How often do you wash your bath towel?

[tvguy]

Apparently Americans wash everything too often.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/good-news-anyone-whos-sick-031603628.html

 

[barkley]

Apparently Americans wash everything too often.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/good-news-anyone-whos-sick-031603628.html

interesting.

i have a 'water efficient' washer. i know about how much is the top amount of laundering weight for the minimum increment of water usage. i'm on a well so i try to minimize usage/maximize it's potential. i would prefer to over wash and prematurely deteriorate a $15'ish bath towel and maximize a minimum load to it's capacity.

 

[Moliphino]

My add on question is how many bath towels do you have/use? I only have the two towels I use (one for my hair/head and the other for my body.

8 bath towels, 8 hand towels, and probably like 30 face cloths.

 

[tzolkin]

Washed after one use. TBH flabbergasted that I’m an outlier. It never occurred to me to use a damp used towel after bathing/showering.

Where did you jump to the assumption that people are using damp/wet towels? We re-use towels, but I have never used a damp towel.

If the towels remained even slightly damp, they would smell mildewy. That's why we hang them up and ensure that the bathroom has proper airflow so it's not humid. Even if we are not going to reuse, I still have to hang my towels to dry completely after each use. To me, tossing wet towels into a hamper to sit for days before washing is gross because there is more time for bacteria and mold to grow while they are sitting damp in the basket.

 

[summerlyangel]

In reality, I smell it before I use it and if it smells icky, I get a clean one. In the summer, that might be a every other day, but in the winter, it's once or 2x per week.

 

[soccerdad72]

Usually, we use our towels 3 or 4 times before washing them.

 

[RedHead0186]

Where did you jump to the assumption that people are using damp/wet towels? We re-use towels, but I have never used a damp towel.

If the towels remained even slightly damp, they would smell mildewy. That's why we hang them up and ensure that the bathroom has proper airflow so it's not humid. Even if we are not going to reuse, I still have to hang my towels to dry completely after each use. To me, tossing wet towels into a hamper to sit for days before washing is gross because there is more time for bacteria and mold to grow while they are sitting damp in the basket.

Yeah, I don't get how people are having damp/wet towels when they go to use it the next time. I hang my towel up after using it, and even if I shower the next day it's totally dry. The only time it might not be is if I take a bath at night and then shower the next morning-parts of the towel may still be a bit damp. But even then, it doesn't bother me as there's enough dry towel to dry me off.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Everyone in our household seems to have different philosophies on towels and we each do our own laundry. I usually do laundry once a week for myself and rotate between two towels for that duration. So, both towels get washed when I do my weekly laundry. I keep a third clean on in reserve that may wind up in the mix if I'm slow to bring the clean laundry upstairs.