Sharing towels

[sleeplessinderbyshire]

Lighthearted one here and suspect may be told this is very much a first world problem....

Towels.

When I was growing up we always had our own towels. Not just "own" in terms of not sharing a wet/used towel but I had pink towels, dsis had yellow, mum had green and dad blue. You NEVER used someone else's - helped yourself to a clean one from airing cupboard but always your own colour.

Fast forward to now. My kids have their "own" (distinctive striped/coloured/embroidered but not with a colony rule). DH thinks it's reasonable for him/me just to take any clean towel from the place we store clean towels and use it. This means he's currently got my lovely yellow white company super duper bath sheet. He says that as I've got another towel he can't see the issue. Apparent when he was growing up they just took any clean towel from the airing cupboard.

He thinks I'm weird for wanting "my" towels to be mine. I think he's weird for not wanting his own (we have loads of nice towels - don't get me into him using parts of the matching sets of guest towels.....)

So AIBU or is he?

Should you not dry your orifices properly? I thought you should do that anyway. Otherwise how do you get dressed if your bum is still wet?

DD thinks it's hillarious to wipe the toothpaste residue off her face on daddys towel after cleaning her teeth instead of on hers - to keep her towel clean. I've said its yuk but don't want to give her hang ups. Sooner or later she'll think of the implication of wiping her face in the bit he wiped his bum on. She's only 8. I think she may have finally stopped eating her bogies so it's a start.

We share clean towels, though we have specific ones for newly dyed hair as they end up stained.
However if you want to have towels tv at are just yours, YANBU to expect DH to not use them.

Re sharing used towels, it depends what they've been used for - generally I don't see the harm in body, face etc, but I wouldn't fancy rubbing a towel that's dried someone's fanjo/arse all over my body, let alone my face.
Mind you, I still have quite a hang-up over towels from my teens when towel-sharing was def not an option as youngest Dsises had nits, oldest Dsis's towels had smears on them that could have been hair dye, and Dbro though that 2 or 3 showers a year was acceptable. [Boak]

One thing I used to get properly frothy over was when I couldn't tell clean/dirty towels apart. Dsiblings would knock hand towel off of towel rack onto floor, and hang up dirty towels to dry. They always insisted IWBU to make a fuss.

It never fails to amaze me how prissy some people are about this kind of thing. It's lucky none of them were born a century or so ago. According to lots of currently research, many health problems in modern western societies may be caused by a poor range of bacteria in our bodies. Besides, if you share a house with your family members you are constantly sharing their germs, dead skin cells etc.

As long as they're washed PROPERLY (at least 60 degrees and with washing powder NOT liquid, then no problem).

However as sharing a used one - NO NO NO.

But nothing wrong with wanting a towel as your own, should imagine it's like having your own cup that you wouldn't want anyone to use, clean or not.

Schnitzel. DH is very fastidious about washing and drying every square inch. He dabs, no flossing. I dab as well.

As far as I can remember we were like 80s mum but not quite so organised and a much bigger family (7 kids). We shared everything including baths and toothbrushes (when we could be bothered). You just used whatever towel was hanging on the back of the door and I've no idea how long is hung there. Bath once a week and wash in between when you could be bothered. I remember washing my hands once for brownies as they used to inspect them and realising that having clean hands made my wrists look filthy, I just shrugged and pulled my sleeves down lower... :o

This thread is great.... Very enjoyable.

I find air drying sufficient . That said, I still prefer my own towel.

We share all towels. I floss my bum. All towels are washed after one use, apart from my DDs as she has so many showers, these are dried and used a few times.

We don't have towels that only we use but we always take any fresh towel from the Cupboard when we wash so no sharing towels

It's not prissy to not want to share a towel with someone else, it's just a personal choice. I'm not hurting anyone by doing it and nor is anyone hurting me if they choose to (unless it's my towel )

Scientifically - there are certain diseases and bacteria that can become resistant to all the cleanliness that we do but there are also ones that it bears no effect on. Like the ones I mentioned. Now I don't know about you but verrucas are absolutely so bloody annoying to get rid of, worms are equally horrible and althletes foot is a PITA (kids just came home with it from communal pool on holiday. I didn't get it as I wore flip flops)
I can't stop them picking them up from other places and not washing towels on hot or sharing them just feels to me like it adds to the annoyance, and cost of getting rid of them once we all have it. We don't share underwear, people wash their hands after using the toilet or making food and we don't share used towels. I don't think it's 'prissy' to choose a level of hygiene

The only reason I'd think everyone has their own colour is so they can remember which is theirs, not because a towel isn't clean enough for someone else to use after washing! We grab one from the cupboard, and generally pick different ones and vaguely try to remember which is ours at the moment. Ish.

Do you spurn guest towels when you're visiting OP?

I went to boarding school so I had my own towels growing up. I rather like sharing.

If they are so germ-phobic do they insist on their dhs giving their privates a good going over with Dettol and a Brillo Pad before any shenanigans in bed?

Er yes, DH comes over all a fluster when dettol gets put in the trolley. :)

This is about used towels not clean ones. We have our own colours because when they hang up you can remember whose is whose. Also we all like different sizes!

DH thinks it's reasonable for him/me just to take any clean towel from the place we store clean towels and use it. This means he's currently got my lovely yellow white company super duper bath sheet

That's the problem! He's claiming it's just any old towel but you and he both know it's the prime towel and he's got it!

Can you buy another the same so you can each have one?

Our towels are all much the same so we do share them in that anyone can take whichever one they want from the cupboard. However, I refuse to share towels that are in use, as in I wouldn't fancy a communal one on the radiator that's fair game for anyone. I just don't like the thought of drying my hair or face on the bit of towel that someone dried their arse with, even if they were clean out of the shower!

Happy to share hand towels.

I don't know why people are so hung up about crack flossing.
If my OH is happy to spend so much time with his face down there then I can't see why using towel to dry it is so unsanitary.

I'm wrong. OP wanted her own lovely towel of her own not to share with DP. I think I get the point that it's a lovely towel and you sometimes don't want to share nice things and have to use the thin, slightly scratchy towel in its place so I get that too!

I don't have a DP so no bodily fluid sharing for me to worry about in that department. Just don't want to share it with my kids now they are older! Communal bath time is long gone

We all share towels.

Wet ones get thrown over the bannister to dry then used again by any family member.

None of us have had anything that could get passed on.

We share towels. Although growing up Dad got presented with his own brown towels by Mum after getting motor oil on my beloved Wombles towel.

Shared towels here. Changed every two or three days by me and washed.

A peck of dirt is not a problem for me, especially as our family dirt is good, clean dirt. All within reason.

Guests would be given their own towels.

We share the same towels for shower/bath - they go on a heated towel rail in between uses, washed at high temp every few days. We have two big bath sheets in each set, but I don't care if DP last used the top one or the bottom one.

I usually use a hand towel when I have a shower, dries all of me and hair, far easier to wash.
DD on the other hand ( teenager ) uses three bath sheets for every shower.

DS has his own "character" ones. All others are exactly the same size and colour for bath towels and the hand towels match the bathroom decor. If you need a new towel just lift the next on off the pile. God forbid you use tge wrong hand towel in the wrong bathroom!