How Long Can You Use a Towel Before Washing It?

This is a subject that everyone seems to have a different opinion on... "How many times can you use a bath towel before washing it?". We asked you on our Facebook page and got a TON of responses.

Here were just a few of our favorites that illustrate this difference in opinion:

• Jillisa C.-  A week for bath towels. In theory, you're clean after a shower. Hand towels? Ha! Who knows? When my son's is visibly covered in blue toothpaste, normally. 😂
• Kristina B.-  Once and only once... if they are hung up to dry in the bathroom and you don’t close the lid on your toilet... yeah you are wiping your clean body with towels that are covered in whatever spray/mist your toilet puts back into the air when you flush.... poo on your face anyone?
• Lane P.- Bath towel 13 days, your clean for gosh sake. Hand towel 6 days.
• Linda K.- 1 for crying out loud you wipe your face and your bottom . How do you know what part was what the 2 nd time ewww!!!
• Tim M.- Well mine just stands on its own now now towel rack needed, I call that a victory
• Cindy R.-�� 3 or 4 for my bath towels. Hung up to dry on a heated towel rack. My kids after every shower cause it could be day or two between showers and because who knows how they did showering.

I'm someone that uses my bath towel for the week. However, that may change now after looking into this. According to BuzzFeed, "Towels used after bathing or showering that are just damp could be hung to dry and used up to three times, says Kelly A. Reynolds, Ph.D., an environmental health science professor at the University of Arizona.Bacteria and mold will begin to accumulate but growth will be slowed as the towel dries.” The article also states that if you notice a smell after just one use, "that's your skin and billions of bacteria stankin' up the place." Gross.

Washcloths should be washed every time you use them since they are typically heavily soaked. The article states "the moisture creates the perfect environment for bacteria and mold to grow to unacceptable levels." And when it comes to kitchen towels, you better be washing them every time too.

Kitchen cloths tend to readily attract harmful bacteria, remain damp due to soaking or frequent use, pick up food particles from kitchen practices, and are generally in close proximity to our food. This condition creates a perfect scenario for collection, growth, and transmission of germs." - Reynolds tells BuzzFeed.

The recommendation is to throw them in the laundry after each use if you want to avoid spreading bacteria on to the surfaces you eat off of.

I feel like I've learned A LOT from this conversation and will be taking this advice. Especially since now all I can think about when I look at a towel is all of the bacteria growing on it. See what other Iowans had to say about appropriate bath towel usage and leave your thoughts in the post below: