Washing bath towels is usually the last of our priorities. Why would we need to wash our towels often, the only time we use them is when we're already clean? The answer is, apparently a lot more often than we thought.
The bacteria we get off of ourselves during showers is a lot stronger than we think. We are only able to wash off a portion of the bacteria on our body throughout a shower, that means a lot of it transfers to our towel when we dry ourselves off.
Once the bacteria reaches your towel, they will start growing and multiplying. This keeps happening the longer you go without washing your towel.
Bacteria is also more attracted to bath towels to begin with, because bacteria loves dark and moist environments. So a steamy bathroom is where they thrive best.
What does that mean?
We know the sound of bacteria sounds gross, but what will it actually do to us?
Bacteria can cause infection. So rubbing yourself down with a dirty towel everyday can make the risk of this happening greater. The most likely way this will happen is if you have small breaks in your skin from rubbing your towel too hard. These breaks are too small to notice, but they will give bacteria an entryway to get in your body.
Although it is extremely rare, you can actually get a disease from dirty bath towels. This can only happen if you are sharing towels with another person or multiple people.
So how often should you wash it?
Even if you aren't doing any towel sharing, you should still use new towels every two to three days. Any longer than that will make your towel a friendly home for bacteria.
If you go longer than this, there is no guarantee that you will get sick after using that dirty towel. But think about it this way, would you put on dirty clothes or underwear right after you've showered? probably not.
Tips
- Make sure your towel is completely dry before you use it again.
- Keep it in your bedroom instead of the bathroom. Bacteria will be more likely to grow in a bathroom-like environment.
- Have a few sets of towels so you can do a load of towels once a week instead of washing two towels every three days.
- Final lazy tip: Stock up on towels and only have to do one huge towel-laundry day twice a month.
Laundry is annoying but so is nasty bath towels, throw them in every few days and avoid bacteria!