Following the prior Lemmy post about towels…

I wash once a week, is that sufficient or need I more frequency?

  • cobysev
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    142 years ago

    When I was a kid, it was one and done. I grabbed a clean towel from the bathroom closet every day. Even though I was clean coming out of the shower, I also knew that showering loosens dead skin cells, which I was rubbing all over the towel. Over time, those skin cells would decompose, giving off a musty smell. I learned that from my dad, who almost never changed his towel. Ick. It made me extra paranoid about reusing them, so I swapped towels daily.

    When I became an adult and had to do my own laundry, I realized just how miserable it was trying to wash 7 towels every week. (Why did my mother let me use so many towels as a kid?!) So I started reusing them. I used a towel for a week before throwing it in the laundry.

    Now, I’m recently retired in my late 30s and shower every 2-3 days (or anytime I leave the house). Since I’m not showering as frequently, I will reuse a towel for about 2-3 weeks before replacing it. If I go to dry off after a shower and the towel smells a bit musty, I’ll toss it on the floor and grab a fresh towel instead. I think I’m on week 4 with my current towel, but it still smells clean, so I’m not too worried about getting a few more showers out of it.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      I thought I was going crazy here. I have a clothes hamper and a towels hamper. Towel goes in hamper after use. Load of towels gets washed when the hamper is full.

      I guess it’d fill up a lot quicker if I had kids, and that’d become a problem.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      Me too. And I use a face towel instead of a full sized one so that I can wash it more frequently if I need, and it’s taking half the space in the washer. Maybe with long hair it wouldn’t be big enough, but for me it works.

  • dog
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    412 years ago

    I wash mine when it starts growing mold. So anywhere from every 3 years to every 6 years.

    • @[email protected]
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      112 years ago

      I had a roommate in college who just never washed his towel (singular) all semester.

      It was fucking disgusting and made the whole bathroom smell like BO, to the point that every time I needed to use the bathroom, I’d put on my trusty rubber gloves and throw it up against his door.

      His argument was that he only ever used it after he showered, on his clean body, so using it to dry a clean body was effectively washing it too.

      It became routine for me and the other roommate to warn him when we were bringing a girl over that if he didn’t get his towel out of the fucking bathroom, we’d exact nuclear revenge.

      • @[email protected]
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        32 years ago

        We must have had the same roommate. Did he also stay up late at night screaming and clapping at movies alone in his room?

  • @[email protected]
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    102 years ago

    I’m only using the towel to dry off when I’m clean from showering, I use it at least a week. I do hang it from a rack where it dries well.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 🏆
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    2 years ago

    I only clean mine once a week; but that’s like 7 towels at a time. I use a fresh one every time I take a bath/shower and toss them in a hamper when done. The only towel that gets used more than once without being washed until the rest is the one towel I use as a floor mat because I’m too cheap to buy a floor mat.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    If you asked my wife, the answer would be that you use them for a day or two tops, but the important part is that you throw them in the hamper wet, and then make sure to put other clothes and stuff on top of them so they sit there damp and mouldering until laundry day comes around.

    Our towel bar is directly above the heating grate, so towels, properly hung, will dry fairly quickly there. Considering that towels are typically only used to dry you once you’ve just thoroughly cleaned yourself, they won’t smell like much of anything but maybe soap and shampoo for many days of use, assuming they are able to dry out. But apparently it’s more of a priority that they get put in the laundry basket immediately, moisture be damned. I gave up trying to fight that fight long ago.

    • Spaz
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      42 years ago

      Should do malicious compliance and drench the towels till they are soaking and dripping wet, then put them in the laundry basket.

  • @[email protected]
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    72 years ago

    I usually go for once a week to once every two weeks. But I do have a heated towel dryer, and k think that helps to keep bacteria to grow in them. My advice is to make sure you hang your towl somewhere they can air out well

  • gregorum
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    2 years ago

    Once a week is normal, unless you notice a funk. How wet they get, how you hang them, and how well they dry can be factors in this. 

  • Em Adespoton
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    322 years ago

    Which towels are we talking about, and how frequently do they get used?

    Bath towels, hand towels and dish drying towels will all get dirty at different rates, and get/stay wet at different rates.

    Towels should smell clean (clean, not perfumy) and be dry and not feel like they’ve got something on them. The more time a towel stays wet, the more often you wash it. If it gets noticeably dirty, you wash it. This could be anywhere from once a day to never, if it’s just decorative and you never use it.