How Often Should You Wash Your Hand Towels?

Let's be real here. How often do most of us wash our hand towels? Obviously washing them frequently would be the most hygienic, but what's the true standard? If you're like me and you have trouble remembering to wash hand towels, let's find out how often you should actually be washing your hand towels.

How Often Should You Wash Your Hand Towels?

The first consideration comes down to how worried you are about germs and bacteria. If someone in your household is sick or immunocompromised, you should be switching the hand towels out every day.

If your hand towel is located in a bathroom or used for anything other than clean hands, the standard is every couple of days.

If your hand towel isn't used very often or has plenty of time to dry in between uses, you are likely fine to wash your hand towels every week. 

If you want to avoid bacteria and mildew problems, don't wait any longer than a week!

So what does this mean for you? Obviously it would be a lot of hassle to wash towels every day, so we recommend having multiple hand towels available for each bathroom and/or kitchen. Luckily hand towels are not too expensive and come in a variety of colors and patterns, so have some fun!

Guilt-Free Ways to Go Longer Between Washes

Life is busy, and maybe we should be washing our hand towels every few days, but how many of us actually have the time or brain power to remember something that's so easily forgotten? While you still shouldn't go longer than a week for washing your hand towels, there are some ways that you can stretch the time from a few days up to a week.

Pay attention to what your towel is made of. Most people love a good plush cotton hand towel, but unfortunately, those towels trap moisture because they are thick and the dense cotton loops make it hard for the water to evaporate. While this means you may want to stay away from super thick towels, it doesn't mean your towels have to be scratchy. There are many towel blends that are soft, absorbent, and fast-drying.

Microfiber is known to be a fast-drying material, so if you have a towel that contains microfiber, it's less likely to trap moisture and grow bacteria. Just be aware that microfiber is often more likely to wick moisture away, so it may not absorb as well as cotton.

Turkish cotton is also known to dry quickly while still feeling nice to the touch. These towels are typically thinner, so they tend to dry pretty quickly. There are a lot of fun designs made of Turkish cotton as well, so prepare to have fun choosing some pretty towels!

And while you're at it, make sure to add a Towel Tie to your hand towels to keep them from falling on the floor. Nothing will get your towels dirty faster than dropping them on the floor. Not only are Towel Ties functional, but they are decorative as well! Win-win.

In the end, make sure your towels will dry quickly and stay off the floor. If you can do those things, your towels will stay cleaner longer.