How often should you wash your towels? As a general rule, you should wash your bath towel once a week. However, some experts say that you should be swapping out your dirty towel for a clean one every two days. It all depends on how well it dries between use
If you're balking at that ('it's just water' we hear you cry) you should know that damp bath towels are a breeding ground for bacteria thanks to build ups of dead skin cells, anal and urinary secretions, and droplets from your toilet. Put all that in warm bathroom with steamy surroundings and a neutral pH, and hey presto: germs galore.
Most of these microbes aren't likely to hurt you, but if you have an open wound or skin abrasion you run the risk of transferring some harmful bacteria into your system. One study found that nearly 90% of bathroom towels were contaminated with coliform bacteria and about 14% carried E. coli.
“After about two days, if you dry your face on a hand towel, you’re probably getting more E. coli on your face than if you stuck your head in a toilet and flushed it,” microbiologist Charles Gerba told Time.
How often should you replace towels?
You might not think you'd need to replace your towels until they fall apart but the two year mark is generally when you should be shopping for a new set as this is when they lose absorbency. But don't bin old towels. You can repurpose them as cleaning rags or donate them to your local animal shelter.
