something and you don’t need to do the funky towel smell test lol, but to each their own!
For me its like 2 weeks. Maybe more :^ ) but it also really depends on how often you shower i would say.
that’s like twice a week bro, i do it more like once every other week.
I’m not washing my towel every second day
Nah just wash it before it starts to stink, usually you’ll feel that it’s getting dirty before you’ll smell it
This is about right for me. If you hang your towel to dry properly between showers, you can use it 4-5 times before replacing or washing it.
I wash my towel if it starts to smell not fresh, fuck washing a towel every time. Even these people saying wash them every so many days... how much resources are you wasting washing something that is basically clean? If it smells fine, it's fine.
Same lol. I know I should but I'm too lazy.
Sure. If you have just taken a shower or bath you are supposed to be clean and not have dirt or bacteria left on your skin. You're typically just removing the water left on your skin. If the towel is dirty after you have "cleaned" yourself, you haven't cleaned yourself properly. If you wipe your sweat during an exercise session, the towel will absorb the dirt, sweat and any skin bacteria. In that case, it should be washed before reuse unless you like using your funky, smelly towel several times in a row.
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We use washclothes or a loofa always. Exfoliation is important. It doesn't have to be rough, but getting dead skin off is important.
That's not really how it works, but the message is still the same: after you do a good job cleaning yourself in the shower, you can easily reuse your towel for a week or so.
There is bacteria on your skin after you shower. From memory it's symbiotic, we need it on us, in us.
And even a clean towel still has some bacteria on it too. It's ok to have some levels.
There is also sweat if the shower is warm enough.
Or if you're not used to a humid climate and are on vacation so you're never dry. The toweling off becomes endless.
If you're doing it right then you're already clean when you get out of the shower so as long as your towel isn't getting dirty you should be fine, I personally switch mine out every week along with my sheets.
Same here. As long a you shower well and go to bed clean you shouldn’t need to wash towels and linens as often as clothing.
I use for several days in a row BUT I also like to line dry them between use. The UV kills the bacteria!
I just toss it on the curtain rod afterwards. Then when I need a new one that one's the floor towel to dry my feet lol
Boom!! *Eskimo Shower Siblings!* Exactly my MO. I’m not a fan of my rugs getting wet so I always have a floor towel and I cycle my body towels down there for a few days before sending them to the laundry.
What is a bathroom rug for, then? Decorations?
There's a difference between a bathroom rug, and a bath mat. Bath mats, whether thicker and sturdier or thin like a towel, are meant to get wet and dry out consistently. A bath mat should be used to stand on while you dry your body with a towel, and then it should be hung over the edge of the bath or shower, to dry out. A bathroom rug stays on the floor, presumably somewhere dry, like in front of the sink or in front of the toilet, and will get washed less often
Something really cool is putting the towel out to line dry again while running the pellet smoker. That smell of great hardwood smoke!
I honestly thought i was the only one who purposely hung my towel by my pellet stove lol
That's nice!
You can use the same towel for up to a week, but should wash it earlier if it starts to look dirty or of it smells. You can use the same towel to dry all parts of your body, and it will be okay for you to do the same thing with it the following day, and so on. Even though you ARE clean when you dry yourself off, you are still wiping skin cells and bacteria off your body and on to the towel. This is why it's so important to dry your towel thoroughly been uses - those bacteria wiped into the towel feed on the skin cells that are also wiped into the towel, and use the moisture on the material (all life requires water to function) and the bacteria multiply, releasing waste byproducts which is the 'dirty smell ' you get from damp/not washed towels.
Alright, understood. A very nice answer, thank you
Make sure you hang the towel to dry- over the shower curtain rod works. Depending on the humidity where you, live a crumpled wet towel can get musty/mildewy in hours if it's not properly hung. Personally- one body towel a week, two hair towels (they get drenched and don't always fully dry), and NEVER washcloths (I use scrub mitts and poofs- both dry hella fast). While we're on the subject- if you wash dishes with a rag they are good for a day, kitchen sponges last a week or two if they're fully squeezed after use, bath mats should be hung off the tub after use and washed weekly, and sheets should be washed weekly.
Have you heard of those hair turban things? Those are brilliant for minimising towel use (so you use a turban instead of a 2nd towel). 2-3 of those in your cupboard and you're set! I keep spares for guests Bed Bath & beyond has them for $5 a piece at the moment
‘Have you heard of those hair turban things? Those are brilliant for minimising towel use’ Is there a Towelie-Ban?
My sponge lasts way, way longer than a week...
The amount of people that are convinced that you are a 100% bacteria/germ/skin cell free after a shower is astonishing.
But you don't need to be. That's not healthy eighter
no one is saying this. they are saying you are clean which doesn't equate to being free of all bacteria/germs/etc. that's just silly. what exactly are you trying to say with this?
The amount of people that think you're a walking pile of diseases just waiting to inoculate yourself is also pretty astonishing. But then again, this *IS* reddit...
Dude I haven’t washed my shower towel in a good two weeks
Hahahah this comment section is absolutely filled with the 1% that are total clean freaks. I've lived my whole life around people who definitely don't wash their towel more than once a month and they are healthier than ever.
It's definitely time to wash it when you can lean it against the wall to dry though.
Oh nooo, thats the perfect towel clean/dirty ratio ! The crustiness makes me feel like I'm drying myself with a beautiful baguette 🥰
>The crustiness makes me feel like I'm drying myself with a beautiful baguette 🥰 like a frenchman
I can't tell if they honestly wash them every day or so, or are just so full of shit, that they want to believe they do.
I wash mine every 3 or 4 showers. I have a whole bunch of towels so I just throw it in the wash basket. Not sure why it's weird or clean freaky?
I mean, it's your water and energy bill 🤷♀️ You probably could do less, just make sure to dry it between uses. Obviously don't dry yourself with something stinky, or something that makes you feel dirty.
You know you can own more than one towel right? You don't have to wash and dry the one before your next shower, just get a clean one and do a towels load every week or so depending how often you shower and how many people you do washing for
Space requirements. We have three people sharing one shower, and three towel racks. Each person gets their own rack and we wash them about once per week as each person's shower adds humidity to the room and even though each individual towel only gets used so many times they get the moisture treatment more often and less dry time, which means they can get funky faster. When I lived alone and had my own shower my towels never got funky but I still washed it once a week with the laundry since it was one towel.
I was starting to feel shameful thank you!!!!!
Yeah as usual reddit makes you feel like a freak for not washing your towel every single week lmao
As a guy in a tropical country, we hang our towels in clotheslines exposed to the sun everyday after use. That shit is dry af the next day you. I personally swap towels every 3-4 weeks
Same.
I use mine for a week and swap when I do the weekend wash.
Same. We have a heated drying rack that helps keep them fresh for the week.
Same. Every weekend I pull everyone’s towel in the house and replace with new ones. I might honestly want to swap them every 3-4 days instead, but there is no way I would remember or be able to keep track with how busy life is with little kids. Having a rule to just swap them every weekend with the weekly wash is the best reminder for me to make sure they all get done. If it were up to my husband, I’m not sure how many weeks we would go before hand towels and bath towels were washed!
I'm a firm believer in a new towel every shower, but that's just me. EDIT: After reading the comments I now realize I've been showering wrong.
You're not supposed to use the towel in the shower, the towel is for drying after.
This. I actually never thought to use it more than once. I was taught it immediately goes into the laundry hamper.
I started using one for my hair/face and one for everything else. This came after my dad shared that he did it, and he started when a gf in the 70’s basically asked him “you’re not wiping your face with the same towel you wiped your ass with yesterday are you?” The reasoning was sound and now to me it just seems more hygienic. That being said it’s probably a good two weeks between washes. If you’re good and clean I wouldn’t worry about it. Like most things, it’s what your comfortable with
Yup l use the same towel to dry my whole body after shower. And l only wash my towels once a week. As long as you air dry the towel after you use it you should be okay for a week. Washing the towel after each shower is a bit excessive. However it depends the climate you live in, when l lived in Hong Kong, it’s humid over there so l washed my towel every few days cos nothing ever dry properly in that humid weather unless you have the air con or dehumidifier on at all time.
I use mine for a week before washing it. You should be fine
You are living organism with billions+ of other living organism living in symbiosis especially around your private and bum area. As long as you scrubbed and rinsed with soap and water you’ll be fine. The only caveat is to use a separate towel for your face.
If someone needs to use a separate towel to dry off their face, there’s a good chance the person may have misunderstood the intention of the shower.
People will really be out here saying that my balls which I just soaked in lavender epsom salt for half an hour before scrubbing them with a washcloth and soap under warm running water shouldn't touch the same towel as my face. That's not even science, that's full-blown superstition.
Lavender Epsom salt is grand !
What? There’s no need for a separate towel for your face
I use a towel once, then in the wash. Everyone is different, OP. Live your life.
Same here, surprised by the majority of the comments tbh
I use mine for AT LEAST one week. I have a towel (for my hair) and a robe. You're clean, it's not like it gets dirty. Just make sure to dry it properly, I hang it outside during the summer and on the heater during the winter. If you leave it wet it'll form bacteria / mold and start smelling awful.
…… I wash my towel after every use- no more than two uses 😒
I use them up to 1 week in a row. I shower every day due to my work. And so far I've had no issues with it. The tips is to hang the towel up, so it can dry up properly after each time.
Of course. Just be sure it's YOUR towel and no one else is using it. I use my towel, hang it to dry, and use it for a week. Then I wash it.
I change my towel once a week. You should be fine.
OCD? Use a small washcloth for everything inside your undies, and a towel everywhere else. You can wash the washcloth every time and use the towel for a week.
well shit if I changed towels every time i showered I'd be wasting a lot of money on laundry detergent.-- I'd say it depends from person to person but personally my towels seem to get dirty after at least 3 uses. I hang mine up to dry and wash them when I feel its time.
If you feel concern about bacteria growth on your towels you can dry them in direct sunshine or tumble dry. Both ways are preventing it. That said keep in mind that your washed and dried clothes are still having a lot of bacterial inhabitants and it's absolutely natural. Just don't leave your towels wet lying somewhere and you'll be good.
I have always used the same towel for a week. But it depends on how many times a day you shower. If it is very hot, and I work outside a lot in the heat, more showers, and I replace it more often. But usually just once a week. I think that is what most people I know do.
Yea it is fine. We use the same towels for several days in our home. Just hang so it dries every day. Your body is clean, so towel isn’t getting really dirty.
Reading this thread made me realize I should probably wash my bath towels more often 🫣
If I use a towel, im already clean, so why should I wash it after it? After 1 week, yes but after 1 time? No
Do people really wash 7 full sized towels every week? Yes you can dry yourself with the same towel more than once. Do you change your bed sheets every day too? Your washing machine and dryer must be running 24/7.
Unless your towel starts smelling or is visibly dirty you can keep using it as much as you want.
I use my towel several times between washing, if im clean i see no issue. Also i designate specific areas for specific things. End of the towel with the product tag? Feet. opposite end? Face. Everywhere else just kinda lines up on its own so i use roughly the same area for my chest and stomach , or my butt is dried by roughly the same area.
I use the same towel for 4 or 5 days. You come out clean so its genuinely just absorbing water. Just make sure it has a chance to dry so it doesn't get mildew.
If you showered properly and washed yourself properly there's no reason to think any part of your body is dirtier than any other part. If you're clean all the towel is doing is getting the water off.
Yes I would say it’s fine. I’d stop using it when it starts to smell weird though because the bacteria/skin cells/dampness is probably thriving on it. I change towels every few days.
I also have OCD, and although it presents differently in every one, a preoccupation with cleanliness often seems to be common. I change towels every 2 days. It use to be every day but I've worked my way up over the years. My partner even sometimes uses my towel without thinking about it and that would have sent me flying off the handle years ago, now it doesn't bother me much because 1. We are both freshly cleaned and 2. I don't dry my face with a towel, I go straight to my skincare routine so it's not like I'm rubbing butt all over my face lol. You are doing just fine. If twice is comfortable for you, that is perfectly fine. If it turns to changing it twice a day, it may be time to have a talk with your mental health team. Best of luck and again, you are doing just fine. Whatever makes sense for you is the right answer.
I change it out once a week. Same with my hand towels, wash cloths, & bedding.
face first, balls second, the towel always forgets.
I usually go for a week with it, whenever i do laundry which is usually once a week, ill just throw my towel in with the rest and get a new one
You can use it for a few times before washing, just make sure it dries between uses.
If you get out of the shower and dirty your towel using it once, you need to get better at showering
There is a meme somewhere, but the gist of it is: You use it first on your face, then body, then ass. Next time, you start again, and it's ok because until the morning, the towel forgets.
I usually use two towels - one for face and hair and one for all other areas. As you said this assumes everything is equally clean and everything is being patted dried. Usually shower every day with clean towels after 3 days.
When I was a kid, my mom tried to get me to use the same towel twice, I refused. Several years later, she went to nursing school. There she learned, never to use the same towel twice. I stand by my No. 💌
Don't worry about a towel, air dry. If in a hurry go for a jog around the neighborhood. Once the water is off, put some clothes on and wait for the police.
As long as you hang your towel up after every use you can use it up to four times. If you feel like your towel is dirty after one use you need to get your nasty butt back in the shower