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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not like people drying their hands on my bath towel?

82 replies

familyfun · 05/02/2013 14:11

in our bathroom there is a hand towel hanging from a towel rail at the side of the sink. it is always clean, changed often.
the kids tend to dry their hands on their own bathtowels which hang on the other side of the room on the bottom rung of the heated rail so they can reach.
when ils come to visit, ive noticed after theyve been to the toilet and wsshed their hands, that there is a trail of water splashed across the bathroom to the bathtowels and my towel is wet and screwed up in the middle.
at first i thought the kids had made the mess but even when the kids havent been upstairs this still happens and the kids cant reach my bathtowel.
i make a point of telling them there is a clean hand towel hanging from the sink when they go up.
dp thinks it doesnt matter, their hands are clean and thinks even if they are using my towel it wont hurt me.
i am funny about things like that, i dont like to touch cups or cutlery or plates which people have used, so im not sure if its me being ott.
aibu to not like this so to remove my bathtowel when they come (and other visitors) so they cant use my towel?

OP posts:
Sugarice · 05/02/2013 14:13

If removing your towel makes you less twitchy then put it elsewhere when you have visitors..

Sugarice · 05/02/2013 14:15

I'm not fussy about these things so I think you are being unreasonable but I would imagine you would think I'm a bit of a slobby housekeeper if you came to my house.

Each to their own I say. Wink

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 05/02/2013 14:15

Well, yes you are a bit OTT to be honest but if it saves your nerves just make sure the towel is removed before guests come over.

SnakesheadFritillary · 05/02/2013 14:20

I hate it when people have no hand towel in their bathrooms, and I really can't imagine why any guest would actively choose to dry their hands on something which has been all round their host's crevices rather than on a clean hand towel.

That said, a trail of water droplets in a bathroom and a damp patch on a towel is a long way from most people's definition of a 'mess', so you are probbly right when you suggest that you care more about this than the vast majority. Just move your towel.

Original poster
familyfun · 05/02/2013 14:24

i cant imagine why theyw ould want to use my towel either, when there is a small hand towel right next to them?
it doesnt bother me that there is a mess of water, im used to cleaning up after my dc and the house ie far ffrom perfect, but it makes me feel like my towel isnt clean for me and i need a new one. what if they havent washed their hands properly and then they are wiping their germs on my bath towel.
im going to move it.

OP posts:
MrsKoala · 05/02/2013 14:35

Sorry I think yabu. I have never encountered such weirdness about towels till I came on mn. I have never met anyone who has separate towels for people in their house. Everyone I know just have bathroom towels and you use the nearest one to you. All very strange to worry about bumbogies or whatever from people you are intimate with or squeezed out of your fandango.

Original poster
familyfun · 05/02/2013 14:39

4 people in house, 4 towels hanging ready to get dry on after a bath/shower.
1 handtowel but changed a lot.
dds both have exthma, dont have any products on their skin at bathtime, use lots of creams and i keep all their stuff separate.

OP posts:
calandarbear · 05/02/2013 14:44

That would annoy me too OP.
I only leave a handtowel out and get a fresh clean bathtowel out of the airing cuboard just before a bath.

MrsKoala · 05/02/2013 14:45

Presumably you rub your towel on your skin and don't put it in your mouth or any other orifices? I'm sure our skin can cope with the odd germ on it. What do you think happens when your skin comes into contact with other stuff which isn't just clean for you? So weird - sorry.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 05/02/2013 14:48

MrsKoala - don't worry, I too am a complete heathen when it comes to towels. I just have a couple out...whoever has a bath shower uses them, they get hung back on the heated towel rail ready for the next victim person.

YouOldSlag · 05/02/2013 14:49

I think you are a being OTT. The thing about not touching plates and cutlery that has been used is a bit OTT too.

diddl · 05/02/2013 14:50

Rather their hands than their arseGrin

I think it´s odd of you-but if it bothers you that much, as others have said-put your towel elsewhere!

fromparistoberlin · 05/02/2013 14:51

sweet jesus

diddl · 05/02/2013 14:51

Ooh-is there a towel heathen quiche?

Can I join?

fromparistoberlin · 05/02/2013 14:51

sorry, sorry

just remove bath towel when they visit

there there

MolehillAlchemy · 05/02/2013 14:54

Ew. Keep those bath towels away from the possibly-not-very-clean-post-butt-wipe fingers! You might be drying your face on that bit next.

At the MIL's bathroom, there's a choice between the dusky, stiff hand towel with the ominous looking stains, or the even grubbier looking bath towel that still retains its original colour round the edges, but is grimly grey in the middle. I employ the wash n shake hands clean then wipe on trousers method.

MrsKoala · 05/02/2013 14:54

Betty, I refuse to believe I am a heathen when it comes to this. I have honestly never known people to be so neurotic about germs as on these boards. I just wonder how the human race has continued without all this obsession with sanitisation. Sure wash your hands and everything, but there seems to be really unhealthy attitude towards bodies, fluids, and functions about now and I fear we are moving so far away from realising we are just animals with washing machines! :)

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 05/02/2013 14:58

No, I'm joking, I am no heathen either, I just have a relaxed attitude to these things. As my dear late mum used to say, life's too short to stuff a mushroom :)

MechanicalTheatre · 05/02/2013 15:01

Totally with you, OP. The thought of sharing towels make me heave (and I am a slattern).

HeyHeySaturday · 05/02/2013 15:01

Pure madness this towel fixation IMO though I have a fairly cavalier attitude to germs etc. me, DH and the dc's are rarely ill and have no allergies or any such. I don't know if there's a link and if there is what causes what.

MrsKoala · 05/02/2013 15:02

And if anyone needs a quiche it's the towel freaks. (Sorry op) the rest of us are normal. NORMAL I say! Grin

drjohnsonscat · 05/02/2013 15:02

I don't understand the towel neurosis thing either Wink. I can only assume some people use their bath towels for much more vigorous scrubbing and probing than I do. Mine just loosely drapes around my shoulders until I am dry and then I get dressed. Obviously doing it wrong.

But then I'm a person who goes to John Lewis, buys plates and doesn't wash them before using them which makes me a total freak on here.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 05/02/2013 15:03

what's all this about a quiche?? I love quiche but preferably with cheese and bacon on it.

I think I must have missed something?? Is it a bit like the pomme bears? :)

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 05/02/2013 15:04

...and I don't dry myself with a towel, I use a towelling dressing gown much to my DH's horror. Just get out the bath and put my gown on - job's a good'un Wink

MrsKoala · 05/02/2013 15:07

Oh sweet jeebus drjohnson am I supposed to do that too? I was almost hunted down and tarred with a cross put on my virtual door, when I said that dh and I share a tooth brush and I don't clean my loo everyday.