Changing Bath Towels

[jeb]

bathing / showers

As a history buff and reinactor I wanted to bring a few thinks up about this subject I find interesting. Taking daily bathes/showers was nearly unheard of until the last few generation. The indian word for the first settlers coming to america literally translates to " the stinky people" or "the smelly people". They could track us by our scent. ( Indians were very clean and bathed often so they could not be tracked). Frequent bathing was considered unhealthy ( everyone knew someone who took a bath then died a few monthes later so it must have been the bath). One or two a year might be too many. When the average family did take a bath evryone used the same water- Dad first then mom, so on down the line, baby being last. It was not uncommon to be sewed into your winter underwear and not removing it until spring ( why do you think they had the flap in back!)Many people bathed the end of May after a long winter, thats why June was marriage month- people still smelled pretty good and a lot of flowers were in bloom (the bride carries a bouquet to mask her smell). I know this all sound bad but if you are here your ancestors lived through it, proving " a little dirty never hurt anybody " JEB

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Cold Wash/Cold Rinse; Normal Wash, Fst Spin

Once a week...

For our wedding, my wife made us get 2 washcloths, 2 hand towels & two reg. sized bath towels for each... And we only have 5 or 6 sets that we rotate each time...

-- Dave

 

[gansky1]

Don't throw the baby out with the bath-water!

Interesting history lesson.  My grandparents, having grown up on the wild prairie at the turn of the 20th century, used to talk about bathing and hair washing done once each week.  By the time the littlest kids got their turn in the bath water, it was freezing cold in the winter but they lived through it. Well, most did anyway.  Pumping water out of the ground by hand and heating it on the cookstove was a ton of work - not to mention having to make the soap you used - and usually done on Saturday evening so the churchgoers all smelled fresh and clean.  In the summer, bathwater was rarely heated but probably felt good after a long week of work in the heat.

 

[launderess]

It Ain't Saturday Night!

Never understood that line from "Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny" cartoons as a child.

 

[angus]

Well, here is my $.02 on this. I was brought up on the "clean towel for every bath" rule and facecloths as well as kitchen towels were changed daily. Sometime in my '30's, my now ex convinced me that there was no reason to use a fresh towel every time, just hang it in the bathroom and change at the end of the week. Great idea. Then a few months later, I noticed that my arms and legs were sporting small perfectly round lighter pigmented spots, Even in summer, they didn't tan and with my normal Mediterranean coloring, made for quite a spectacle. Fortunately they were not on my trunk or my face.
Fast forward to the dermatologist whose first question was whether I used a clean towel for every shower. the culprit turned out to be that the towel stayed damp just long enough for the natural fungi we all have on our skin to multiply rapidly on the towel and hence the result. It took several months of using a nasty smelling antifungal body wash and lotion, but all was eventually back to normal. Let me also point out this had nothing to do with how I wash my toweks (hot water always). Finally, this was before I had central air, so the bathroom stayed somewhat warm and moist for a while. Still, not an experiment I am willing to try again any time soon. Not everyone will have that problem, but since I did... well, you get the idea.

 

[optima]

Towels

A Morning shower & then an Evening shower using the same towel & then it's time for a fresh towel.

 

[jerrod6]

Seems like some are doing what we were brought up to do.  I  guess I don't even remember what the towel rules where when growing up.  We need to be doing it the way WE WANT TO DO IT...not our parents.

 

Then again that has always been the way I am - I do it MY WAY so everybody might not agree.

 

[rapunzel]

Mine is the same as most others here. One use for the bath towel, then placed on floor to dry feet, then laundry basket. Face washers x 2 - one for upstairs and one for below. I am usually a two shower a day person. I need it to wake up in the morning and to feel clean before I go to bed.

 

[frigilux]

Towels: One use here, too. I use a fresh hand towel for morning ablutions, and another fresh one for after-work cleanup. I just don't like the idea of reusing towels that have been hanging damp all day. Makes for a gigantic load of towels to wash on Saturdays, that's for sure.

 

[zanussi_lover]

Towels

i use my towels about 2/3 times before washing.

They are beige towels that I got from Primark, have had them for 3 years and they haven't thinned out.

The towels go in with my kitchen teatowels on a Cottons 60*c wash with one Daz Tablet and a handful of soda crystals

 

[zanussi_lover]

And

I hate going to peoples houses and drying my hand on a towel that smells of B.O and mildew...thats why you should wash towels in hot water (60*c) with a Bleach containing detergent, to kill bacteria and mildew.

If you wash a towel at 30*c and wash it at 60*c you'll notice that the towel smells fresher if it is washed at 60*c.

Ive noticed that when washing my towels with Liquid detergent but even though they feel softer, I find they are less absorbant than using powder, So I use Powder/Tablets for towels, and always use 1 instead of 2, so they rinse out better.

 

[historyman]

Agreed zanussi_lover

Usually change bath towel and hand towel once a week here. I use a hand towel (usually an old one unless expecting company) as a dedicated bath mat.

When I moved into my current house the washer had a cold water hook up only. When I inquired why my landlord stated that the area had once been an unenclosed porch. I was not OK with cold water washing only, so I cut the unicouple off an old portable I had used in college, got some water hose, joined the unicouple water in hose with the new one and then had hot water for my washer from the kitchen sink (not that far away.)

 

[dirtybuck]

Towel and wash cloth are changed every week.

 

[philcobendixduo]

Once a Week

I change all towels, wash cloths and dish cloths once a week.
I shower 3 times a week only and have always found it "enough" unless I've done some particularly dirty, hot, sweaty job.
I have to wash the main bath towels (dark red) by themselves as they bleed color even after 2 years so I have enough to wash a full load after 4 weeks.
The other bath has white towels so same with those - every 4 weeks is enough for a full load.
The rest of the towels (fingertip towels from powder room, kitchen towels, and any others that are not red or white - enough to wash every 4 weeks.
Sheets are changed every 2 weeks.
My mother was from England where they change things and bathe even MORE infrequently (or did back in her day)!
I am in agreement that many Americans bathe FAR too often (some twice a day) which washes away GOOD bacteria and germs causing them to get sick more often than those who bathe less frequently.

 

[thelaundrylab]

I change all Bath towels once a week, though sometimes I may change small hand towels twice a week, as they can get pretty dirty during the week! Dish cloths & Tea towels I change them every day. Bath towels & Kitchen towels are always washed separately on a 90c Degree's wash.

 

[aquarius1984]

My mother was from England where they change things and bath

Being from Britain I have just had my weekly bath which is traditional for us Brits to have on a Sunday.

Like most Brits its been in the same bath water that my parents have used before me. Call it a pecking order. Topped up with a little hot water between people it easily does 5 of us.

Im 3rd in the pecking order.

We all have a towel each though which we use for 6 bath nights each which of course means they get laundered once every 6 weeks.

Bedding is changed every 3 months when we have enough money to buy extra washing powder to cope with the change.

Im sure most Britons do this too aside the odd few.