How often do you wash your towels?

[Susieblue18]

Not AIBU but didn’t know where to put this. We are a family of 5 with 3 teenage boys so lots of showers. I don’t seem to have any system when washing towels, just take a few off the heated towel rail every few days. What do others do, wash them every day, all the towels once or twice a week?

Clean towels after 2 days. Used to be longer but wash now after being used 2 or 3 times, after reading article about amount of bacteria that lives on towels, especially if they are left wet. So I also hang on heated towel rail.

Oh no! Bacteria!

When they start smelling so about once a week! It’s the drying that is the problem tbh

I honestly could't tell you. It's just me and DS2 (13) at home. We share towels and mostly have a shower every day, sometimes skip a day, sometimes have more than one (sport or hot day).
I line dry as much as possible (both freshly washed and wet from being used), otherwise they're on the heated towel rail or airing cupboard (hanging, not folded!) or clothes horse
I don't have an elaborate washing system - most gets done on 40C, other things on 30C and now and again I'll do a 60C.
I'll round up the washing and chuck some towels in if there's room. If they don't smell fresh then they get washed.
Neither of us have any skin conditions or use body oils and what have you which might get on the towels.

Because you asked ‘why the fuck’ are you supposed to be as them everyday, or words to that effect, and another poster suggested giving up her job and extending her house to dry her towels. Neither are rational reactions to something another person does that has absolutely no bearing on you or your life.

I choose to wash my towels after each use. That’s that, no further explanation or justification needed. No one has asked you to agree with them or change your own washing schedule.

I must admit I don’t ask people I know how often they wash their towels as it wouldn’t occur to be to be bothered. And I don’t wash them every day; I use a fresh one daily but I have in my possession a washing basket for dirty laundry. The used towels go in there until I put a load in the machine.

This question is usually asked bi-weekly, at least.

I used to wash them after every use. Not everyday, but they'd go straight in the washing basket. What a waste of money and resources. I now use a bath towel 3 times, but I use a hand towel to dry my bits and my feet. I once got folliculitis, and so the thought of a towel touching my feet, and then my scalp again, I just can't do it. The towel load has got much smaller.

My partner uses his about 5 times.

Have to say, I'm really shocked by this thread. The environment really hasn't got a chance if people think its necessary to wash towels every day, or even every few days. Its been years since hotels caught up with the environmental disaster of washing towels every day - it never occurred to me that people would do this every day in their own homes. Sorry to come across as judgemental but......

Not as often as I'd like, but we don't have a dryer!

But do they get washed enough? Are they clean?
If so then you don't need to wash them more often. Not having a dryer isn't a bad thing. Many people don't. They gobble up the electricity and obviously have a larger environmental impact than air drying.

Just as some people use towels differently if they get dirty after every use, so people use language differently to express playful surprise or incredulity.

I still am in the dark as to why the fuck you would need to wash something that has just towelled down a newly clean body but please be assured it doesn't make me angry, it just makes me wonder how clean you're getting yourself in the shower, which I guess is your business.

Also, fuck the planet, right?

Ours are washed after each use. Not every day though, they just go in the towel basket until I get round to it.

To answer everyone's question, I do it because I have complex PTSD from childhood neglect.

My husband was the one who had a thing for a fresh clean towel daily. It was his ‘thing’ and that wasn’t a hill I was going to die on. Handtowels I wash daily, always have.

To make it work I had two washing machines and one dryer. Moved and I miss my old laundry set up. No longer married so now I don’t really use a towel. I use a nice plump and fluffy face cloth, damp and with jojoba oil to dry myself. Skin is beautifully soft and the face cloth is much easier to wash daily. It’s been a revelation in terms of laundry and I have my children do the same now. Skin issues have disappeared.

Global warming is a thing. Washing towels after every use is completely not necessary

If someone wants to wash their towels after each use, that is their choice and their water bill. The environment is an issue but in the grand scheme of things, the pollution we generate by washing isn’t huge when you consider the other actions in our daily lives and the impact they have on the environment.

Me too! I was beginning to think I was abnormal then

We all have our own towels and they are washed weekly.

I would be doing a load for towels every day with the 6 of us, absolutely unnecessary.

I do squirt a shot of white vinegar and a cup of antibacterial wash in with them and it keeps them super fresh smelling.

I tout the environment here so jeans, hoodies are reworn several times.

They are welcome to take over their laundry at any time if the like.

We have our own different coloured towels that get washed once a week. Hand towels more cos they get toothpaste deodorant etc on them. So I guess the big bath sheets get seven uses which seems reasonable

I wouldn't like to share a bath towel. I know you're clean by definition when you use it. But when I've witnessed DP enthusiastically whipping his towel back and forth between his legs I just don't fancy it lol.

When they stop smelling fresh.

Once a week, hate the idea of after one use, such a waste of energy.

Fortnightly unless someone is sick. They are hung on heated towel rail between washes so they don't get smelly. Everyone has their own bath towel.

I guess you’ll have to live in the dark then!

If you drive a car, go on planes etc then don’t lecture me or anyone else on the planet/environment.

Thank you for your sane response! I don’t drive and haven’t been on a plane in years so don’t pollute the planet as much as others on this thread. I also will wear hoodies, jumpers etc more than once, it’s my towels I like fresh daily.

You’re not insane, bless you. I can’t believe how worked up some people get over the towelling habits of others! Only on Mumsnet