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?

Ah yes, air b and b. I only book places that have a washing machine. Very important since we are outdoorsy and clothes must be changed daily by necessity.

We also use it to wash towels (theirs and ours).

Why are pps assuming it is either a free-for-all where everyone uses whatever towel is to hand or a towel used once then washed?

Just as I have my own toothbrush and use it (and no one else’s) every time I clean my teeth, replacing when necessary, I have my own towel (in a designated place in the bathroom so I know which is mine and everyone else does too), and use it for x times - then it is washed.

Similarly, I don’t pick up a used glass or cup, cutlery or tissue that anyone else has used, but would reuse these when I was the one who previously used them. I don’t see anything weird about that?

How did the frequent towel washers cope at university!

@SeethingHarpie the SS doesn’t seem to have a designated space for his bath towel in the bathroom. Not sure whether he also has to remember his hand towel every time he goes into the bathroom

@Green0911 thats novel!! a teenager having a shower without being ordered to!!!!!! 😆 how would he know it was your towel anyway? what a state to get into over a bloody towel!

Changed them every day at university, but didn't wash them every day, maybe twice a week. With the washer in my flat.

We always stay in hotels that provide as many towels as one cares to request. AirBnBs and villas aren't our thing.

And for those who believe bath towels are clean after use:

time.com/4918624/wash-towels-bacteria/

Gerba says he found that nearly 90% of bathroom towels were contaminated with coliform bacteria and about 14% carried E. coli. His published research has also found these bacteria on kitchen hand towels, and the numbers of E. coli correlated to how frequently towels were washed.

After a 2003 outbreak of MRSA among college football players in Los Angeles, a study found that sharing towels on the field helped facilitate the transmission of the infection.

You have 19 million skin cells and 650 sweat glands in every inch of your body. And one powerful tool keeps it all clean day after day: your bath towel.
Dead cells make up the top 20 layers of your skin. Some of these cells scrub off in the shower, but many of them will end up on your bath towel every day.
You have 19 million skin cells and 650 sweat glands in every inch of your body. And one powerful tool keeps it all clean day after day: your bath towel.

naturopathic.org/news/686106/How-Often-Do-You-Wash-Your-Towels-Doctor-Warns-Theyre-Probably-Full-of-Infectious-Bacteria.htm

That’s why Pedi Mirdamadi, ND, a naturopathic doctor and holistic nutritionist specializing in functional medicine, recently took to Instagram to explain exactly how often you should wash your towels.
“Even after a shower, your skin still contains bacteria. And when you dry yourself, the moisture from the towel combined with the bacteria that gets pulled from your body becomes a mix of infectious bacteria,” he says. “On day zero, when the towels are washed and still not used, you can still culture bacteria from the towel. On day one, the bacterial count increases. On day five of use, your towel contains so much bacteria, which I’m sure some of you can smell. That’s what the nasty wet towel smell is coming from: The bacteria eating the body oils in order to survive and grow in the towel’s material."

Nah this is gross. I wouldn't want to be rubbing my face with a towel he'd rubbed on his junk and arsehole.

I share a towel with DP, but I would never share a towel with anyone else. 1. I know he scrubs really well and 2. I do much filthier things with DP.

Oh. I would keep your towel in your bedroom and keep their towels in the bathroom. 100% if your bath towel is hung up I'm the bathroom it has been used to dry hands on too.

@BettyBardMacDonald it’s amazing then that all of us who don’t wash our towels daily after one use aren’t dead or constantly ill. What would you do if you had to use a launderette and use public transport to get there, would you risk 2 or 3 days worth of bacteria on towels?

@PreferMyAnimals my son has to share a washing machine with 10 other students in his uni flat, he’s lucky if he gets to use it once a week (he isn’t bothered!). Some unis charge over £10 a wash in student halls. Fastidious washing of towels is not affordable for many students

Here's a cautionary tale:

www.menshealth.com/uk/health/a28606339/bathroom-towels-poo-bacteria/

The study, by luxury bathroom retailer Drenchch, claimed that couples who share used towels are at risk of sharing some pretty disgusting bodily excretions as well as infectious diseases, including E.Coli, ringworm, staph infections and faecal matterer.

@BettyBardMacDonald don’t most couple share bodily excretions

Sponsored by Persil?

I wonder how some people shop, use public transport, eat out etc, I mean the risks are immense!!

I got married very young. Me and my DH used our scholarships to rent a private flat. In your son's situation, I'd have used single use towels. I'd also stick a washer in my own room if I could afford it and it was allowed - only for convenience. I've used laundromats before when necessary, but prefer not to.

Well I’m presuming he used it after he had a shower so I couldn’t get too worked up over it. Just have a pile of clean ones available. Do you have them monogrammed? Did he know it was yours?

My mind is boggled at the idea of a family of (say) four showering every day and using single use towels. So that's four bath sheets and at least four hand towels being washed (and presumably tumble dried cut much of the year) every day?

No wonder the planet is dying.

Or it's not about risk, I just prefer a nice, fresh towel after a shower.

A peak day for me is three towels. One wrapped hair while I dry my body with the other, one after exercise that means I sweat and need a rinse. Normal day is one towel.

Call it a quirk, if you like. We all have them. It just happens to be mine that I enjoy a fresh towel after a shower.

I think single use towels are low on the rate of concern here. They are so thin in flimsy. They take up little space and will decompose. Sure, they have to be manufactured, but a lot also goes into making fabric towels.

YABU for changing towels that frequently. Massive waste of energy.

But it's the extent to which the bacteria rapidly multiply on the dank towels that is off-putting.

It's not a matter of danger, it's a matter of aesthetics. I prefer textiles to be as fresh and clean as possible.

@PreferMyAnimals what is a single use towel? You would seriously put a washing machine in your student room (so wouldn’t be allowed)!

I’d stick a washer in my room……

that’s easy 🤔!

I’d be angry too - I don’t share towels, they’re a personal use item - for all those making glib comments, would you share underwear, ie wear knickers or socks someone else had worn however briefly, even if that person was fresh from the shower? It’s such an intimate item and I don’t share with anyone, not even my husband or kids.
As the poster says- they have other towels, why on earth didn’t the stepson just get a new set?

If I was him I would consider your overreaction a sign you are disgusted with me personally?
Rather than it being a towel issue it comes across as much more than that

Where there's a strong enough will... haha.

I turned down accommodation with a shared washing machine on account of being pregnant and thinking that wouldn't work well with a baby. So me and DH pooled out student scholarships and got a private small rental where the laundry was in the bathroom. But it was ours!

A single use towel is a very thin, papery, flimsy thing that you use once. It's kind of like a tissue but stronger (or the ones I had were). Emergency use only.