To ask how old your bath towels are?

[nanbread]

Ours are a bit flat, rough and slightly greying. I'm wondering if they're reached the end of their time, or if there's a way to revive them? They're about 12 years old.

I’ve always use FB plain white towels so never an need to change them to ‘match’ something. Also prefer old thin towels as long as clean and not disreputable.
When any do retire they are turned into the best cleaning rags

We've had the John Lewis Egyptian cotton ones too, for about 14 years - still look great! I use white vinegar instead of fabric softener.

@Lucked

Between 10 and 15 years mostly still in good condition.

What I am looking for now are bath sheets which are thinner and still good quality. Now that I have a family it is a pain that my big bath sheets take up half the washing machine but I don’t like using smaller towels. The children got Cath kidson towels as babies and they were great as so light weight but good quality. I am not sure which other brands do this though.

Look for hamman towels, The White Company do some.

Ditto also the tumble drier for towels, why wet the weather. I hardly use it otherwise.

5 years. All white from TK Maxx and Dunelm. I don’t have a dryer. They look in good condition but are very scratchy. I think I’ll replace them in a few years. All my old towels go to my friend for her dogs.

For those using white vinegar instead of softener I’m guessing they don’t smell vinegary when they are dry?

Our Egyptian cotton towels last donkeys. I put them in the tumble drier and it makes them fluffy

Also as weird as it sounds and it works! Wash your towels on their own with a dash of white wine vinegar - I used this method from google and it seems to bring them back to life. I do it every few months.

Cheap towels don't last too long for us but we have some beautiful Egyptian ones from M&S and they are 5 years old and still going strong!

Since 2010. Bought in John Lewis in Cambridge.

we use bath towels only for the beach but the towels we use constantly seem to last about 10 years before the edges start to flail.

At least 20.

I bought myself one new towel a while ago but that's it.

@Djeserkare no it washes right out, they don’t smell of anything

My two favourite towels are from when I went to uni, so at least 30 years old. I absolutely loathe soft towels, and these are still really thick and rough and dry really well.
I have others which are younger, bit I don't like them as much. Woe betide anyone who uses "my" towels.

Our oldest ones were from TK Maxx 15 years ago! They haven't gone thin yet and are still absorbent. I love exfoliating my (very dry) skin with some of the old towels we have; they do a great job.

Over Xmas we stayed with my parents and they still have towels I used when I was a kid and I'm in my 50s now! They have gone pretty thin now but were still good to use.

Good towels will last for years and you can always dye them to bring the colour up! I’ve just done two towels a beautiful turquoise using Dylon.

@RosesAndHellebores

Do other people's towels not start to fray at the edges after 10/15 years?

Except for that, I have absolutely no idea how old our towels are.

Mine have. DHs are about 18yrs old (Tesco) and one has lost it's side seam, mine are about 12yrs old and one is beginning to go, but I think it gets stuck on the airing cupboard shelf.

I have some John Lewis ones my mum had. They must be about 45 years old (though they were tucked away for “best” for about 10.

I threw all of our old ones away about 18 months ago and replaced them with new bath sheets. The difference in softness was astounding.

I was thinking this the other day, some of mine are 17 years old, horrible green colour there were brought new when we did the bathroom when I was married, the rest are 15/16 years old as my mum gave them to me when me and the children left and I had to start over

I really think I should replace them

I replace mine every 3 years or so, usually buy Christy ones. The old ones go to a local animal rescue place.

I too have dry toast towels and no tumble dryer.look at the positive side,your towel will exfoliate nicely after a bath.

Another vote for John Lewis Egyptian cotton. We had them in London for about 10 years and they didn't noticeably deteriorate. We left them behind when we moved back to Ireland but I bought more which are also about 10 years old now and still soft.

My only complaint with them is that I ordered Silver and Graphite to go with our new bathroom and the Silver isn't very grey, it's more mushroom. If I'd gone to the shop in person I might have chosen different colours.

I replaced all mine this summer when they developed holes! They were 15 years old!!

I can’t tell the difference between my two year old towels from the 14+ year ones.

The 14+ were bought from Lands End (Americans are obsessed with thread count) and have DD’s, mine and my Ex’s initials embroidered on them. I keep wanting to replace them but they’ve gotten fluffier over time. They’ve outlasted Ex by 12 years!

This is crazy; we replace our towels every 1-2 years! I thought that’s what everyone did?! They are good quality ones from the white company but I find after a year or so they are not as fluffy/absorbent and get discoloured although we use vanish and they are washed together only!

It varies, I have several I inherited from my parents that are at least 30 years old up to some i bought a few years ago. I always choose to use the older ones though. I love a scratchy old towel! Much better at drying.