If you don't wash your towels after every single use, experts have some good news: It's unlikely to cause an immediate health problem. In fact, reusing your towels is an environmentally conscious choice that helps reduce your water and energy consumption. However, that's not to say your once-used towels are free of germs—being damp, warm, and absorbent, they provide an ideal environment for bacteria to grow and thrive.
"The longer towels stay damp, the longer the yeasts, bacteria, molds and viruses remain alive and stay active," dermatologist Alok Vij, MD, writes for Cleveland Clinic. "They can cause an outbreak of toenail fungus, athlete's foot, jock itch and warts, or cause these skin conditions to spread," he says, adding that dirty towels "can certainly cause a flare-up of eczema or atopic dermatitis."
That’s why Pedi Mirdamadi, ND, a naturopathic doctor and holistic nutritionist specializing in functional medicine, recently took to Instagram to explain exactly how often you should wash your towels.
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“Even after a shower, your skin still contains bacteria. And when you dry yourself, the moisture from the towel combined with the bacteria that gets pulled from your body becomes a mix of infectious bacteria,” he says. “On day zero, when the towels are washed and still not used, you can still culture bacteria from the towel. On day one, the bacterial count increases. On day five of use, your towel contains so much bacteria, which I’m sure some of you can smell. That’s what the nasty wet towel smell is coming from: The bacteria eating the body oils in order to survive and grow in the towel’s material."
Mirdamadi notes that the same problem occurs in your face towels. “So what you want to do is change your towels at least three times each week because even on day three, your towel contains so much bacteria that you’re better off washing or changing it. This can help with acne and many other skin problems,” the doctor advises.
Hand towels pose an even greater risk, since these tend to be shared by multiple people within the household. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, told Time in 2017 that if you use your towels to dry your hands after washing them, they almost certainly harbor fecal bacteria. In fact, his research indicated that 90 percent of bathroom towels were contaminated with coliform bacteria, and that 14 percent carried E. coli.
According to Gerba, towels that were washed more frequently had lower levels of bacterial occurrence. "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," he told Time. By his estimation, you should plan on washing your hand towels every other day.
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So, how often should you wash your towels? More often than you currently do. Stick to a schedule of washing them once every two to three uses, and be sure to put them straight into the wash on high heat if you notice a musty smell.
