To think towels need a hot wash?

[FirstOfHerName]

Recently I was staying with my parents on holiday and I noticed that my mum washes everything (including towels and bedding) on a cold half-hour wash. I told her that towels probably need a warm wash at the least and she got annoyed with me, saying that she used a special washing detergent formulated to work in cold water. They're her towels so I left it at that and said no more.

However, whenever she's stayed with me, she's told me it's grim that I wash towels and bathmats together. Well it would be if I did them on a cold wash, but I wash them (and bedding) at 90 and then tumble dry after, so don't see the problem with it. Any bathmat germs would be killed off at that temperature, I would've thought.

Who is more in the right here, her or me??

(someone telling me we're both disgusting in 3...2...1...)

Damp wet towels that have been rubbed all over from foot to arse to eyes are a rampant breeding ground for coliform, e.coli, fungi, worm eggs and a million other nasty things. 40 degrees does not kill these bugs

What on earth are you doing with your towels? You're not going to get ecoli from a towel unless you wipe your shitty arse and then wipe it directly on someone elses face.
Also It's not the heat that kills bacteria its the detergent, and

I appear to be the only MNer who washes according to colour and fabric
Whites on a 60
Light colours on a 50
Darks on a 40
Non cottons on a 40 or less.

Wow so I'm the only one to wash on cold? And also I never separate whites and colours, and certainly don't separate underwear (can't understand that one).

Damp wet towels that have been rubbed all over from foot to arse to eyes are a rampant breeding ground for coliform, e.coli, fungi, worm eggs and a million other nasty things. 40 degrees does not kill these bugs

Those bugs don't just spontaneously germinate though, you have to have them first. And if you have all those things, temperature of towel wash is the least of your worries.

I do most washes at 30. Not sure I've ever used cold. I don't separate underwear and that gets 30

I was everything on 30 or 40 degrees. I don't ever separate anything, unless I've got a pair of new black jeans, when I wash it with dark towels. I put one or two towels in every wash - much better not to have all the towels in together, because of the weight.

All still alive!

Bath mats make me want to throw up. Surely a towel is ample and then washed with others on a 60 after a shower?

What have bath mats ever done to you?

ImIncognito I'm sorry but you really are talking nonsense. One of those cases where a little knowledge is worse than none- I don't think you really understand pathogens and disease transmission. Really, washing at 60 will make no difference to your family's health. And yes, you do wash your hands in water below body temperature- warm water is often not as hot as you might expect (and makes no difference to the number of bacteria killed on your hands, though warmer water can dissolve dirt quicker I guess).

If you really want to see how bacteria are killed and things are sterilised properly, go work in a microbiology lab for a while. You'll soon give up!

(The key to all these worries about damp towels breeding deadly diseases and, more realistically, smells, is to hang them up properly to dry. The washing technique is irrelevant to that)

Agree re letting towels dry if you only wash them once a week. Ours get hung up to dry after use. The bath mat stops the tiles getting sodden and keeps your feet warm

It's interesting to hear different points of view on this. I have been conditioned like most people to think hotter = cleaner but it's interesting to hear other views. I wash all clothes at 40c, and bedding and towels at 60c. Hand towels are changed daily and bath towels weekly. We use non bio as we have a 10 month old daughter.

Are bugs rife on fabrics? Well some yes.

Back in my previous life one of my favourite 'lets learn about culturing and aseptic technique' practical lab classes/PhD student teachings was to give them a pack of swabs and ask them to pick things they thought were dirty, then culture them.
They all think the floor and the loos are filthy, and are surprised when they don't get much off it. And horrified when they see what gets cultured from the swabs of their keyboards, phones, noses, prints of their hands (pre and post washing) and a print of their lab coat hem/cuff.

Believe me, work in a lab for a bit and you'll be off 30 degree washes for bedding and towels.

Most things are fine at cooler temperatures. Some should only be washed on cold. Some should be washed on hot. It's really down to what it's made of and how it's being used.

Hand washing isn't affected much by the temperature of the water. If you relied on that alone to kill bacteria you'd burn your skin off. What cleans your hands is the repetitive mechanical action of rubbing them together with soap. That's why medical folks are taught how to wash their hands properly. And why I used to get my students to culture hand prints and nail scrapings before and after hand washing. Most people don't do it thoroughly enough or for long enough.

We aren't clean freaks by any means. We live in a country where shoes indoors is taboo. We keep the bathroom and the kitchen clean. We change the bedsheets once a week and everyone showers daily. Past that we don't really care about rolling in the dirt outside (although of course a good hand wash when you come in) or general mess and chaos.

How do bath mats get so dangerously dirty? Weird.

Zaurak
I actually do think an awful lot of people smellIt's really noticeable in public places. Hair and just general unwashed and that damp musty smell from damp houses. This might just be me having a keen nose but I do experience it. I have a crazy sense of smell (had HG in pregnancy and it's never really been back down to normal levels since then)

I agree! In public places some people really stink. I was at the hospital last week and felt sick from the smells. It makes me so paranoid that I might smell too so I only wear tops etc once and wash every day just in case.

The only things I wash at 90 degrees are reusable san pro.

I think if you're aware of the smell of others then you probably have nothing to worry about. I know several people who don't wash their hair (it's natural! It must be good!) and they ALL insist they don't smell.
They all do. All of them. Ditto their poor bloody kids. I know one family who wash their kids once every week. Their poor, poor kids smell. They are going to get so badly teased when they hit school :( the parents are adamant that daily washing is unecessary and bad for them.)

There's clean person smell (fresh sweat isn't so offensive) and people smell remarkably different. Some people actually smell really nice.
Then there's 'I haven't washed my hair for a week' and that does smell. It just does. And people are absolutely convinced they don't. Always.

Older people are medically filthy?

That comment has actually made me hoot!!! Not looking forward to old age if if makes I become classed as medically filthy' 🤣

30 degree quickwash for most clothes here, 60 for towels and football strips.

I'll check out my 90 setting though as my 'medically filthy' aunt is coming to stay soon 👍🏻

This is one of those threads (like so many other cleaning threads on Mumsnet) where I realize that I've apparently been living in roiling filth my whole life without noticing, and have somehow survived without being devoured by flesh-eating bacteria.

Cold washes for everything here. Only exception is nappies and cleaning the machine. And I use hippie eco-liquid. Not bleach.

No normal healthy person needs their house to match hospital infection control standards. These germophobe threads are so dull; no-one ever supplies details of how they became bedridden for months/lost a limb from not washing their towels after every touch.

Why would towels and bedding need to be washed separately or on a different temperature to every day clothes? My towels are cleaner than my clothes at the end of a day. My body is washed regularly and hence my bedding isn't mucky. Absolutely bizarre

Ugh
Rinse then wash at 90 here

What I notice a LOT is people whose clothes have this musty/damp unpleasant smell. I don't think they realise their clothes smell...I wonder if its where the clothes have been left in the machine too long/not dried properly?

I am a total slattern. Very very untidy.

But tea towels, dishcloths etc go on the hottest was possible. Which is 95 degrees on my machine. Usually stick normal white towels in with them.

All bedding gets done at 60 which is needed to kill house dust mites. As I have two with allergies and eczema and another with asthma I think that important.
Clothes usually done at 40 unless very dirty and then I'll shove them on a 60 wash.

Notarehearsal. ...your sheets are cleaner than your clothes? Even though you and your partner sweat over them all night, have sex between them, leak bodily fluids on them and they cover a mattress which is home to a load of dust mites?