How often should you wash your towels?
A bath towel absorbs water, soap residue and dead skin every time you use it. Left unwashed for too long, it becomes exactly the kind of damp, warm environment bacteria and mould like best.
Short answer: wash bath towels about once a week, or after roughly three uses, at 40°C. Hang them so they dry fully between uses, and wash a facecloth after every use.
Why towels need washing this often
A bath towel absorbs water, soap residue and dead skin cells every time you use it. If it stays damp, it becomes exactly the kind of warm, moist environment that bacteria and mould like best, which is where that stale smell comes from.
How hot to wash them
We recommend 40°C for fresh, bacteria-free bath towels. Modern detergents clean well at this temperature, and it is gentler on the cotton loops than a hot wash. Use a little less detergent than you think you need: too much wears down the fibres.
Den generelle anbefalingen er én gang i uken, eller etter omtrent tre gangers bruk.
Drying them
Towels get fluffier in the dryer. Use short cycles of under 20 minutes on low to medium heat, ideally on a towel setting, since high heat and overdrying damage towelling over time. Air-drying is gentler still: sun helps white towels stay bright, but dry coloured towels in the shade. Take towels out as soon as the cycle ends; leaving them damp in the machine is how odours start.
How many times can you use a towel?
Several times, as long as it dries completely between showers: hang it open on a hook or a rail rather than folding it. A facecloth is the exception, since it stays wet longer and holds on to more skin cells and microbes. Wash it after every use.
For more on temperatures, detergent and drying, see our washing guide for bed linens and towels.