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Original poster

How old is your eldest towel?

233 replies

fairyfluf · 09/09/2023 20:44

Mine is 20 years! Is that really bad? I'm wondering if it's actually really unhygienic but I wash towels regularly.

OP posts:
Original poster
fairyfluf · 09/09/2023 20:53

lottiegarbanzo · 09/09/2023 20:46

53

That's great! Do you still use it?

I am feeling reassured by these replies.

OP posts:
Redlarge · 09/09/2023 20:53

Its a beach towel i bought to go to cyprus when my oldest was 1. Shes just turned 12.

xyzandabc · 09/09/2023 20:53

I definitely remember some of our towels being with I'd when we lived abroad in 1984 so getting on for 40+ years.

Original poster
fairyfluf · 09/09/2023 20:54

SpanishSummer · 09/09/2023 20:52

I am always horrified when I see articles like the one below. So bad for the environment to encourage people to replace all towels after 2 years. My oldest were bought for my first house 20 years ago.

https://www.online-bedrooms.co.uk/be-inspired/germ-free-homes-how-often-to-replace-household-items/

Who changes their shower curtain every 3 months?!!

OP posts:
8008less · 09/09/2023 20:54

My favourite towel is at least 25. It’s just the right level of thickness (actually thinness) for drying my hair.

Original poster
fairyfluf · 09/09/2023 20:55

Mines a John Lewis one I bought to go to uni with as someone told me to get a good bathsheet one for the shared bathrooms.

OP posts:
Curlyshabtree · 09/09/2023 20:55

I was randomly wondering about this the other day! Mine are around 20 years old and still going strong.

8008less · 09/09/2023 20:56

And I’ve got a beach towel my late father bought when he took us on holiday when I was 8. My 8 year old uses it now, which I love!

QueenOfHiraeth · 09/09/2023 20:56

I have a beach towel that was a wedding gift.
Been married 40 years!

ScarletWitchM · 09/09/2023 20:56

I have a towel that was my grandmothers (still useable!) which she has when I was a child so must be over 30 years old!

listsandbudgets · 09/09/2023 20:56

63 years old!! My nan bought a lovely hand towel in 1960.and it's passed down to me. It is a bit dilapidated now but definitely still has a bit of use in it yet

Other than that a couple ofnM&S towels.my mum bought me for university which will be 30 next year

SabbatWheel · 09/09/2023 20:57

I have a pair that were given to mum when she married in 1966 that were first opened in 1990 and used daily in the downstairs loo.

My ‘can definitely be dated’ towel is a Wimbledon 1987 one that I bought when I worked there in hospitality during the fortnight. This is still in superb condition (made by Advance towels).

Petrarkanian · 09/09/2023 20:58

48 years, I was given it when I was 4.

MerelyPlaying · 09/09/2023 20:58

I got married in 1986 and got quite a few towels as presents.

My mum advised me not to start using them all at once, but to save some for when the first lot were worn out. On this basis, 37 years, but I can’t swear that it’s been used throughout that time. I did have a school swimming towel with the name tape on and I’m quite cross that it’s gone missing, it was still perfectly good, even if it did date from 1976! Some more recent purchases on the other hand have begun to show holes. They don’t make them like they used to.

When I had a new bathroom last year, I just dyed all the towels to match the decor.

I can’t bear velvety soft towels, mine are always line dried for a pleasingly skin-excoriating roughness.

HippeePrincess · 09/09/2023 20:59

18 year from when i moved out of home. They’re usable, last year two of them started to unravel at one edge and had I not got the money to replace them (plus DP hates how old they are) I’d have seen them. I’ve replaced DP’s and the kids ones but I’m not that bothered til I see some really nice waffle towels for me.

MajesticWhine · 09/09/2023 21:00

I'd say we have some that are 30+ years. Nothing wrong with them Grin

DahliaMacNamara · 09/09/2023 21:01

I don't know when I last bought a new towel. MIL used to give me her cast-offs when she was having a clearout. I never take the care of them that she did, and yet they still dry perfectly well. So the answer is fuck knows.

Dianalouise · 09/09/2023 21:01

nearly 40 years old…I got it at a market in Brighton when I was on holiday age about 6 or 7. It’s pink with Cheer Bear (one of the Care Bears) on the front…I loved it then and my 6 year old daughter loves it now…it’s the only towel she will use 😂 it has been washed pretty much once a week for all that time. A bit faded now but still very absorbent!

WWYDIYWMRN · 09/09/2023 21:01

25 years, it was given to my eldest DC when she was a baby

HappyAsASandboy · 09/09/2023 21:02

I have beach towels that are 40+ years old, and bath towels that are 30+ years old. They're the softest ones!

lottiegarbanzo · 09/09/2023 21:04

My 53yo towels are still in use, yes. There are quite a few of them - wedding gifts to my parents - and most have been in steady use, on and off. Some are quote worn out now, others have been used a bit less and are fine.

BarrelOfOtters · 09/09/2023 21:04

Some 28 years old…now dog towels. Others, all white, 20 years…we’ve discussed replacing them but not actually done anything about it…like pick up new towels in town. Seems a bigger issue than it needs to be …

PurpleWhirple · 09/09/2023 21:05

I have one that my mum bought for me on a holiday in 1992

GoogleWhacked · 09/09/2023 21:05

One of mine came from my mother's house when I moved out in 1996, so god only knows how old it is. Still going strong!

Hippopotaperson · 09/09/2023 21:05

And the BHS towels look like new for years. John Lewis are next and then M&S BUT George at Asda have surpassed themselves in the towel
buying stakes. I’m impressed by their quality.

my mum said to buy a facecloth before you bought the towels. Use it and wash it and see how it wears. A sort of towel test.