(Settle a friendly fight) Poll: Towel sharing - Page 2

[Alyantavid]

I'm kind of a towel weirdo. Everyone has 2 of their own towels. Dh and I share but I have to have 2, one for my body and one for my hair. But our 6 year old regularly uses our towel and I have no issue with that at all.

[laohaire]

I didn't vote because I don't think it's psycho, but we don't designate towels.

That said, I've CONSIDERED it in the past. I don't know how DH does it, but he seems to get his towels really, really wet and then they smell (mildewy I guess). And for a while, I couldn't really get them clean. Then I tried (for other reasons) making my own laundry soap, and that did the trick! Now his towels still smell sort of mildewy or something after he just used it, but they come out of the wash smelling just fine.

If he used a towel and has it hanging to dry (or, more likely, laying on a bed making it smell like wet towel, lol) I will not use it. But after it goes through the wash, it's fair game.

He has been known to reuse a towel I've used but not washed.

[lucyem]

In our house you use the towel you pull from the closet for a couple of days and then put it in the wash. If by accident you grab someone elses in the morning when you get out of the shower its no big deal. But generally you stick with your own.

Hand towels are used by all.

[lightheart]

I voted other... we share towels but since the boys usually take a bath together they each have their own towel that they use when they get out of the tub, but only because I need to be drying two people off at the same time... they shared the bath water though so that in itself may be too gross for some. Hubby or I will use their towels or they will use our towels depending on who bathed first and if one is just too wet....

that said if we have ickies going around, for us that usually means head cold and snot I try and use a clean out of the cabinet towel after each bath.

We each have towels that we like and try and grab first because they are fun or have a certain character on them... I guess that's monogramming in a way... cabbage patch kid for me, superman, scooby, the one with the fish...

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by earthmama369

We don't have designated towels, like monogrammed or different colors or anything. But we have a lot of towels, so we just use one per shower or bath, and then it goes in the hamper. We do share a towel for drying hands after washing them. If we're doing it right, it's just clean water coming off on the towel.

same here. I know lots of people re-use their towels but I wash them pretty much after every use. I do *try* to not use two myself each time by drying my body then using that towel for my hair but it doesn't always happen.

[~Megan~]

That's way too much effort. I put out 2 towels and they get used by whomever and 2 days later they get put in the wash and new ones get put out.

[elsie]

Once a towel is pulled from the linen closet, it is dedicated to that person until it is washed. With the girls, it is not so much a big deal since they are not funky yet. I could not imagine using DH's damp towel, the thought makes my skin crawl and he is someone I love dearly. So we have separate places to hang the up in the bathroom, he gets the towel rack and I use the hook. He is responsible for putting his towel in the laundry and taking out a new one when he wants, so I don't know how long he uses it. I generally use mine for about a week, maybe less in the summer.

[pumpkin]

A towel is dedicated to a person between washings. Once washed, people just take the next towel off the stack.

[~Boudicca~]

Originally Posted by ~Megan~

That's way too much effort. I put out 2 towels and they get used by whomever and 2 days later they get put in the wash and new ones get put out.

Yup, that is pretty much how we roll here. It's hard enough for me to keep on top of the laundry.

[Princess ConsuelaB]

My life is too short to be worrying about keeping track of the towels. Two towels get put out each day(sometimes one "wanders" away, then a third might make it out of the closet), everyone uses them(because it's after a shower...when we're clean). The next day new towels get put out.

The only time this changes is during my period or if someone in the family is sick/contagious.

[Llyra]

The only person here who has their own special towel is DD1, and that's because all HER towels MUST be yellow, and I only have two yellow towels, bought specially for her little OCD thing about yellow. So she gets them all to herself, and the rest of us just roll with the punches.

Honestly, I can't see that hygiene has anything to do with it, in a family where we all sleep in and out of each other's beds and we all basically bathe together, and all share food and stuff. We're all so up in each other's germs already that the notion of needing separate towels seems silly to me. Even me and DH don't need separate towels-- geez, we sleep together and have sex together, so clearly if anybody's going to pass anything on, it's already been done, long before anybody needs a towel, KWIM?

I have a bunch of towels. When someone needs one, we grab one, and once a week or so I toss any used towels in the wash.

[Kyamo]

Originally Posted by ~Megan~

That's way too much effort. I put out 2 towels and they get used by whomever and 2 days later they get put in the wash and new ones get put out.

:

One bath towel and one hand towel is out and used by both of us. It gets thrown in the wash if it starts to smell musty, if it is used for his shower right after I've buzzed his hair (because I don't want 100 little hairs all over me next time I use the towel), if its used for something other than drying clean people (like drying the dog or the floor), or if I'm doing a load anyways I'll usually throw the towels in too.

This is how it was when I lived with my parents too. I had no idea so many people thought this is gross!

[thixle]

This thread is too funny!

Originally Posted by Llyra

Honestly, I can't see that hygiene has anything to do with it, in a family where we all sleep in and out of each other's beds and we all basically bathe together, and all share food and stuff. We're all so up in each other's germs already that the notion of needing separate towels seems silly to me. Even me and DH don't need separate towels-- geez, we sleep together and have sex together, so clearly if anybody's going to pass anything on, it's already been done, long before anybody needs a towel, KWIM?

I get this for most things... I was sharing a sucker with my snotty DD yesterday... but...

Originally Posted by thixle

I've caught him using "my" towel on his stinky feet

DH has had athlete's foot (only one foot) since I met him. Now, I have athlete's foot... Noticed about a month after I saw him drying his foot with "my" towel-- I had used it between times he had used it (unknowingly)... now, I have a fungus I hadn't had before and still cause it itches!

[the_lissa]

No we all use whatever towels. Our towels are all sets of the same towels, so I don't know how we would keep them separate.

[not now]

We have a bunch of different color/style towels that we just accumulated as single people and combined when we began living together. That said, we don't claim one towel. Two towels are hung and we use whichever towel is dry. There's no way the man would remember which is his and it's not worth the hassle. We use the same towels until I remember to change them out.

Yeah, he uses it to clean his crotch, armpits and rear but we have a child together so obviously I've already had skin to skin contact with those parts. At least the towel touched those parts when they were just-out-of-the-shower clean.

[BMG580]

Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99

I can't imagine washing towels after one use of drying while clean!

[hipmummy]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

We each use a designated towel until washday, then each take a clean towel. I don't mind a little towel sharing with ds but would rather not with dh, knowing how thoroughly he dries his parts and also not wanting that on my face.

Ds just wraps a towel around himself for a minute and then runs around and air dries.

: lol

[LaLaLaLa]

Well, we do have different towels..... DH just hasn't quite caught on. He always grabs the one closest to the shower, so I always make sure to hang mine on the far side of the rack. It's not that I think I'll catch anything, or that his towel is dirty, and I certainly spend plenty of time rubbing up against his body, but his towel just smells different from mine, and when I'm fresh and clean out of the shower, I don't want anyone else's scent on me.

When we manage to sneak in a shower together, DH usually reaches out and grabs a towel for me first when our shower is done. HIS towel, of course, since it's closer. It's very unromantic and insensitive of me, but I always kind of cringe.

We have no towel rack for the kids' towels. They use the same towel after their bath, then we throw it in the wash.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Llyra

Honestly, I can't see that hygiene has anything to do with it, in a family where we all sleep in and out of each other's beds and we all basically bathe together, and all share food and stuff. We're all so up in each other's germs already that the notion of needing separate towels seems silly to me. Even me and DH don't need separate towels-- geez, we sleep together and have sex together, so clearly if anybody's going to pass anything on, it's already been done, long before anybody needs a towel, KWIM?

:

We do have separate towels, but only because we like different types of towels. He wants his thick and fluffy, while I just want one that will absorb all the water off of me and that I can wrap around myself, which the thick and fluffy ones don't do so well. So he gets his thick and fluffy and I get my thin and absorbent. We have separate towel bars for hanging them (I have 2 bars, since I use another towel for my hair). But if he uses mine or I use his, neither of us cares. I'll go around him while he's shaving and dry him off (with my towel) in spots he always misses and he does the same to me.

Hand towel is shared, and when it's soaking wet or smelling or stiff/scratchy, I toss it in the hamper and grab another.

Heck, we'll even share washcloths.

[philomom]

Originally Posted by Suzmama

We each have our own bath towel. Hand towels are shared by everyone.

Yep. And during cold/flu season, I change the hand towel daily. Find a deal and buy a stack of them.