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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To consider flannels fucking revolting

348 replies

BelfryWitch · 17/08/2015 18:09

Just use your hands! What's with dragging a manky rag all over your body and face about?

Or if you absolutely must have one, then it needs washing after every use. A sopping square of material draped over the bathtub to dry is just grim.

OP posts:
carbolicsoaprocked · 21/08/2015 01:30

Uh... Why must a flannel be 'manky'?! I only use them for my face and I use a new one every day - thus no mankiness... I'd feel a bit manky just washing my face with my hands though. YABU to consider all flannel usage revolting - that's like saying pants are revolting. YAhoweverNBU to consider dirty flannel usage revolting. Pretty straightforward I'd have thought...

anklebitersmum · 21/08/2015 02:52

Moist flannel.

Two equally revolting words that together absolutely equal NO Wink

kissmelittleass · 21/08/2015 10:41

I never use one and I hardly ever wash my face with water I just use cotton wool with cleansing cream.

KittyLovesPaintingOhYes · 21/08/2015 14:04

Unknown to me DD (4) had been keeping a soggy flannel in her room to 'wash her hair' - I couldn't understand why she smelled like wet dog!

KittyLovesPaintingOhYes · 21/08/2015 14:05

Otherwise I am meh on the whole flannel issue.

girlandboy · 21/08/2015 14:22

In order to wash your face properly, and that includes neck and behind the ears then I don't think you can beat a nice hot soapy flannel!

I've given the "just use your hands to wash with" a go, and either I'm doing it wrong but I just can't seem to get behind my ears without dousing my hair with water. And as for washing my neck with my hands - all the water runs down onto my chest. And it doesn't seem to be as much washing as just splashing/flinging a bit of water about.

A fresh flannel is so much easier. Use it then fling it in the washer!

FriedFishAndBread · 21/08/2015 14:34

I use a clean flannel everyday. My dc have a clean flannel each everyday.

I find it pretty revolting that people only use their hands in the bath or shower to wash with, that's not washing that's standing in water. Give yourself a good scrub Op I'm sure your skin will thank you for it.

I expect your towel is minging with dead skin and dirt that didn't come off in the bath/shower.

littlejohnnydory · 21/08/2015 16:43

They are fucking grim. DH likes them and insists the dc have them. I won't even touch the germy fuckers.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 21/08/2015 17:44

I have flannels as I use oil cleansing on my face and need flannel to take the oil off again. I rinse the flannel and dry it overnight on the edge of the sink and fling it in the laundry basket in the morning. They all get chucked into a hot wash with the towels. The DC use a flannel in the shower as otherwise they would use masses of shower gel and never get it to foam properly. Again it gets rinsed, dried and goes in the laundry basket. That level of use does mean that I have about 30 or 40 flannels, however quite a few of them are unused muslins from when the DC were little cut into four.

PHANTOMnamechanger · 21/08/2015 17:51

washing your face with a steaming hot flannel is one of life's simple pleasures, in our house of 5 we all have our own colour (to match our own personal bath towel, natch), so we know whos is whose, and we all get a clean one every day anyway.
in the shower i use a bath puff thing, you get a good lather and the abrasive action is good for your skin and your circulation. I also have a loofah thingy with and straps for those hard to reach bits of back and shoulders.

Just washing my face with handfuls of water never feels clean, and if you stand in the shower and just let water wash you then theres all sorts of muck and grease still on you and the dead skin come off on the towel.

neither bath puffs nor flannels are manky if they are cleaned and dried properly

PHANTOMnamechanger · 21/08/2015 17:54

hand straps not and

rowingboat · 21/08/2015 19:41

Oo Phantom. I agree!
I did try the hot oil method, but it wasn't for me. During this period I discovered why all those ganster types in barber shops had hot towels on their faces - it is sooo relaxing. Obviously, not it you get tommy gunned, but surprisingly blissful.

girlandboy · 21/08/2015 22:57

littlejohnnydory why would a fresh flannel in the bathroom be any more of a germy fucker than a fresh towel, which presumably you use?

SoleBizzzz · 21/08/2015 23:33

What a load of flannel Grin

nagynolonger · 22/08/2015 13:56

Everything can revolting if you let it be.

Toothbrushes, towels, nailbrushes, combs aren't sterilised after ever use. Flannels are cleaner than sponges and those vile plastic puff ball things.

I have a big pile in the bathroom. Anyone who wants one can use one and any went ones go in the wash.

Voovinnie · 22/08/2015 19:14

I can second using them for children, as a child they were a MUST when I was having my hair washes as it'd be folded in half and put over my eyes.

I dislike them around the tub/sink that have already been used/are dry because they harbour bacteria, but the same goes for things like scrubber gloves, wash balls etc if not rinsed out correctly.

ShatnersBassoon · 22/08/2015 19:19

I love a flannel wash. We have loads of them because we wash them after every use. How can a good friction-aided wash with a clean flannel be unhygienic?

Sansoora · 22/08/2015 19:22

I like a flannel wash and like ShatnersBassoon we have loads of them and use them once before they're washed.

Violetbeau · 22/08/2015 21:56

You British and your stand up washes! I'm Australian and I can honestly say I've never done a stand up wash in my life. Why don't you have showers, did you grow up in the dark ages?

Sansoora · 22/08/2015 22:16

I have 2 showers a day, sometimes 3 depending on the time of the year where I live, but sometimes I just have a stand up wash as the third one because its easier to cool down a sink full of water than the water that comes out of the taps in 115 degree heat.

Fluffy24 · 22/08/2015 22:20

Am I the only one thinking that I've missed out by never having a flannel??! I'm going to get one and give it a whirl in the shower.

LuluJakey1 · 22/08/2015 23:33

Did someone say they wash pants in the same wash as tea towels. Shock

Pants go in a wash with dettol bacteria killer (should be a machine gun icon for killing bacteria)

Ds's clothes after a poonami are soaked in antibacterial stuff before being washed separately.

Towels and flannels go in a boil wash once a week. Flannels are only used for faces. Any other parts of body are washed in the shower or bath with net thing. Towels are not shared except hand towels which are only for hands.

Tea towels and kitchen cloths are changed daily and washed on a hot wash once a week.

Goodness, someone will be saying they use the same mop on their bathroom/loo floor that they use on their kitchen floor next. Hmm

BastardGoDarkly · 23/08/2015 00:20

Oh please, get a fucking life, or a hobby, I dunno, but step away from the washing machine Confused

Whatthefucknameisntalreadytake · 23/08/2015 00:26

Pants, tea towels, face cloths, they all get chucked in the same wash at 40 degrees. Anything else is overkill. I might even drop it down to 30 degrees soon....crazy!

theDudesmummy · 23/08/2015 00:31

I don't get them, for myself. But I have a couple for DS, to dry his face off when I have washed his hair with a shower attachment. They are hung up on hooks so they dry completely after each use.

DH uses a flannel when he shaves, also a net thing when he showers (which I just don't get either). They do also get hung on hooks to dry too though. Lying around damp would be horrible.

The only similar thing I use is an exfoliating sponge which I use on my face every week or so.