Following the prior Lemmy post about towels…
I wash once a week, is that sufficient or need I more frequency?
(me… Washing them every 3-4 weeks and reading the comments.)
So uhh.. how often should I be washing me towels?
Submitted 11 months ago by curiousPJ@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Comments
Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Steve@communick.news 11 months ago
*Hands you a towel*
RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
Oh, is it 3 weeks already?
thegreatgarbo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Me at 8 weeks wondering what all the fuss is about.
Rogue@feddit.uk 11 months ago
If you only shower once a month I don’t understand why I you’d need to wash the towel any more regularly?
dog@suppo.fi 11 months ago
I wash mine when it starts growing mold. So anywhere from every 3 years to every 6 years.
Tenniswaffles@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
What the fuck
hydrospanner@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I had a roommate in college who just never washed his towel (singular) all semester.
It was fucking disgusting and made the whole bathroom smell like BO, to the point that every time I needed to use the bathroom, I’d put on my trusty rubber gloves and throw it up against his door.
His argument was that he only ever used it after he showered, on his clean body, so using it to dry a clean body was effectively washing it too.
It became routine for me and the other roommate to warn him when we were bringing a girl over that if he didn’t get his towel out of the fucking bathroom, we’d exact nuclear revenge.
retrieval4558@mander.xyz 11 months ago
We must have had the same roommate. Did he also stay up late at night screaming and clapping at movies alone in his room?
CeruleanRuin@lemmings.world 11 months ago
If you asked my wife, the answer would be that you use them for a day, throw them in the hamper wet, and then make sure to put other clothes and stuff on top of them so they sit there damp and smelly until laundry day comes around.
StopSpazzing@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Should do malicious compliance and drench the towels till they are soaking and dripping wet, then put them in the laundry basket.
Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
I thought sarcasm music but I couldn’t hear anything.
gregorum@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Once a week is normal, unless you notice a funk. 
adespoton@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
Which towels are we talking about, and how frequently do they get used?
Bath towels, hand towels and dish drying towels will all get dirty at different rates, and get/stay wet at different rates.
Towels should smell clean (clean, not perfumy) and be dry and not feel like they’ve got something on them. The more time a towel stays wet, the more often you wash it. If it gets noticeably dirty, you wash it. This could be anywhere from once a day to never, if it’s just decorative and you never use it.
space@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
I use the smell test. If it smells weird in any way, it goes to the wash.
Tabero@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Same. If it smells clean and looks clean, then it’s clean enough for my needs. Any mustiness though, and in the wash it goes.
I’ve found that in the summer, I’m lucky if it still smells good in two days, but in the winter it can sometimes last 4-5 days.
justhach@lemmy.world 11 months ago
caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
I’m confused and pleased that this one strip from twenty eight years ago also lives in somebody else’s head
pHr34kY@lemmy.world 11 months ago
This is the first thing that comes to my mind when someone mentions towel washing frequency.
justhach@lemmy.world 11 months ago
“Are towels supposed to bend?” Is one of my all time favourites haha.
cobysev@lemmy.world 11 months ago
When I was a kid, it was one and done. I grabbed a clean towel from the bathroom closet every day. Even though I was clean coming out of the shower, I also knew that showering loosens dead skin cells, which I was rubbing all over the towel. Over time, those skin cells would decompose, giving off a musty smell. I learned that from my dad, who almost never changed his towel. Ick. It made me extra paranoid about reusing them, so I swapped towels daily.
When I became an adult and had to do my own laundry, I realized just how miserable it was trying to wash 7 towels every week. (Why did my mother let me use so many towels as a kid?!) So I started reusing them. I used a towel for a week before throwing it in the laundry.
Now, I’m recently retired in my late 30s and shower every 2-3 days (or anytime I leave the house). Since I’m not showering as frequently, I will reuse a towel for about 2-3 weeks before replacing it. If I go to dry off after a shower and the towel smells a bit musty, I’ll toss it on the floor and grab a fresh towel instead. I think I’m on week 4 with my current towel, but it still smells clean, so I’m not too worried about getting a few more showers out of it.
Flambo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
this makes me wonder how much longer a towel could be used if it were promptly dried after use, rather than put up on a hook where some of it dries sorta and the rest of it clumps.
TheActualDevil@sffa.community 11 months ago
You put it on a hook? The shower rod is pretty good for me when I hang it to dry. Move the curtain out of the way and spread it out and it gets pretty good airing out. When I lived in places without a shower rod or a shared bathroom I’d hang it on a door.
Transcendant@lemmy.world 11 months ago
This is probably a key factor.
jesusrp98@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I also wash them once a week
9715698@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Me too. And I use a face towel instead of a full sized one so that I can wash it more frequently if I need, and it’s taking half the space in the washer. Maybe with long hair it wouldn’t be big enough, but for me it works.
crashfrog@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Once a week is fine. You’re clean when you get out of the shower, and the towel air-dries as you’re not using it. Even where I live - 65% humidity year-round - we only wash the towels once a week.
quaddo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Proper air-drying is key. Gotta maximize the surface area. If there’s a gentle breeze nearby, all the better.
Living somewhere where you can use a clothesline would fit this most times (ie, if it’s not raining all the time).
CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi 11 months ago
Face towels (washcloths) really only one use and then wash. Body towels I switch about once a week but I live in a dry climate and they dry fast. I also use a linen towel which is very absorbent but also dries much faster than terry. Kitchen towels I change depending on how I used them - normal use (drying hands), every couple of days. Cooking? Change after I am done cooking.
threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Cooking? Change after I am done cooking.
You cook your towels?
gullible@kbin.social 11 months ago
Just to add to the answers here, remember to strip your towels once a year. That funky smell when they’re dry may be your delicious human oils penetrating deep and impregnating the fibers. Sebum rots and goes rancid, producing that musty closet smell.
notapantsday@feddit.de 11 months ago
What does ‘strip’ mean in this context? (not a native speaker)
EinfachUnersetzlich@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I’m a native speaker and I don’t know either.
gullible@kbin.social 11 months ago
“Laundry stripping is a soaking process where you’re removing the built-up residue: excess laundry detergent, fabric softener, body oils, hard-water minerals… It’s something you do on towels that are already clean, not dirty.”
“Fill a bathtub with hot water and add a quarter-cup of borax, a quarter-cup of washing soda (a.k.a. sodium carbonate) and a half-cup of detergent. Soak clean towels until the water cools (at least an hour), stirring occasionally. Then run the linens through the rinse cycle in your washing machine and dry them. Make sure to do this separately for lights and darks.”
“Add an optional one to two small boxes of baking soda (especially if you have hard water) to soften and deodorize fabrics. You can also add more borax — up to a cup — if the laundry is moldy or musty.”
uphillbothways@kbin.social 11 months ago
I'd generally heard 'laundry stripping' used to refer to a vinegar soak/rinse, followed by a baking soda cycle to further neutralize. The idea being laundry soap/detergent is basic and some things build up and don't dissolve. Added borax was an alternative 'laundry booster' that made this unnecessary, in my experience.
But, it sounds like there's some variability to how the terms are used and for some the borax rinse is a stripping process. Understandable, as the end result is pretty much the same.
uphillbothways@kbin.social 11 months ago
You can also avoid this problem by adding a little borax to your laundry, particularly if you have hard water.
thegreatgarbo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
3/4 c Stain Solver per load for the most cost effective solution. Has the most borax percent by weight. We order the 50lb ton and it lasts months. I’m not a shill, I promise! If we don’t use it for every load, our hard Colorado River water makes the laundry smell like ass.
HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
brothershamus@kbin.social 11 months ago
I'll agree.
deafboy@lemmy.world 11 months ago
How often should you, I cannot tell. I do it when it’s no longer white, and the idea of using it starts to seem repulsive. This strategy has worked for over a decade.
dan1101@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I’m only using the towel to dry off when I’m clean from showering, I use it at least a week. I do hang it from a rack where it dries well.
Flambo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
even when you are clean from showering, you are still covered in delicious skin, refreshing moisture, and things that thrive in the presence of both.
edgemaster72@lemmy.world 11 months ago
mihnt@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I wash them after every use. I also have a shit-ton of towels from my previous employment so take that as you will.
humorlessrepost@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I thought I was going crazy here. I have a clothes hamper and a towels hamper. Towel goes in hamper after use. Load of towels gets washed when the hamper is full.
mihnt@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I thought I was going crazy here.
You should meet my ex. She had no idea what a hamper was. She was 38 when I explained it.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
Really depends how dry you make them. If you’re not able to dry and they stay damp all day I would throw them in the washing bin after a day or 2. If they dry out easily, maybe a week. But the smell test if best.
kamills@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
I usually go for once a week to once every two weeks. But I do have a heated towel dryer, and k think that helps to keep bacteria to grow in them. My advice is to make sure you hang your towl somewhere they can air out well
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 11 months ago
I only clean mine once a week; but that’s like 7 towels at a time. I use a fresh one every time I take a bath/shower and toss them in a hamper when done.
yamanii@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Once a week for me too.
assplode@kbin.social 11 months ago
Same here
Wahots@pawb.social 11 months ago
Washed once a week, and bleached every few washes. Helps keep them even cleaner.
0ops@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Argh
uphillbothways@kbin.social 11 months ago
I shoot for 2-3 uses for body/shower towels.
Hand towels, etc I try to grab/replace when I'm doing other laundry. Sometimes more often in the kitchen though, if say I've been cooking a lot and they start feeling wet or funky.
Nikku772@kbin.social 11 months ago
Body, one use. Then it’s on hand duty until next towel takes its place.
SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
[deleted]threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
This thread is about towels. Did you intend to comment on this thread instead?
Sproux@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
passionate moderator of r/towels
soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
Nice
IronKrill@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
I use bath towels after two uses, three if I can’t be bothered.
Bebo@literature.cafe 11 months ago
Twice a week.
dustyData@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Also, never ever ever use fabric softener on towels. It ruins them by covering them in an oily thin compound that nullifies their ability to absorb water. And it takes so much work and many washings to fix them.
GreatBlueHeron@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
I wish I could make my wife understand this :-(
beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
You could do the laundry yourself and then she’d be the one sitting complaining on Reddit—uh, Lemmdit