Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you weren’t sure what to do with the wet towel you’ve used to dry yourself off after a refreshing shower? Everyone wants to hang their used towels appropriately so that it doesn’t create a mess in the washroom or the bedroom. If you are also looking for the correct handling of your wet towels, here’s the answer:
Modern homes typically have built-in towel racks that offer ample space to hang your wet towels. However, if you don’t have one, you can hang it over a tight hook mounted behind your door or near your sink. Other options include outdoor wash line stands and towel hampers, or you can simply dry them off by hanging them on the bathroom door.
Read the following article to learn the proper ways of handling your towels while maintaining their quality.
These tips can help clear out all the confusion inside your head and provide a better overall experience.
What Happens If You Don’t Dry Your Towels Properly?
Research has proved that damp towels are a breeding ground for bacteria and germs. If a person doesn’t dry their towels, the towel is most likely to host multiple harmful organisms to the human body and health. Apart from the bodily damage, improper drying deteriorates the quality of the towel.
Wet places are known to be at a high risk of bacteria breeding. Similarly, towels are made of cotton, which is highly absorbent and attracts germs and other filthy organisms.
As a result, people who don’t dry their wet towels after a shower are more likely to have skin allergies, yeast and fungi reactions, and other health issues.
Thus it is recommended to dry your towel as soon as possible. You should hang your damp towels away from dirty things like garbage and filth.
This precautionary measure will protect your skin from germs and keep you healthy. It will also keep the high quality of the towel intact and increase its shelf life.
What Are Some Appropriate Ways of Drying or Hanging Your Wet Towel After Shower?
There is no particular way to hang your towel to dry it off. You can dry your towel through ways like spreading it over a rack, hanging it on a hook near the sink, putting it behind the door, or disposing of it in the towel hamper. The place should be airy and wide to accommodate the towel.
Instead of leaving your wet bath towels on the floor or sink, use the following ways to hang them after drying yourself:
- Towel Ladder Rack
People usually use these towel ladders as it provides enough space for more than one towel at a time. Also, users do not have to drill holes or make changes in the room set up to accommodate the rack as it doesn’t require installation.
- Door Hooks
Those who do not want to invest in an additional rack or are looking for a space-saving alternative can install hooks behind their doors.
Here, they can hang their damp towels after a quick shower. But be careful, as drying a wet towel in the washroom can attract germs and bacteria.
- Outdoor Wash Line
People from eastern countries like China, India, Pakistan, and Thailand use different ways of hanging their used towels.
They prefer putting them outside on a washline to dry the bath towels quickly. This preserves the quality of towels as they hang in the fresh air and deter the growth of fungi and other bacteria.
How to Avoid Ruining Your Bath Towels?
At times, people handle bath towels in a way that ends up ruining the product. Practices like using extra detergent and fabric softener, removing makeup with the bath towel, and washing in extreme temperatures, ruin the quality of bath towels.
- Extra Detergent and Fabric Softeners
It is necessary to balance out the amount of detergent and water while washing it either in a washing machine or in a tub. If not, the extra detergent will stay in the towel and degenerate the quality.
Fabric softeners make towels less water absorbent and leave product residue on the fabric.
- Makeup Removal
There are a lot of people that utilize bath towels to wipe off their makeup. These products are thick and highly pigmented, thus, it is difficult to remove their stains from the towels.
As a result, users wash their towels again and again. This causes the fabric to wear off more quickly than usual.
- Extreme Hot or Cold Water
Ensure that you are washing your towels at the right temperature according to the label. Using extreme hot or cold water weakens the fabric and causes it to lose its color.
How Often Should a Person Wash Their Used Towels After a Bath?
According to The American Cleaning Institution (ACI), a person should wash their towels after three uses. This way, the towels will stay clean and germ-free. However, if you have a busy life, you should wash it at least once every week.
As mentioned above, towels are a breeding ground for bacteria and fungal growth. Thus it is necessary to wash your towels regularly or weekly to ensure that you are using clean and safe towels.
Washing towels after every use can be difficult for people and result in wearing off the fabric early.
As a moderate practice, The American Cleaning Institute (Organization responsible for checking and regulating cleaning products and their products) recommends people wash towels after three-four uses.
How Often Should People Replace Their Towels?
Replace your old towels with new ones after every two years. When the towels get old, they become inefficient. The fabric wears off and loses its ability to absorb water. It is necessary to change your towels after a considerable time period to ensure a better experience.
People do not consider changing their towels but end up complaining about holes and frayed edges on the towels. As the towels are made up of cotton fabric that wears off with time and weakens up, you should change them with time.
It is said that users should change their towels after using them for two years. But if you see that the fabric has lost its absorbency, or the threads are coming out, it smells putrid even after washing it, or has holes; you should change the towel before two years.
What Can You Do With the Old Towels to Ensure a Sustainable Environment?
If the towel is no longer in a condition that you can further use for drying yourself after a shower, you can reuse and recycle it in ways like donating it to other institutes, making it a cleaning rag, and using it as a bath mat, and a lot more.
Following are a few ways to repurpose your old towels:
- Donate it to home shelters or pet homes. They know how to utilize these worn-off pieces and make them into something good.
- You can cut the towel into smaller pieces and use it as a cleaning cloth for spillages or related things in the house.
- Watch tutorials on youtube and make bath mats out of old towels. This will add color to your room.
- For those who have babies in the house, they can sew the towel and make cute bibs. This will be an economical way in this inflation.
- If you have pets in your house, you can reuse your towels and make them into toys for them.
Conclusion
Now that you have this article as a reference, you won’t be stranded and confused about what to do with your wet towels after a shower or how and where to hang them once you are done drying yourself. You must now be aware of the right way to dry towels without compromising the fabric’s quality.
Amos Christen graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Interior Design from Drexel University — Philadelphia, PA. Since 2003, Amos has worked with top interior design professionals in this area, including architects and interior/graphic/lighting designers. As a skilled interior designer, Amos Christen is highly versed in fine arts and crafts and uses that to supplement his main area of expertise. He often publishes articles related to home décor on several websites, including Sprucetoilets.com, Sprucebathroom.com, and Mybesuitedhome.com. He also contributes to leading interior design magazines.