How often do you use your towel before you wash it?

After a refreshing shower, all you want is to dry yourself with a soft, fresh-smelling towel; that’s the dream scenario. But if you’ve already used your towel once, the smell of laundry detergent is often long gone when you use it a second time. That’s why we wondered… How often should we really be washing your towels?

There’s no need to throw your towel in the hamper after only a single use.

Bacteria

It seems like a no-brainer: you’ve showered and go to dry yourself with a previously dry towel. The towel becomes damp and is then the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. So you throw it in the laundry, right? Well, there’s no need to throw it in the hamper right away. According to microbiologist Philip Tierno from NYU School of Medicine, it’s best to wash your towels after you’ve used them three times.

Drying

The microbiologist, who’s also a pathologist, explains that it’s fine to use your towel three times. According to Philip, you’ll just be hurting the environment if you wash your towels after using them only one or two times. He does want to urge people to let their towels dry properly in between uses.

Soft towels

Do your towels come out of the laundry feeling all rough and scratchy? There’s a way to fix that! First of all, it’s always a good idea to wash your towels at a high temperature. By doing this, you’ll remove the soap, skin flakes and laundry detergent that make the towel feel so rough and scratchy. Don’t use fabric softener; this stuff contains a ton of chemicals that aren’t exactly good for you. Instead, add a cup of vinegar with a splash of ammonia to your laundry. Pour it into the fabric softener compartment of your washing machine and just pour your regular amount of laundry detergent into its own compartment. The ammonia will make sure that the laundry detergent won’t stick to the fabric of the towels, while the vinegar does the same thing but for the minerals. Together, these two ingredients will definitely make sure your towels will come out perfectly soft and fluffy again.

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Source: HLN | Image: Pexels