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.)
Me at 8 weeks wondering what all the fuss is about.
[Hands you a towel]
Oh, is it 3 weeks already?
If you only shower once a month I don’t understand why I you’d need to wash the towel any more regularly?
I wash mine when it starts growing mold. So anywhere from every 3 years to every 6 years.
What the fuck
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.
We must have had the same roommate. Did he also stay up late at night screaming and clapping at movies alone in his room?
Not that I recall!
The towel thing attained a new level the next year: he moved in with two of my other friends (who didn’t think to ask me instead, or even ask me about how he was to live with), and when they noticed the same behavior, they decided to test him: they put a few pieces of fruit under the other towels in his towel drawer to see how long it’d take him to get down there and find them.
The fruit rotted and was stinking up the whole apartment and attracting flies before he noticed.
Once a week is normal, unless you notice a funk. How wet they get, how you hang them, and how well they dry can be factors in this. 
I use the smell test. If it smells weird in any way, it goes to the wash.
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.
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.
If you asked my wife, the answer would be that you use them for a day or two tops, but the important part is that you 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 mouldering until laundry day comes around.
Our towel bar is directly above the heating grate, so towels, properly hung, will dry fairly quickly there. Considering that towels are typically only used to dry you once you’ve just thoroughly cleaned yourself, they won’t smell like much of anything but maybe soap and shampoo for many days of use, assuming they are able to dry out. But apparently it’s more of a priority that they get put in the laundry basket immediately, moisture be damned. I gave up trying to fight that fight long ago.
Should do malicious compliance and drench the towels till they are soaking and dripping wet, then put them in the laundry basket.
I thought sarcasm music but I couldn’t hear anything.
I also wash them once a week
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.
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.
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).
I wash towels one week and sheets the next. Everything is on and alternating cycle.
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.
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.
I’ll agree.
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.
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.
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
deleted by creator
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.
I guess it’d fill up a lot quicker if I had kids, and that’d become a problem.
deleted by creator
