What would you do if you ran out of clean towels and wanted to take a shower?
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
United States
August 17, 2007 10:03pm CST
Most times when I want to take a shower or bath, it seems that we are all out of fresh clean towels. So, whenever I get a fresh batch of clean towels I am sure to take a shower right away. That way I can at least ensure that I can use one of them before having to do another load.
However, for those times when I don't have towels, I have to either avoid water or use something other than a towel to dry on. I've tried using nothing at all. And, after spending fifteen minutes standing in the middle of the bathroom floor, trying not to slide down and dripping water everywhere, I swore to myself I would never do it again. So, now if we are out of clean towels, I grab one of my clean T-shirts which is made out of heavy cotton and use it as a towel, instead. It works just fine.
So, what would you use to dry off, if you wanted to take a shower and you were out of towels? Would you simply use nothing and track water throughout the house? Would you get out of the shower and put your clothes back onto your wet skin? Or, would you use something else from your closet?
3 people like this
17 responses
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
18 Aug 07
At the moment I'm in a bit of a transition so I'm sharing a bathroom...and towels with 3 other adults, 2 teenage boys (one of which showers 2-3 times a day) and the 3 little boys. I'm not sure I know what a completely clean and dry towel is any more! I usually end up using whichever towel I used for one of the little boys that is the driest when I get my shower.
Otherwise I've done the same as you...attempted to drip dry or grabbed a shirt. I actually have come to prefer using shirts for my hair. If I put it on as if I'm going to wear it but with only my head through and then pull it back up and twist it like a towel, it stays on much better than a towel and isn't so heavy. It still gets the major wetness out of my hair without crushing my curls.
2 people like this
@visitorinvasion (7709)
• United States
18 Aug 07
Thanks for the tip, foxyfire!
I'll try that. My wet hair is heavy enough being as long as it is, and the towel often does do weird things to my curls when left on too long. Great idea...I never would have thought of it.
1 person likes this
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
• United States
19 Aug 07
My daughter has curly hair as well and I have noticed that towels and such do crush her curls and make them all frizzy. I will have to try that trick with her. It's brilliant! Thanks.
@Malyck (3425)
• Australia
18 Aug 07
Out of interest: how many uses of a towel, in your opinion, renders it 'dirty' or in need of a wash?
Fortunately, I have a lot of towels in my home, as one of the main gifts I receive off certain relatives are new towel sets and beach towels.
I normally use the same towel for 5 days to a week, as long as it has dried back out from its last use.
If i somehow manage to get in the position where there aren't any towels for me to use, I do the same with the heavy cotton shirts, or even a tea towel.
I have to make sure that I am dry before I get dressed, or I become uncomfortable.
2 people like this
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
• United States
19 Aug 07
Like you know when the little kid runs through the bathroom and pulls the towels into the floor and then the spouse goes into the bathroom and doesn't bother picking it up and instead steps on it. That would be a dirty towel I think. Also, once I wrap my hair up into a towel it gets soaked with water and wouldn't dry anything afterwards, so I suppose that would qualify as unusable if not dirty. I suppose I could just toss those in the dryer and reuse without a real washing. But, they would not be of any use to anyone who wanted to take a bath until they were dried.
@Malyck (3425)
• Australia
19 Aug 07
I have that problem with the towel I use for my hair sometimes - that it gets too wet, and still isn't dry when I go for a shower the next day.
Yes, you may be able to just dry the towels that aren't quite 'dirty', it would be quicker than washing and drying them, but still not instantaneous...
My younger siblings always leave their towels all over the place! It's infuriating =P
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
18 Aug 07
lol-- I can't say this has ever happened to me- We have sooo many towels- that they are never all dirty at one time- So we always have clean towels- Once when I was camping- I used my shirt for my hair- to wrap around my head to dry my hair- DIdn't pack enough towels.
I've never tried to drip dry- that is too funny-
2 people like this
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
• United States
19 Aug 07
And, it was a funny sight too, I would imagine, though I did not have a full length mirror to confirm that suspicion!
@AmbiePam (85559)
• United States
18 Aug 07
You're so funny. I don't know if you mean we would be out of ALL towels, but it has happened to me that I was out of bathroom towels. I just used the hand towels in the kitchen. If I don't use those, I use a couple pairs of underwear. LOL
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
• United States
19 Aug 07
Mostly, I meant like when someone has used the last clean towel and no other clean towels in sight. But, you had a very inventive solution. I wouldn't have thought to do that one.
1 person likes this
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
18 Aug 07
I have used teeshirts or wrap around materials called lavalavas as towels when we have run out LOL it doesn't happen often but that is what I normall use.
@ranitam22 (1146)
• United States
18 Aug 07
I have used t-shirts and washcloths to dry off at times. I've also used the corner of a towel to wash my face when i ran out of washcloths one time.
1 person likes this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
18 Aug 07
That's weird, I just ran into this same situation like 5 minutes ago! I went in and took a shower, opened the towel drawer, no clean towels. I'm falling down on the job here. I had no idea we were out. So I dried off with a clean washcloth. Had to ring it out a couple of times but it worked. Guess I better go put in a load of towels.. :D
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
18 Aug 07
I would probably just hurry and wash the towels and then after they were dried, then I would take my shower.
If for some reason, I had to hurry and shower, I would probably just use a clean sheet or something cotton to dry off with.
:)
The shirt idea is a good idea. I actually think I had to do that once with one of the kids after their bath.
I'm sure there is always something. I wouldn't want to drip dry. LOL!
1 person likes this
@inked4life (4224)
• United States
19 Aug 07
Before I hopped in the showe I would turn on all the celing fans in the house. I would then proceed to have my shower, jump out when I was done and run around naked until the fans had dried me off naturally. I actually may do this even with a full batch of clean towels.
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
18 Aug 07
I have never had that problem, and can't see it happening anytime soon either. We have about 3 dozen large towels. Around 15 smaller towels, that I use for my hair, and 8 of the big hooded towels for my toddler. We also have an assortment of beach towels and the like.
If we ever run out of towels, I would apparently be too sick to feel like having a shower! lol I couldn't let my laundry get backed up that bad. But IF it did happen, I would use kitchen towels probably. We have a large assortment of them, too! lol
@thess0312 (442)
• United States
18 Aug 07
Well, that never happend to me before but just in case that ever does happen, I would use wash cloths to dry myself and bring my clothes to the bathroom before I jump in the shower and just dress in there. (",)
1 person likes this
@Ricko82 (584)
• Philippines
18 Aug 07
Like you, whenever I run out of clean towel to use after my shower, I also use clean T-shirt made or cotton to dry myself up. It works just like a towel. I call this being resourceflu, although I try not to run out of clean towel as often as I could. There's nothing like huge, soft, warm, clean towel after a long bath. Snuggle up everyone...
@crazed_moma (1054)
• United States
25 Aug 07
I've used hand towels before. lol worse case senario find a used towel that's not nasty and use it. :) Or just wash some before showering. We recently bought a new batch of towels though so I haven't run out in quite a while.
@peanutjar (5198)
• Canada
18 Aug 07
I would use a twin bed sheet of my daughters.The laundry closet is in the bathroom beside the shower.Fast fix!
@visitorinvasion (7709)
• United States
18 Aug 07
In a pinch, I will grab 3-4 dish/hand towels if there are still some of those clean (usually there are). If not, I'll take the last towel I used to wrap my freshly washed hair off the towel rack and reuse it. Sounds gross, I know, but it's better than not having a way to dry off at all.
I just remembered one time on Madeira Beach years ago when I had showered off and my towel was covered in sand...you could still drink on that beach back then and I had a buzz and wasn't thinking about the sandy towel when I went into the showers, lol. Luckily, we had just left the hotel and I had a blow dryer in the car. My roomate had opted not to shower and went back for the blow dryer for me. It worked. I got dry without getting all sandy again, lol.
@venshida (4836)
• United States
18 Aug 07
I would just use something else from my closet. A sheet or table cloth will do fine.
@carissa765 (1097)
• United States
18 Aug 07
I run into the same problem quite frequently, I have two small boys who like to think that every time they wash their hands they need to use a clean BIG towel to dry them off. I have about 22 towls in my house for four people and a triple load front loader washer, I usually wash every towel in my house about 3 times a week. So, the real question here is "what haven't I used to dry off on?" LOL
I have used kitchen towels, wash cloths, sheets, t-shirts, shorts, underware, bath robes of the kids, drip drying, and various other ways to dry off...
I find in my house the problem is not not having clean towels, but having dry towels.. I will wash them and then forget to put them in the dryer, and god forbid anyone else should do it and help me out..LOL
Thanks for the interresting topic, it is funny to see how some people dry off when there are no clean or dry towels, and nice to know I am not the only one who has done some of these things.
