How often should you wash and change your towel? (2024)

FAQs

How often should you wash and change your towel? ›

As a rule of thumb, once a week or every two weeks should be fine. Towels should ideally be washed more regularly – perhaps every few days – while your facecloth should be cleaned after every use. Because it gets completely wet, it will be wet for a longer time, and retain more skin cells and microbes.

If you don't throw your towel in the corner of the bathroom, where it gets musty smelling and bacteria laden, using the same towel for a week is acceptable.

“Generally, you should change your towels every three to four uses,” she says. “This helps prevent the buildup of bacteria and odors.” It's important to stick to this clean towel schedule for a few reasons, Chiu notes. Bacteria, dead skin cells, and excess oils from your skin can build up on wet towels.

“We recommend washing bath towels after every three uses, or at least once a week, to ensure truly clean towels,” said Kate Elks, Brooklinen director. “Brooklinen's bath offerings, including bath towels and sheets, hand towels, and washcloths, only differ in size, so you can care for them all the same way.”

Almost one in five surveyed said they washed their towels once a month, a quarter said once a week and one in 20 chose to wash every day after a bath or shower, according to data from a shower company.

“Damp, used towels in moist bathrooms encourage microbial growth,” she said. “Although most of these germs are often harmless, some of them (including Staphylococcus bacteria) can cause infection and health problems, especially in people with skin wounds and immunocompromised people.”

Towels are a breeding ground for bacteria and other microorganisms that can cause infections and illnesses. When multiple people use the same towel, they are exposed to each other's germs and can increase the likelihood of spreading infections.

Ultimately, though, when a towel's threads begin to pull—or you notice a lingering odor, despite a careful wash—it's time to toss it; you can expect body and hand towels to last between two to five years depending on their quality. Wash cloths, on the other hand, should be replaced every one or two years, notes Winch.

You will need to wash your sheets more regularly in the latter case. As a rule of thumb, once a week or every two weeks should be fine. Towels should ideally be washed more regularly – perhaps every few days – while your facecloth should be cleaned after every use.

Bath towels typically last two to five years, depending on factors like frequency of use and care. Signs it's time to replace them include reduced absorbency, lingering odors, scratchiness, fading colors, rips or holes, mildew, or if they're over five years old.

How often should bed sheets be washed? ›

"Regular washing, or about once every one to two weeks, is recommended to maintain cleanliness and a healthy sleep environment," says Harris. Once a week if you don't use a top sheet. Once a month if you do. Once a week if you don't use a top sheet.

Many doctors say a daily shower is fine for most people. (More than that could start to cause skin problems.) But for many people, two to three times a week is enough and may be even better to maintain good health. It depends in part on your lifestyle.

You should wash your towels and washcloths after every 3-5 uses, although some experts say your washcloth should only be used once before washing.

Bras are repositories for dirt, sweat, and dead skin cells. For best skin health and support, wash them every two to four wears, though increase that to more often if you were sweating a lot when wearing it or are experiencing skin irritation or infection in the area around your breasts.

A good rule of thumb is to wash your jeans after every 3-10 wears, or when they start to smell. If you're regularly active in your jeans (think: manual work, anything where you work up a sweat), wash them every 3 wears, but if you're working at a desk, you can probably go through multiple wears without washing.

In most cases, it takes several uses before these microbes start to build up, and the towel is wet enough to encourage these germs. At this point, it's necessary to wash your towels. Before then, however, there's no harm in reusing them.

When it comes to bath towels, the average person typically only needs two towels, if you intend on washing them each week. After around four uses of a towel, you should swap for the other. This metric may change based on an individual's personal preference or habits.

The human body is covered in germs, even after bathing. Those invisible particles come off of your body as you dry yourself, and cling to the towel until someone else touches it. When you think about it, it's clear to see that sharing towels is not a sanitary practice.

Hand towels, however, should be changed every one to two days since they are getting used more frequently and might even be drying hands that aren't completely clean.