You're washing your towels wrong! Microbiologist reveals how often you should really clean your bath towels - so, are you doing it enough?

Daily Mail​

20-07-2025

With so many distractions around the home, forgetting to clean your towels is an easy thing to do.
So it's little surprise that some Brits go a whole year before finally bunging them in the washing machine.
But according to a scientist, you may want to start doing it every day if you don't want to jeopardize your personal hygiene.
Dr Primrose Freestone, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, says you should be laundering towels after two uses at the very most.
That's once every two days for people who shower or bathe once a day.
However, for those with infections or a weakened immune system, towels should be washed after every single use, the expert claims.
'Clean towels are no longer clean after drying skin,' Professor Freestone told MailOnline.
'Dirty towels will make freshly washed skin dirty again, negating the point of washing.'
When we dry ourselves with a towel, we deposit thousands of skin cells and millions of microbes like bacteria and fungi onto it.
And then when we reuse the towel, we shed yet another layer of these invisible cells and organisms, eventually creating a thriving community.
One study analysing repeated use of bath towels by a single user in a hostel revealed high levels of several bacteria species that can cause dangerous infections in humans, including E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella.
Exposure to these microbes in your towels can cause fever, asthma, allergic skin irritations, other skin infections and many more symptoms.
A towel is also regularly damp, not only because we use them every day after we bathe and shower, but because towel fabric is much thicker than something like bed linen.
Unfortunately, bacteria and fungi thrive in damp environments, which in turn make it harder for towels to dry – further encouraging their growth.
'Bath towels are particularly good at accumulating microorganisms as they contact all areas of a body,' said Professor Freestone.
'If the towels are repeatedly used without laundering, sweat, skin cells and bodily fluids will build up and provide a nutritious, moist and warm environment for bacteria and fungi to grow.'
Towels quickly pick up an unpleasant musty or sour smell, similar to wet dog fur, and the reason for this is rather hard to stomach.
'The musty smell from overused under-washed towels is thought to be due to residual detergent or clothes conditioner which trap body sweat or fluids which is then fed upon by bacteria and fungi which are making volatile organic compounds,' Professor Freestone said.
'In other words it is bacteria and fungal waste products making the smell.'
According to Professor Freestone, we should 'never ever' share a bath towel to minimize the risk of spreading infections.
Viral infections such as monkey pox – which causes fever, headache and blisters – can be spread by doing so.
And not just bath towels we should be laundering regularly; hand towels may not be used all over the body like bath towels, but the contact with the skin still transfers microbes and skin cells from the hands.
'Bath towels need more frequent laundering than hand towels due them having a higher microbial content,' said the expert.
'But hand towels will still from repeat use accumulate bacteria and fungi – so do a hot detergent wash every three to five days.'
Hand and bath towels should be washed with laundry detergent at 140°F (60°C) and be left to dry completely before they are used.
'This hot wash kills most bacteria and fungi, inactivates viruses and stops towels smelling unpleasant; it also ensures towels do not pose an infections risk,' she said.
'For storing the towels make sure they are thoroughly dried before stacking in a cool, dry environment.'
According to Rietie Venter, associate professor of clinical health at the University of South Australia, towels need to be washed even more often than bed linen.
Towels are best washed every few days, she said in a piece for The Conversation last year, while facecloths should be cleaned after every use.
If towels still smell after being laundered, they may have been left in the washing machine for too long once the cycle had finished.
'If possible, hang your towels and bedding out in the sun,' Professor Venter said.
'That will dry them quickly and thoroughly and will foster that lovely fresh, clean cotton smell.
'Using a dryer is a good alternative if the weather is bad, but outdoors in the sun is always better if possible.'
Why do towels get so smelly so quickly?
Towels are the perfect home for a swarming community of bacteria and fungi.
They hold many of the key ingredients for hosting microbial life - water, warm temperatures, oxygen, a neutral pH, and even food in the dead skin people leave behind after a thorough dry.
The human body also boasts these ideal living conditions, which is why our bodies are host to trillions of bacteria throughout our lives.
As a towel is used to dry the body, microbes sitting on the surface of the skin are deposited onto its damp, warm surface.
When we smell towels, we often perceive a musty or sour odour, which is from the waste products deposited by growing communities of mould and bacteria.
Don't throw a wet towel into the laundry basket, as the damp and dirt will still be an ideal place for microbes to breed.
By the time you get to doing your washing, the towel and the other laundry around it may have acquired a bad smell. And it can be difficult to get your towels smelling fresh again.
Instead, put the damp towel straight into the washing machine, or, if it's a while before it's getting laundered, hang it to dry first.