Towels and bathroom rugs can hide bacteria, mildew, and odors if they aren’t washed often enough. But how often should you wash towels for the bathroom? Here’s a simple guide backed by laundry science and my 23+ years of serious laundry experience.
We will also talk about how often you should wash bathroom rugs. Your clean, freshly washed feet are stepping onto a rug, so make sure it is nice and fresh, too!
So how often should you wash your bathroom towels? And what about the bathroom rug? Should you wash it every week? Every couple of weeks?
In my experience, people tend to fall into two categories in the Bathroom Towel & Rug Department.
With towels, people either use one every day to every other day or they only switch once every couple of weeks.
In washing bathroom rugs, people seem to wash regularly once a week or they rarely wash it at all (if ever).
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How Often Should You Wash Towels for the Bathroom?
It is best to wash bathroom towels every 3-5 times they are used. Notice that I did not write every 3-5 days.
That really is the maximum times a towel needs to be dampened (from drying you off), allowed to dry, and then be used again.
And keep in mind, this rule of thumb only applies if you hang up your towel after every single use. It needs time to dry between uses so yucky things don’t breed and cause mold and mildew. If you just throw your towel on the floor and don’t hang it up between uses, it is breeding bacteria and possibly mold.
Besides the fact that mold and mildew are hard to remove from towels, the thoughts of mildew being on a towel I am using makes me cringe.
If you use a towel many more times than this 3-5 use guideline, you will notice that they will start to develop an odor. No one wants that.
Why Bathroom Towels Need Frequent Washing
It would seem that one wouldn’t need to change bathroom towels too often. You are drying off a clean body with a dry towel, right?
Well, that seems logical, but here’s the truth: every time you use your towel to dry off, you’re scraping off dead skin cells. And those dead skin cells collect in the fibers of your towel. So if you use your towel for 10 straight days, you have 10 days’ worth of exfoliated cells on that towel.
That’s not a lovely thought.
Also, your towel got wet when it dried off your body. Any time the fibers of something get wet, the opportunity to harbor bacteria and other germs is greatly heightened.
How Often to Wash Bathroom Rugs
How often you should wash your bathroom rug greatly depends on several factors:
- If the rug has a non-skid rubber backing
- If your bathroom is used frequently
- If a lot of water is routinely splashed on the floor
If your rug has a non-skid rubber backing, it can’t tolerate being washed frequently. It is best to wash a bathroom rug on warm/hot, and the rubber backing will deteriorate quickly if it is washed on hot too many times. Rubber and hot water and not a good mix in terms of durability.
To maintain a bathroom rug that has a rubber backing, only wash it once every 3 weeks or so and use only cool to cold water.
Cotton bathmats can tolerate hot water and frequent washing. When replacing our bathroom rugs, I now look for thick cotton mats since they can take a beating. Our house is very hard on appliances and household items, so this is a must for us.
If a bathroom is used frequently, rugs need to be washed weekly. If several showers are taken in the same bathroom on a daily basis, the rug gets wet/damp multiple times. Since the rug is against a floor that doesn’t breathe well, it takes a long time to dry. This is compounded by a humidity-filled bathroom.
This is yet another reason to have an adequately working bathroom fan. Our kids, thankfully, remember to turn on the bathroom fan when taking a shower, however, they never remembered to turn it back off. My husband installed a bathroom timer on all of our bathroom fans and that did they trick! Highly recommended.
Because of this poor drying between uses, mold and mildew grow easily. It really is the perfect condition for gross things to multiply quickly.
In a bathroom where water is routinely splashed on the floor, the rug needs to be washed weekly as well.
Again, the rug doesn’t have time to dry out well between uses and harbors all kinds of fungi and mold. Add in a damp, warm bathroom and that mold is just waiting to multiply.
The Best Way to Wash Bathroom Rugs
All bathroom rugs that do not have a rubber backing should be washed on at least a warm water setting. I honestly prefer washing rugs on hot, as hot water routinely gets items cleaner. And I want the item I’m stepping my freshly washed feet on to be clean.
If your rug has a non-skid rubber backing, it is best to let it hang dry. Hang it over the shower rod or use your portable clothesline or a real clothesline if you have one. The rubber backing will stay intact so much longer if you don’t mix it with dryer heat.
If the rug does not have a rubber backing, feel free to put it in the dryer. It will take a long time to dry, since it is so thick.
Tips to Keep Towels Fresh Longer
Caring for towels the right way helps them last longer, smell fresher, and stay fluffy. Over the years here at Mama’s Laundry Talk, I’ve written several practical posts on how to wash towels, prevent mildew, and even fold them neatly for storage. Here are a few towel-care guides you might find helpful:
- Preventing Smelly Towels – Step-by-step tips for stopping musty, mildew odors before they start. Learn how to wash bath towels so they stay fresh wash after wash.
- Does My Washer Make My Towels Smell Soured? – Find out if your washing machine could be the cause of stinky towels and what you can do to fix it.
- How to Revive Smelly Towels – Tried everything and your towels still smell bad? Here’s how to deep clean towels and remove stubborn mildew smells.
- Should You Wash Clothes with Bathroom Towels & Sheets? – 3 reasons why you should not wash your clothes with towels & sheets
- How to Fold Bath Towels – Easy methods for folding bath towels neatly so they take up less space in your linen closet.
- How to Fold Towels in French-Fold Style – A quick tutorial for creating hotel-style towel folds that look beautiful in your bathroom.
By following these towel-care tutorials, you can keep your bathroom towels soft, fresh, and hygienic for your family.
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Oooohhhh Mama! I have some not so fresh towels right now. Even after extensive presoak with oxi clean, lots of detergent,rinse and repeat, vinegar rinsing in warm water- as soon as my towel is used it smells like a week old used towel! I always dry them to Mojave Desert levels too! I have taken to just bleaching even the colored towels and they have so far stood up to it. I have begun to wonder if after a certain amount of time I have to just get new towels in my Pacific Northwest climate or something. I wonder too about the frontloader. It seems that a big hot tub of water would just wash some things better and allow me to leave the lid up and soak things overnight without the huge sloppy mess of doing this in the laundry sink.
We are one towel a day for grown ups around here also because of the climate-I would have to put my towels in the dryer after every shower to keep the bacteria from growing.
How about a post on yucky kitchen towels? I use several towels and dishrags a day because of the grossout factor of a wet thing sitting out propagating billions of bacteria. I have met some HIDEOUS sponges and towels at other peoples houses, one I touched with a bare hand and was unable to get the smell off until I got home and used a salt scrub on it. People need to be comfortable with going through a lot of kitchen linens!
We are such kindred souls. YES, YES and YES please change the dishtowels. Frequently. A gross dishtowel or sponge just makes my stomach turn.
As far as the smelly towels, it may just be your climate. Any time it is perpetually damp, those towels are hard to keep mold-free. Long-term use of bleach is awful for laundry, but in this case I’d use it.
I’d rather have holey towels than moldy ones. 😉
Hi MamaLaundry,
I found your site when I got sick of handwashing a dozen kitchen clothes for the second time… We have a huge top-loading washing machine and washing these in it makes me guilty and I wonder if I can wash them with other stuff such as bath towels. I think I have found my answers in the relevant pages. I came back again today when I am wondering whether I can wash kitchen rug, bath mats and bath towels together, but I don’t seem to find any content on this?
By the way, I saw the link to 3 reasons why we should not wash towels with our bed sheets and clicked on it. It doesn’t bring me to the right page (goes to the one on how to revive smelly towels instead).
Thanks for the really useful site!
My friends think I’m nuts, but the way I remember to wash my bathmats regularly is according to my *ahem* monthly visitor. Whenever Aunt Flo comes to visit, that is when all the bathmats get their monthly cleansing as well 🙂 Weird, I know, but I don’t have to remember when they were washed last. Don’t know what I’ll do after “the big change of life” but I think I have a few years to go.
You know, Kim, I think that’s really smart! It’s an easy reminder for when they should be washed. I’ve never thought to use that as a reminder, but it would work!
I am so glad I found you. I am a 50 yr old mother of three who never really learned how to take care of a house. My widowed mother was a) never taught how to keep things clean and b) grew up in the depression and ended up with a hoarder illness. She was an amazing mother who raised her three children by herself after my dad died very young. She just never learned how to take care of a house and as a result I struggle with it every day. Because of the nature of the issue, it is way too embarrassing to ask people you know how to do the simplest household chores. People do not respond well to those who struggle with cleanliness issues, even if we are trying to correct the problem. Thank God for the anonymity of the internet.
My wife and I share both room towel is this ok? And if I do not have a washer,how often do I wash the towel manually and have it clean properly?
Attah, I do not recommend sharing a bath towel with anyone. Each time you dry off, your body scrapes off dead skin cells and they can build up on the towel.
I also don’t recommend hand washing a bath towel either. Get thee to a laundromat. 🙂
Can I throw in kitchen, floor, and bathing towels all together in the washing machine? Or should I separate them?
If you wash on hot and a normal or heavy duty cycle (choose heavy duty if available!), yes, that should be fine.
If you don’t have super hot water available (like at a laundromat), I’d wash separately.
Ms Mama Laundry.. I am a 26 yr old guy who just moved in to his own apartment. I live by myself and I wash my hands and I shower every day pretty much. I use towels for hand drying and drying after the shower..
how often should I be washing these towels If Im the only one using them.. I have alot of towels so I can rotate alot but what is the ideal routine? Once a week for each?
Just found your site…love it…so helpful! Please, please, please repost “preventing smelly towels”! When I click on the post from any link…it says error. We have 5 kids…I need the real scoop on the situation 🙂 Thanks so much!
Hey Heather!
I see that all of those links are broken. Thank you for bringing that to my attention – working on it now!
This link will get you to preventing smelly towels in the first place: http://www.mamaslaundrytalk.com/preventing-smelly-towels/