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AIBU?

To wash bath towels after every use

299 replies

bananaramaspyjamas · 31/01/2019 13:33

Is this normal? I'm constantly washing towels.

OP posts:
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LadyB49 · 31/01/2019 15:32

Towel each and dry on bedroom radiator.

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RedForShort · 31/01/2019 15:34

I'm always interested in these towel threads about the two different concepts of what sharing towels means to different people. It's either:

a) Using the exact same towel as another person (or people) between washes (the towel has multiple users between each wash).

b) Using a clean towel that was used by someone else before its last wash (the towel has just one user between each wash - but that user might be different from the last time.)

It doesn't enter my head to consider b) sharing!! (Wouldn't even of thought it until I read MN.)!

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DontCallMeCharlotte · 31/01/2019 15:35

donajimena

Hear hear.

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DontCallMeCharlotte · 31/01/2019 15:36

donajimena

Or do I mean here here?

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Eliza9917 · 31/01/2019 15:36

@Sarahandduck18 Thu 31-Jan-19 13:50:45
Yabu, we all use the same ones- put them on shower rail after each use.

Who is 'we all'?

Me & DP occasionally use the same towel but there's only two of us and we swap bodily fluids anyway.

I couldn't imaging sharing with anyone else or making children use a towel an adult has used. I know people are clean when drying but it could still something on it.

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KeptTheBeachesShipwreckFree · 31/01/2019 15:41

We've got airers that go over the radiators, one in each room, and we put our own towels on those. The communal towel for drying hands upstairs goes on the bathroom radiator. The towels get put to wash every 2-3 weeks (we don't shower daily) and wash them with all the other laundry at 30°C.

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WhentheDealGoesDown · 31/01/2019 15:42

DH and I sometimes share the bath towel but I generally dry my face on my hair towel, it’s no different to sharing a bed surely or cuddling each other or are towel germs different, you can get scabies sharing a bed

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Pinkbells · 31/01/2019 15:43

That's excessive! We wash them twice a week, they always seem really fresh. Never share them though (ew), we have hooks like these both upstairs and downstairs and since doing that we've never got them mixed up.

To wash bath towels after every use
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RiverTam · 31/01/2019 15:44

I don't get towel sharing at all - surely it means that only one person gets a dry towel? Yeuch!

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Twotabbycats · 31/01/2019 15:46

I'm with most people - separate towel for each family member and wash every week or so.

I always wash my swimming towel after every use though - I think my reasoning is it gets much wetter than a normal towel, has been in a public area and smells of chlorine! Am curious to know whether this is also an unacceptable waste of resources? I only go every week or so.

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CallMeVito · 31/01/2019 15:48

adaline I am sorry to say, but you sound like a slattern Grin

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Eviecat · 31/01/2019 15:48

I do, I cannot use a towel that is wet or even damp shudders

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ReflectentMonatomism · 31/01/2019 15:50

They do in every hotel I’ve ever stayed in.

Well done if you've avoided the "please hang the towel up if you don't want it changed, otherwise leave it on the floor / in the bath" signs. I've not managed to find a hotel which doesn't say that in years.

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CallMeVito · 31/01/2019 15:52

yuk to sharing towels though, plus if you all shower one after the other, you use a wet towel? double yuk.
if you really need a colour per person, go for it.

Heated tower rails are great. Airer in bathroom if you really need more drying space.

I wouldn't add any laundry or towels anywhere else in the house, I hate mess and seeing laundry, but I appreciate it's my personal issue...

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RiverTam · 31/01/2019 15:52

TwoTabbyCats (great name!) - swimming towels only get used once here too, only exception to the rule.

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Butterfly84 · 31/01/2019 15:52

I can't believe that people would wash towels every day. Such a waste of energy and time.

Different coloured towels work for us.

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Pickled0nion · 31/01/2019 15:54

I'm bemused at the people who won't share (dry) towels with their DP. We sleep in the same bed, we have sex, we snog, we take food from each other's plates... sharing a towel after we have just washed is probably quite far down on the list of risky hygiene.

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WhentheDealGoesDown · 31/01/2019 15:55

If the towel was damp I would get a clean one but the used one would still hang there airing and be used by either me or DH again. DH probably doesn’t care if the towel is damp as he does a lot of cold wet outdoor pursuits and doesn’t bother about such stuff. DH doesn’t use a hair towel. I wash the towels about once a week at 60c

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PartyLikeABoss · 31/01/2019 15:56

Towel each, hooks on the back of the bathroom door. No need to wash them daily at all (unless you're drying the dog with them).

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RiverTam · 31/01/2019 15:56

but if you've just dried yourself off after a shower the towel isn't dry, is it? So in the morning, everyone trooping one after another into the shower - only the first person will get a dry towel.

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RiverTam · 31/01/2019 15:57

I agree that there isn't a rational hygiene reason not to share a towel with your DH, btw - happy to own that!

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WhentheDealGoesDown · 31/01/2019 15:58

I shower every morning but DH only showers at night or often at work if he cycles in, every so often he brings a pile of not very fresh towels homeGrin

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ShatnersBassoon · 31/01/2019 15:59

I'm wondering how Mike is drying her fundament and feet, if not with the thing designed for the job...

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MrBrown · 31/01/2019 16:05

So glad I found this thread, going to show it to DP later cos he uses a new towel every single time he showers and I end up washing every single towel we own every week (bar the 2 that I use and the 1
that DS uses). I knew I wasn't a weirdo for using the same towels for a week 🙄

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thecatsthecats · 31/01/2019 16:05

I shower in the evening, and husband showers in the morning, so fair point on the 'sharing' - we're both clean, we use the same shower gel (so I wouldn't get IceCave or Ghost or other wanky mangel scents on it), and it would be dry.

I guess it doesn't make a difference though, because it's the drying out repeatedly process that causes a towel to need a wash, as well as the skin cells rubbing off etc.

So 2 towels each getting washed once a week would become 1 towel getting washed twice a week.

(Not that we wash them quite that often..)

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