Is a towel dirty enough to wash after ONE use?
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
December 2, 2012 10:40pm CST
Do you all toss your towels into the dirty laundry directly after one use, or does it depend what it was used for? I guess I should specify bath towels, although there might be a couple people who also toss hand towels right away - what about kitchen towels?
I'm using typical use as my baseline, so it doesn't count if you were working on a car and wiped your greasy hands all over a towel, or it happened to be the towel you laid down by the door because your kids kept tracking mud inside... or the one you grabbed your fleeing dog with who was covered in soap when he jumped out of the bath tub and headed down the carpeted hallway.
I'm talking clean towel on the bar, you took a quick shower after work - does the towel get hung back up on the bar or do you immediately take it to your laundry to be sorted for washing with a 10 foot pole because now it can't be touched?
Reminds me of the little signs in hotel rooms that encourage people to conserve water and tell you that if you hang your towels up, then housekeeping knows you'll reuse them, but if you leave them all on the floor, housekeeping will take them out to wash and they will leave you a stack of fresh towels. Unfortunately when I travel, I usually am traveling with a few people and we go through sometimes a dozen towels. I have to admit that most if not all of that dozen towels ends up crumpled on the floor, since they all look the same it's impossible to try and lay claim to ONE towel to reuse, and I don't want to risk more than one person using a damp towel when we have plenty of dry ones (plus we don't have to do the laundry ourselves)
4 people like this
24 responses
@asliah (11137)
• Philippines
23 Jan 13
hi,
for me i think its not already dirty when someone use it,actually in the house we usually kitchen towels will be use in three to four days depend upon the dirty of it,and the towel in bathroom usually long last in a week or more that in seven days depend on how many user will use it.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
13 Jan 13
There should be no reason for a towel not to be used numerous times prior to being put in the washing machine. I would not consider a towel to be dirty simply because it has been damp a couple of times a dried out again.
The whole idea is to wash your hands and face thoroughly before using the towel, so you actually adding only clean water to the towel.
@Lindalinda (4111)
• Canada
7 Dec 12
I don't see a problem in using a towel more than once. Think of all the water wasted and the streams poluted with detergent. The lakes green with algae and the marine life suffering. If you are travelling with a bunch of people how many crowd into one room? I travel often with my sister and she is also a multi user. There is usually more than one rack in the bathroom. We decide where we will put our towels. I think people in the Western World who use up most of the world's resources have to become more careful with what we have.
@4mymak (1793)
• Malaysia
6 Dec 12
do people seriously wash their bath towels after only using it once ? 
wow... there are six of us in the house - each of us normally bathe / shower - 2-3 times a day... goodness - i will have to wash 15-18 towels a day then -- NO WAY !! - what a waste of water / electricity / washing detergent... we always teach our children to hang their towels properly after they use them, and a least use them the whole day.. normally, the towels are used to dry yourself off - so, it is only soaking up water - not dirt or grime... dont understand why we cant use it repeatedly..
and yes, we also practise that at the hotels when we travel also..
wow... there are six of us in the house - each of us normally bathe / shower - 2-3 times a day... goodness - i will have to wash 15-18 towels a day then -- NO WAY !! - what a waste of water / electricity / washing detergent... we always teach our children to hang their towels properly after they use them, and a least use them the whole day.. normally, the towels are used to dry yourself off - so, it is only soaking up water - not dirt or grime... dont understand why we cant use it repeatedly..
and yes, we also practise that at the hotels when we travel also.. 
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
5 Dec 12
I've always been the kind of person that will use a bath towel more than once. The reason is that it does seem very wasteful to me to wash the towels after every single shower or bath that we take. You know, there are four of us in this house and I only own about 10 bath towels so if we were to wash them after every shower that we take, I would be doing a load of towels every single day. I developed the habit of using the same towel for 2-3 uses while I was growing up and that is what my parents taught us to do.
@Arieles (2473)
• United States
5 Dec 12
You just washed your body, so it's clean. You are using the towel to dry your clean body. I always reuse my towels, but my kids seem to think it's okay to throw a towel that they've only used once into the clothes hamper, and this really irritates me. Not only does it create more work, it is a waste of money! The towels can be used all week and then washed once during the week whenever you do the laundry. I am still trying to get the kids to have their "one special towel" just for them. I think if I get this habit engrained into their little minds by the time they are 18, then my work is done...lol.
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
3 Dec 12
Good evening mommyboo. Since I don't do much to get dirty or very sweaty I use my towels several time. I live with my daughter and her family so I have my own towels and hang them up in my room. I don't see much sense in some one in my position washing the towels after every use.
Now hand towels and dish towels along with dish clothes I change every day. If the dish cloth or dish towel get over used and dirty then they get changed more often. I rinse out the dish cloth a lot during the day.
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
3 Dec 12
i wash our towels several times a week but not after just one use because i only do laundry if the washing machine is full to conserve water and electricity.
i have been at a hotel where they do not give you fresh towels everyday if you are staying more than one day for the same reason.
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
4 Dec 12
That used to burn me up when my kids were little...throwing a towel in the hamper to be washed after one use!
I think that if it is after a normal everyday shower, a towel is still clean after one use. I think changing them every couple of days is plenty.
I think that if it is after a normal everyday shower, a towel is still clean after one use. I think changing them every couple of days is plenty. 
@wonttakelong (3555)
• United States
4 Dec 12
if its just damp then I dont have a proble reusing it
we dont have a bar so unless I take a shower right after my husband the towel usually gts tossed in the hamper
@surekharathi (14146)
• India
3 Dec 12
I was my towel once in a week. WE have total 5 bath towels separate for everyone so each towel wash in a week. I wash daily my face soak towel.
@eagletrek2 (5499)
• Kingston, New York
3 Dec 12
Hi for me if it laundry day
I wash everything ,but if not laundry day I do not put a towel
in the basket unitl it dirty .I know some
people they wait unitl it smells that wrong ok have
a good day.
@skyandgrassplot (1497)
• China
4 Dec 12
Well as for me when I finished the use of my towel then I will clean it with detergent and water then I can use it again why it get dry,I think throw it away just after one use is really a waste.
@41CombedaleRoad (5952)
• Greece
3 Dec 12
I reckon that a towel used just once or twice after a shower is a wet towel, not a dirty one. If a flannel is used anay grease or residual water can be mopped up from a wet body with that, leaving less water on the towel. The problem with a used towel is a damp smell if it is not dried straight away. A heated towel rail or a short blow in the breeze will lessen the laundry pile.
@34momma (13882)
• United States
3 Dec 12
I will use my towel for at least 3 or 4 days. Then i was all the towels every Saturday morning. I mean i am drying off my clean body... so why not
@arreolabryan (856)
• Philippines
3 Dec 12
I use my bath towel 3-4 times before i wash it. But when you use it in something dirty you should wash it. In hotel cases, people just take advantage of the privilege they get of having fresh towel all the time.
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
3 Dec 12
I don't think a towel is dirty after you use it one time after your clean to dry off. My husband constantly puts them in the dirty wash after he uses it once and I am always telling him if you washed yourself in the shower and your CLEAN, why are you throwing it in the wash? Ugh, it drives me crazy! Lol.
@mathewnuevo (129)
• Philippines
3 Dec 12
It depends on how dirty it is used for, either how dirty the persona was, have a skin disease, rashes, psoriasis or anything about that are really disgusting and can cause skin diseases, washing alone is not enough it needs to be very clean and free off from bacteria and viruses, if you want to practices cleanliness as well for your well being start to your self and ofcourse your surroundings, and I do assure you good benefit for health hen doing it. :) happy mylotting!
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
3 Dec 12
no its not.. as you are clean while you are using it. I wash my towel once or twice per week here. After I use it.. I hang it up to dry out. Take care there.
