Is it really necessary to sanitize towels every wash?

[henene4]

Oversanitation vs. fungal growth

What a lot of people don't realise is that towels are usually a great spot for mold or mildew to settle in.

They are damp often and for long times, if not cleaned enough there can be residues which are perfect food for the spores and they have a large surface area.
Especially cleaning cloths can suffer from that.

So some stuff does make sense to sanitize from time to time.

Bedding, pillows, comforters.
Towels if (as in my case) not washed for a long time.
Cleaning cloths (you wouldn't want to clean a surface with a bacteria infested cloth).

But as most clothing is stored dry for a "long" time relativley, at least bacteria have a hard time surviving.

And most everything else gets largely inactivated above 120°F already, though for true denaturation of basicly any DNA of be it fungi, bacteria or viruses, temperatures above 150°F are required.
High pHs of bleach lower the temperatures required, and normal laundry detergent water mixtures somewhat drops that to.
A long high temp drying cycle that ensures all the load has surpassed 150°F or 160°F better would work too.

But for day to day washing, high temperatures are not required.

I can see not disinfecting cloth diapers verry thouroughly.
They only touch a babys bottom which most likely is not a way a baby could infect themselfes.
And after changing them you usually wash hands, so the contamination there isn't given either.

Boilwashing today and in the past decades was mostly used to activate older bleaching agents.
It's still true that the higher the temperature, the more intense the bleaching action is.
But todays bleaching supplys and contents work perfectly fine in plain hot tap water, most oxygen based ones even just in warm water with enough time.

 

[tolivac]

I have washed towels,socks,underwear together for YEARS in hot water---no problems with illness.Of course I am the only one using these.And I treat "tracks" with Shout.Since our bodies have immune systems-your own "stuff" shouldn't bother you-but for multiple users-yes-the sanitizing is a good idea to be on the safe side.

 

[mrboilwash]

I think from a medical point of view only few serious diseases could be transmitted by insufficiently washed clothes. Still I would be wary if someone in the family suffered of athlet`s foot, yeast infections or had an infected open wound that touched the towels.
I absolutely agree that frequent disinfection in a household environment usually isn`t necessary and can do more harm than good because we need to keep our immune systems busy to stay healthy.
But who says my healthy daily intake of germs had to come from sour smelling clothes and towels ? There are countless of other ways of exposure that are more fun ;-)
Besides everyone is still entitled to live their very own level of clean to feel good. I feel especially good when I enjoy the luxury of a fresh boil washed towel.

 

[kate1]

Well, if you’re having issues with clothing or towels smelling bad after being washed or towels immediately smelling musty or sour the first time they’re used, they are not coming clean and something needs to be adjusted. Either with how you’re washing them, not using strong enough detergent, water that’s not hot enough, an insufficient wash cycle, or some bleach is needed or with how they’re being stored after they’re used before washing, such as leaving them damp in a pile somewhere for days and days. My wash rags and mop heads do actually get a cup of bleach in the load every time I wash them, those are things being used to clean all of the dirt and grime throughout my house and I do feel that they need to be as clean as possible. I also bleach things any time someone in the house is sick.

 

[DADoES]

 
I use bath towels several times, washcloths not as many repeats.  Both are hung to dry over the shower door between uses.  My bathroom has a ceiling fan so there's plenty of ventilation.

I wipe off (and wring) with a washcloth before finishing with a towel.  A family friend brought that trick to attention years ago for getting more mileage out of a bath towel.  It helps a lot when there's (male) body hair involved.

Anyway ... I wash bath linens, kitchen linens, and (white ankle) socks together.  Always in tap-hot water (I don't [yet] have a washer with onboard heating), and with chlorine bleach more often than not.

Never have run into an odor.

 

[kb0nes]

Odd, I'm 54 and I have NEVER sanitized a towel ever... I wash and dry them as usual using warm/hot water, decent detergent and allow a 160 deg F dryer to do the rest. I too will even tempt fate and use a towel for several days, I just can't see needlessly wasting the resources. Never had odors or illness that I'd attribute to unsanitary towels.

 

[rp2813]

Agreed that if bath towels are being used to dry off a clean body, they can be used more than once between laundering.   I rotate Dave's towels more frequently because, while he's still able to bathe himself, he doesn't do the best job of it while seated on a shower chair.

 

[ea56]

I change our towels once a week, and we hang them to dry between uses. Since I’m retired I usually only shower every other day, and do a sponge bath at the bathroom sink, with a basin full of the hottest water on the off days, and I use a hand towel to dry off with, that is only used for that one time, then washed. We do however only use a wash cloth once, and then wash them with the weekly laundry.

I wash the towels, and just about everything else in tap hot water, with an adequate amount of a good detergent. And of course everything goes into the dryer, and I use high heat for everything. The towels never smell, and neither do I. And in 67+ years I’ve never gotten ill, as far as I’m aware from this routine.

And I’ve never, ever let the laundry go more than one week at a time before washing it. If you leave already soiled linens and clothing much beyond that time its going to start growing things that will be a problem, like mildew, mold and the like.

I agree with Phil, I can’t see the necessity to waste resources needlessly by only using a towel once. After all, they are being used on an already clean body. Plus, if towels are washed after each use they are going to wear out and fade a lot faster.

Eddie

 

[appnut]

I use a towel & wash cloth at most twice before it has it's final dry out to be put in the hamper until a load of towels accumulates. I also do this with the rest of my laundry that is highly sorted. I cannot see doing tiny loads.

 

[askolover]

Well, ever since I moved out on my own and entered the medical field, I have bought white towels and wash cloths for the express purpose of using Clorox on them.  Every time.  All white towels, dish towels, wash cloths, socks, underwear, handkerchiefs, etc get bleached in 150F water.  Occasionally I will skip the Clorox, use Tide with bleach powder and crank it up to 190F wash.  Just my 2 cents worth.  Overkill?  Probably.  But I don't have to worry.  My hospital scrubs get washed in 140F.  If I've had an isolation patient, I'll pour a little Lysol in the wash.  Been doing things this way for over 20 years and have had the same towels for at least 18 years.  I just gave a few to my mother and mother-in-law because I'm replacing them with larger bath sheets instead.  They were still in great shape.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Towels

Our towels are washed in hot water every time. I use my towel for a week. It is always dried on a rack between uses. My brother plays hockey and always discards the towel after it sits in his hockey bag for obvious reasons. For a while I used about 1/4 C of bleach in each load, but now I am using 1C of ammonia with great success. Our towels have never smelled and are soft, fluffy, and absorbent. Mom had an issue with C. diff last year, and I ended up running her towels and sheets through a sanitize cycle in both the washer and dryer. No issues.

 

[mrsalvo]

Interesting discussion, esp. for everything we've been through in the last year or so. My elderly Dad was in TB treatments for many, many weeks last year for bladder cancer (he beat the cancer). For all those weeks we were in isolation, at Dr's orders. Dr. told me to be very careful in his bathroom, bedroom, and handling soiled laundry, but never instructed by him or his office as to "how" to be careful!!!! Our washer is T/L Speed Queen, no internal water heater, our hot water heater heats to 120-125 degrees. To make a long story short, because of the huge water usage of the washer, I threw all our towels and whites together (towards the end of treatments) in hot water using some chlorine bleach, then phasing that out in favor of a built-in bleach alternative (by that time he had developed a chemical reaction to the chlorine bleach). I dried everything on the clothesline outside in the sun and wind. We were fine, and though the towels and everything were stiff as cardboard, there is no doubt in my mind they were clean and sanitized. Had I not had the clothesline, I'd probably feel different though.

Today, I use my towels 3 or 4 times and wash cloths used 2 or 3 times or less. Kitchen towels I change often. I wash everything the same way I always have, and hang out.

Barry

 

[mark_wpduet]

This is why

when I wash colors and some underwear is color (not white), I use ammonia and detergent and the hottest water possible... But with whites, I don't have to use sanitize because I only buy WHITE towels/ wash clothes/hand towels and I bleach them...Some people refuse to use chlorine bleach but I could not live without it. Such a little bit goes a LONG way.....Never a sour smell or anything.

I know that smell you're talking about - drying your hands on a towel and it has mildewed. Growing up at my grandma's- she had no AC, and in the summer her hand towels would get that way..They weren't like that out of the wash....but it took no time for them to get that smell in the summer months and it was gross. It wasn't her laundry habits - they were good. It was just the ultra high summer humidity combined with NO AC. Thinking back on it, I'm not sure how the hell I grew up without AC... Without it now, I'd die!