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?

I have woken up to 17 pages of response. I'm only on page 3.

He is gently encouraged to shower (not of his own accord as per usual with teenage boys) following sports. He often leaves showers with mud all over his legs. His showers are suspiciously short. He refused to use deodorant. He used my hand towel in the past and left it absolutely filthy (noticeable stains). This is the first time I found out he'd been using my bath towel.

His towels now are hung in the bathroom with his father's. Mine will remain in my room.

What do people do when they visit a friend's house and use their bathrooms? Most people's cloakrooms/downstairs loos have one towel. Everyone dries their hands on the same one.
Must be quite traumatic for the non-sharers.

This is disgusting. I would be really upset too. You've no idea if he washes his arse properly never mind any diseases! I wouldn't even share a towel with my DH unless it was a dire emergency. I'm shocked that so many people are OK with this.

"He's a typical teenager with little concern about personal hygiene. And we shared a bath towel (bath! Not just a hand towel) for 3 days!"

If he was using your bath towel, then presumably he had just washed and therefore was reasonably hygenic!

Personally, I feel you are over-reacting, but if this is something that really bothers you, then probably best to put your towel in your room, or on a less accessible hook/towel rail. My DS1 felt the same as you, and we installed an additional towel rail in a less accessible spot to accommodate his towel so that his brothers didn't use his.

Sadly, just asking probably won't guarantee the outcome you want. For people ( teenagers) who don't really care about this sort of thing, the request won't even register, and they will forget or think you are making a fuss about nothing and carry on their own sweet way.
I speak as the mother of 3 formerly teenaged boys. They can be very blinkered.
You can ask, but bottom line is remove your towel from the possibility of being used.

It's Sunday morning entertainment. Have a lovely day 💗

But he used it after a shower so was, presumably, clean at the time of use.

You can actually get a framed version of it... 😂😂😂
images.app.goo.gl/Lec5vCxPtyncSyD59

Are you sure it's mud on his legs OP? 😂😂😂

never had impetigo in my family 🤷‍♀️.

That you didn't answer the question re whether you'd mind using the towel if you were in OP's shoes.

Washing towels after just one use is what is grim. Why on earth would you do that? Incredibly wasteful and unnecessary, and dreadful for the planet.

OMG thanks I never heard of it, but won't be buying.🤣🤣🤣🤣

I hope the top you blew has been recovered….

You ‘blew a fuse’? Seems rather dramatic over a towel mix-up.

Blimey - don't things get rather more intimate with your husband than sharing a towel? Possibly involving the voluntary sharing of bodily fluids?

Non event and down to organisation - have the spare towels in neatly stacked and accessible pile in the bathroom. If you find your one has been used, chuck it in the laundry and take a new one. Chances are if there are new/clean ones within reach DSS won’t use yours, anyway.

And who keeps wet, used towels in a bedroom? They should be on a towel radiator in the bathroom!

The fuse you blew!!

I'd have been annoyed if my sd had used my towel but I wouldn't blow a fuse, I'd just make sure my towel wasn't in the bathroom anymore

DH and I have a towel rail each in the bedroom and a towel rail in our en suite for the bath mat and shared hand towel.

The bath towels dry better in the bedroom and there's not really space for them in the en suite.

DS both have a towel hook on the back of their bedroom door for the same reasons.

I would use the loo roll to dry my hands in that situation.

I’d hate it !!!
using my towel in my house is a no no !
everyone should have their own !!!
id never use anyone else’s towel it’s just the thought of someone wiping their arse on it lol 😂

YANBU to be annoyed- someone using your towel is pretty grim. He could have used his dad’s towel, or he could have told you that he’d used it while stuck without one so that you could then change the towels. Both SS and your H could have been more respectful.

However, blowing your fuse at them isn’t going to get the response you want, because they don’t care how you feel about this.

Your best bet is probably practical solutions. Different coloured towels for everyone, but all kept in the bathroom. Get spare sets of towels for SS so he always has plenty. Or buy SS a thick towelling bathrobe so he can change in his room and wear it to the bathroom and back - IME teenagers love a bathrobe.

Makes sense now. He’s rather get mud and other stains all over your towels than his dad’s.

Have you asked him he didn’t use his dad’s towels?

I would make even more certain that his dad picks up after him, not you.

I would hope so. I prefer my own towel but would share one with DH. I share bed sheets with him and we mostly both sleep naked.

Well this is Mumsnet, so it is compulsory to write about how I have towels embossed with the initials of every single human on the panet, in case any should care to visit me.

I pass these through an autoclave machine should anyone so much as breathe near them.

To do less means you will die a mouldering death due to a fatal mix of cholera, scabies, athlete's foot and crotch rot,

The Reality
This is madness. If my son's home, we don't have specific towels - I have a few out in the bathroom and we both use whatever is dry.

Guests do have towels in their room, but I've been surprised how many will use the towels in the bathroom anyway. No-one's wiping themselves with a towel before they get in the shower, so it's not really any issue, is it?