Step son used my bath towel

[Green0911]

Want to gauge if IABU here.

My and my husband's towels are in the bathroom. Teenage SS keeps his in his room. We each have a hand towel and a bath towel. They all get changed every 3-4 days. When it came to changing them, I realised SS didn't have his towels in his room. He said he'd put them to be laundered a few days before. When I asked him which towels he'd been using in the meantime (he'd showered at least twice during this period), initially he claimed none, then admitted he'd used mine.

I blew a fuse. Couldn't believe he thought this was acceptable. Husband has laughed it off and is accusing me of being dramatic/blowing things out of proportion.

AIBU?

@saraclara
“And to claim that not doing so is a significant health risk is just laughable, given that the population continues to grow.”

Presumably, it’ll be all those stepsons getting their stepmothers pregnant through towel sharing 😉

WTAF...you crazy. Losing it over family member using your bath towel...wow!

OMG! I thought it was only toilet seats?

I think it's a factual thing that it's not great to share bath towels with others. So I wouldn't like this although blowing a fuse is a bit strong. This is coming from someone that washes their towels way too infrequently amd doesn't care.

I'm a bit confused...in my 40 years I have never heard of having separate hand towels for each person. In every bathroom I've ever been to it's just one hand towel for everyone. My mind is (lightheartedly) blown.

Eta I think I'd find it vaguely flattering that he is OK using yours! But would still be annoyed.

Maybe a towelling dressing gown that he hangs on the back of his bedroom door could be the solution. Teenagers love these as they can drip dry while they scroll themselves into oblivion.

Honestly this seems so uptight to me. I grew up in a large chaotic family and no one ever knew which towel was whose. I gave my children colours for their towels to try and order things a bit but it’s all got mixed up. Visitors use the towels in the bathroom. My sister has been staying and definitely uses other people’s. I feel sorry for your step son.

I do try and buy light quicker drying towels. The basics range from Waitrose do massive body towels that are really light and quick drying.

We do share a hand towel in the downstairs toilet. But, I never use the downstairs toilet 🤣

I would hate this and be really cross.
Maybe it’s not rational but I don’t want to share my towel with anyone!

While it’s not great, ‘blowing a fuse’ is definitely not the way to deal with it.

You're BU.

Is it just me that has a stack of towels and you take as needed. No seperate towels. No reusing.

I think that's absolutely disgusting. I wouldn't want someone else's bum and skin flakes all over my towel.

That's wasteful

I’d find it a bit grim but wouldn’t blow a fuse. But then I think using the same towel for 3-4 days even if it’s the same person is a bit grubby. We was ours after 1-2 uses.

It's a bit gross but really I kind to blow a fuse over. Just show him where you keep your towels so he can help himself to clean ones. And take your win towel back to your bedroom if you want to use it again.

Do you have individually coloured towels OP? How do you know whose is whose?

Jesus get a grip.

If it's like my household yes everyone has their own colour of towel

I did that when I lived at the Savoy

Pigeonqueen But you are only using it to pat down clean skin. It’s not very environmentally friendly to wash a towel after one use by one person.

As a 50 year old I find this unpleasant. However, I remember being a teenager and I couldn't care less about this stuff. I used whatever towel was closest. I remember staying at a friend's house and using a towel that was her dad's. She said "Oh that's disgusting. My dad dries his bum with that!". But I really didn't care.
The simple solution is to just keep a towel for him in the bathroom, even if he has one in his bedroom.
I wouldn't be angry about this, but I'd make sure it doesn't happen again.

NB the OP left the building at 01.36

I think a momentary feeling of discomfort about the fact you had been using the same towel for a couple of days is understandable, but it’s done now and not the end of the world. Wash your towel, give your stepson a fresh one and forget about it. I used to have OCD and something like this would have sent me into orbit, but that’s because I was ill and wasn’t thinking logically. No harm has been done in real terms other than something giving you a feeling.

Fuck me, you people are insane. I grew up in a large blended family and we all shared towels. No one died or got ill.

Airing and changing them regularly is the thing.

I don’t understand the angst - surely his body is clean when he uses the towel?

Unclench.

And yet there are numerous other MN threads where you are gross if you don’t wash your towels after every use. Typical MN where you cant win.