How often do you wash your towels? And how often do you completely change them with brand new towels?
I wash them weekly and was just wondering recently if I should be buying new towels to replace my 8+ year old towels.
Edit to add: I wash towels by themselves so it’s a separate load to my regular laundry. I don’t know why but the different materials seem to clean better separately. But I also have a separate towels load for dirty/oily towels (kitchen towels, cleaning rags)
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Wash each use, I know it’s wasteful, but I just can’t stand the idea of using a ‘dirty’ towel
I wash mine about the same, but I only buy new if they start to fall apart or no longer dry properly. Even then, they go into the scrap towel drawer and are used for dirty jobs. Eventually they’ll get too dirty and I’ll get rid of them.
I wash weekly. My bathroom has a tendency towards dampness.
They stay around until they start fraying and then they go in the retired towels pile, for pets and spills and such, and once they are embarrassing to hang on my outside line i throw them out.
I’ll soak in vinegar water every so often to reduce the limescale that builds over time and that helps keep them fresher looking, but mostly that is a losing battle.
Pro tip: don’t use scent beads or softener products. They reduce absorbency (and they’re nasty chemicals that smell terrible but apparently I’m the only person who thinks that).
You are not the only person that hates those scents! But we are rare. I usually get deer in headlights look when I explain it to someone.
Same. Burns my nose and feels gross, like leaving conditioner in my hair.
Yep, you shouldn’t use fabric softener on anything you WANT to be absorbent. Towels, workout clothes, undergarments, etc.
Citric acid as a softener works great. Also removes scents and does a much better job than vinegar. Also neutralizes any detergent that was not rinsed out.
Good tip. I know this as a fact but haven’t connected it.
My dishwasher suggests replacing the rinse aid with up to 2(?)% solution citric acid, which I haven’t tried but I’m going to give it a shot when I run low.
Yup. I also use citric acid for dishwasher rinse aid. 2 tablespoons of citric acid powder to 100 ml of warm water. Let mixture cool and pour into dispenser.
Woah, citric acid powder?
citric acid is a dope cleaning agent against limescale. It reacts with limescale and turns it into water and CO2. Works wonders in kettles too
Yes.
I change my towel when it starts making me stink again right after a shower.
“too late”
Lol
Wash once a week, replace as needed which is probably 10 years or so. Then they become dog towels.
There are three of us in the house, and I wash them weekly, more or less.
As for replacing them, I don’t know what to say. We destroy towels in about ten years. My mom had towels that were 20-30 years old and as good as new.
Did your mum have more towels to rotate through, or higher gsm?
Their mom is a part-time Terry Fairy™ and she would periodically use her magic to restore full towel integrity.
I replace them as soon as they don’t feel “rough” anymore. I hate soft towels. That ends up being probably once a week. Never bought new ones.
Washing machines create rough towels. Rough towels create dry bodies. Dry bodies create soft towels. Soft towels go in washing machines.
Exactly, this is the way!
So that’s where Nick learned it
Ah that’s why he’s small and bald: he cleans so hard he scrapes a layer of himself off every time.
I wash my towel after ever use.
Like, you whip it off your shoulders and lash it out at a monster, and just like that, the towel is dirty‽
Did you just touch a towel on the shelf? Well, it’s used now, so in the washer it goes.
Nope. Once I dry myself off it goes in the hamper.
Same, but I ensure it’s fully dry before putting it in the hamper. So usually a couple of hours later, or just before I next need a towel I replace it.
They start to build the funk if you throw them in there wet.
What a waste of water and energy.
I know it wastes almost as much energy as you used to post on this thread.
I make fun of you a bit, but it’s sensible. Beats using the same towel too often.
I am a bit perplexed no one is writing about washing in 60*C or above.
Guys, this is common knowledge, innit?
idk, after 4 or so uses. I have super dry skin so my towels never get stinky. I’m washing them long before I notice anything. Humidity being very low where I live also plays a part I"m sure.
Some of my towels may be older than me. I got a pile of hand-me-downs from my mother when I moved out and uh…I still use a few of them until they are dilapidated enough to become garage oil rags and then I buy a replacement. Nothing in my bathrooms matches!
Face towels are a different story. I replace them after a single real usage. Probably just as old though.
Swap everything on a Sunday for clean, thats towels sheets, teatowel etc. They live on a heated towel rail so dry out well between uses.
We have a few sets of nice towels, just got two more last year after a decade or so.
Animal shelters are always keen to take old towels.
Animal shelters are always keen to take old towels.
Oh that’s a good tip! I have old towels that I now use for cleaning towels, but I’ll check animal shelters near me as an alternative.
A kindred spirit, I too change all linen, towels, teatowels on a Sunday. I love the feeling of crisp linen and rough towels.
I have sets of “three” of everything. One set in use, one set in the laundry and one set in the closet. I only buy new things if visible frayed and no point trying to mend.
Heck man, I use RIT dye on older towels so they look nice again. So 2-3 decades so far on my towels. was 1-2 times a week
Heh, I still have two towels from my British boarding school from 40 ,years ago. They don’t make 'em like that any more…
I change my towels once a week. I have a special hand towel to dry my nether regions.
Most people call it a cumrag
Or a sock
Who uses a sock? Cumrag or GTFO.
Once a week or two depending on how much other laundry I’ve got.
I’ll replace them when they fall apart.
