BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Low Carb Washing Towels after Every Shower

I've always had everybody use their own towel. So the problems of germs really don't apply, because whatever germs I have, I'm going to still have It's amazing the things we learn growing up that we think is 100% normal and don't even consider When we talk about the "spread" of bacteria my first thought is, where is it going to spread to? To me again?

For the smelly part, I am trying to think how a towel could get smelly after a few days. I wonder if a big part of that is how humid your house is - i.e. how dry your towel gets in between uses. Our house is heated by forced hot water by oil, and it gets VERY dry in the winter. We have to run multiple humidifiers just to keep the house reasonable. So the towels dry in 5 seconds flat. There really is no odor at all even after a week, but we wash them then just as part of our normal laundry sweep.

Do you people who end up with stinky towels have a humid house?

That could be part of it, Lisa. It's very humid here in the South, especially in the summer. If you leave your shower curtain "open" or pulled back when it's wet, it will mold very fast. The water just doesn't dry. And, my towels are very thick, so I do hang them up to dry before tossing them into the basket, I just don't usually re-use them. I'll have to see if they do get dry in a day's time. I can't stand damp towels!

I know that's one reason I rarely air-dry clothes--all but the delicates need the dryer or a few hours of sunshine or they'll be more than a day drying. I did recently let some jeans air dry (I was going to bed and didn't want to hear the dryer buzz) and they were still damp the next day. That's jeans, though, but it is winter & so, not nearly as humid as summer.

I have thin slightly rough towels. I like them this way - they help exfoliate my skin after my shower. I only use my towels from my shower once & it goes to the laundry area to be washed. I always do a full load of laundry,

I used to use one towel for the week, but after a day I wold notice that my towel sort of smelled & I started using it only once. I don't have any air circulation in my bath - no window, no fan.

My girls have one bath towel per week.

Once a week. Always on a Monday, so that I remember to change them So trying to change the towels more often (say, twice a week) wouldn't really work because I'd forget which day I'd changed them. But we have good air circulation and the towels dry out within a couple of hours.

We each have our own towel and reuse all week and then wash once a week. Seems that washing after every shower would sure wear out the towel material faster and fade the color.
Ally

We always use and wash and bleach and dry the towels everyday but I use to work as a nurse aide so I showered before I went to work to keep the elderly healthy and when i got home from work to keep my family and friends healthy... so I had 2 towels every day but if the people i worked with got a bug my family never did! Now my husband works in the school so I have trained him to do the same thing. same with the kitchen towels and rags i never use the same dish rag to clean the kitchen and do the dishes.... and I dont use the same dishrag for breackfast as I do for lunch or dinner. I use them and then wash them everytime.

this is probly over kill but the kitchen and bathroom are the dirtiest places in the house I even use bleach water to rinse my tooth brush before and after i use it. it kills the germs and keeps us healthy.

it maybe wastful but there are alot of germs out there that are very harmless until they grow out of proportion and then they make you sick sick..

I don't reuse towels, they have to be washed, or it just wouldn't feel clean to me

Here in Holland it rains sometime during most days and is very humid. I wash bath and kitchen towels every day. We each have our own towel color. I throw kitchen sponges in with the towels. We like the thin rough towels, too, and it doesn't take long for them to get they way with daily washing. We also use a hand towel on our pillows at night as both our heads sweat and these get washed daily, also. I have a room in the house with clothes lines strung under the ceiling and a radiator below for drying laundry - haven't used my clothes dryer in 4 years.

Interesting it really must be a humidity thing as far as mold and such. We don't have any mold issues in our bathroom, it's not something we really even think about. It's super dry. We worry about lips chapping and skin drying out.

Still, though, for germs, if you are done washing, I don't see a big chance of germs getting onto the towel. To me it would be like washing your jacket every day. Your jacket goes out into the world too Or your shoes ... your mittens and hats?

WebMD says to use different colors for different people, so each person has their own towel. But they don't say to swap them out daily.

They also say to always flush with the lid down

Even if you put the lid down the germs spray up and out about 30 feet in all directions so if you have a small bathroom and the towels hang in the bathroom they pick up the germs from every flush! this is why I keep the clean towels in the draws and dont keep the same towel every week... I learned that and other fun facts in a mircobiology class! YUCK!!!!! I am glad I past it the first time because if I had not I dont think I could have stomached a second go round............