Bath Towels
 

How often do you wash 'em? Pick the nearest answer, couldn't be arsed to put a whole shitload of options. I have a friend who can't keep up with her laundry. Discovered she has a bajillion huge bathsheets and they go in the laundry after every single use. Most of the family work out, so that's at least two towels a day each. There's not a lot grimmer than smelly towels after a nice shower, but every use?

Also, what type of towels do you like? Huge fluffy ones or efficient quick-drying ones? Colors to match the bathroom or white that you can bleach?

Feel free to flannel....

Hear about the snake charmer who married an undertaker? I gave them towels marked Hiss and Hearse.

Thanks folks, here all week, try the veal.

I miscounted and didn't have room for the "I'm Special, I dry by magic/au naturel and have no use for these things you call towels" option.

it's a little spongey

I like a fast drying thin towel. They have less of a chance to start smelling because they aren't damp for long. We have some fluffy ones that have picked up smells. They smell fresh when washed but get wet and start to stink. They look good and match the decor, but I use the ugly thin ones that clash.

If it starts to smell or gets a little stiff, I throw it in the hamper. Maybe every two weeks. But with the fluffy ones, it's only a few days, because they stink.

Yeah with good ventilation, theoretically you shouldn't ever need to wash them, right? After all, it's just water, you're clean when you get out of the shower/bath....

Ours are big and somewhat fluffy and hang on hooks so they get washed every few days. We need a good towel rail, but the bathroom barely has room to fart in.

That's only true if you scrub every square inch with a brush or one of those pot scrubber looking things, otherwise the towel is rubbing off dead skin and stuff.

I use the smell test to decide.

I also use the smell test and toss it in the dirty clothes chute if it's smelly. Fortunately, the fresh towels are in the same closet, so I don't have to stand there dripping in the hall for long.

I have a motley crew of towels. The last towel I bought was a beach-y towel I got on a camping trip because the weather at our destination (where I got the towel) was very hot, hot enough to make a dip in the lake inviting. Before that, another camping trip the year before. None of them really match in color, texture, or teh fluffeh-ness. As far as preference goes, I like the thinner ones for efficiency. I hang them on the rack or on the shower curtain rod to dry.

hence the use of the word theoretically and the ellipses... ;)

I notice that little attention is paid to drying the towel.

Sure, wash your towels. Well. I have white towels so I bleach then a bit. But then I hang them on a clothesline. Something about hanging in the sun for a few hours sterilises them and makes them smell really good. Saves on electricity too. I line-dry certain large items like blankets an thick items like towels on the line.

Also, hang up your towels without folding them so they dry after each use. Folding it to look nice on the rod or whatever or, worse yet, throwing it in a lump on the floor will cause odors and mildew quickly.

We live in a very, very dry climate so everything dries quickly. We use big plush towels and wash them once every 2-3 weeks. They have never smelled (unless they were used to dry the dog).

Weekly, unless smelly sooner. Large terry bath sheets. Monster's right, it's clean water you're wiping off.

line-dried towels are teh crispy. plus bad for people with pollen/dust allergies.

Ya'll are some nasty folks!

Living alone I get to make my own rules about towels. momwolf was originally a wash after every use, and then morphed into once a week. After all, the bath towels only ever get rubbed against a clean body. Handtowels and washcloths go more often.

I, on the other hand, don't typically use a bath towel. I have a big fluffy bathrobe that I put on after I shower, and the towel is really for show, and emergencies. The bathrobe gets washed every other week.

I have white towels that I wash after each use and bleach - use them at times that total bacteria avoidance is needed (in another week, they'll be in full-time use). Also have fluffy towels that I spread out to dry but still wash every couple of days. It's the old rubbing off dead skin thing ... can't let that go on too long. Yecch.

Every use. That's four per day, one per family member. We have cheap, smallish bath towels and when they're gone we bust into the beach towels. I do laundry on Mondays and it isn't generally a problem.

28 bath towels on a wash. Plus clothes, I presume. Crikey!


Sent by thought transference

Bath towels, for me, get washed after two or three uses. Big, fluffeh ones. Hang it over the shower door rail, never smells. Fresh (rough) wash cloth every time.

As for the dead skin...aren't you washing/scrubbing that off in the shower?

Yabbut ... unless you really go to town with a pretty good brush or loofah every time, you're not scrubbing it all off ... probably wanders into OCD territory if you DO go nuts every time. You'd end up with irritation, infection, all that don't-need-it stuff. We're supposed to have a little transitional epidermis; trouble is, it flakes off as it finishes transitioning.

So, the soft, fluffy towel is gonna get packed with what you missed after "going to town with a pretty good brush or loofah"?

:eyebrow:

:p:

Something like that. There are always parts you miss ... ;)

Years ago I had a housemate who put it like this, "I don't want anyone using my towels. I figure, you dry your face with your towel, and I'll dry my ass with mine."

There's some stark relief for ya.

We use ordinary old bath towels and mine goes in the wash once a week. I can't speak for anyone else in the house. They're responsible for putting their own in the wash basket. If it's not in there, it doesn't get washed. I try to keep washing to a minimum because we live on tank water, but water is precious anyway, and I'll be buggered if I'm going to do two or three extra loads of washing per week just to have nice fluffy towels every day.