How Often Do You REALLY Need to Wash Your Hand Towels?
FYI: Clean hands don't matter.
Your bath towel and bath mat need frequent washing to prevent bacteria buildup, but what about your hand towels? It’s easy to ignore those because usually when you grab for them, you’ve just finished washing your hands. Which means they’re clean…right?
Wrong. As it turns out, linens—including kitchen and bathroom hand towels—make the perfect breeding ground for bacteria, which flourish in warm, moist environments, according to cleaning experts and microbiologists. They don’t care if your hands are clean. They still get wet, which is the real problem.
“Frequent use and damp environments make hand towels ideal breeding grounds for germs,” says laundry expert Daniel Feliciano, the cofounder and CEO of Clotheslyne, an on-demand pickup and delivery laundry service.

Kitchen towels can be even more of a wild card because some people use them not just to dry their sudsy hands, but also to wipe dishes and clean up countertops that have been splashed and splattered while cooking.
“In the kitchen, towels can pick up all sorts of bacteria from raw meats and unwashed veggies,” Elizabeth Shields, operations manager of Super Cleaning Service Louisville, says. “If we use the same towel for everything, from drying hands to wiping counters and dishes, we’re basically spreading those germs everywhere.”
Ahead, we ask a microbiologist and cleaning and laundry experts exactly how often to wash bathroom and kitchen hand towels. They also explain what kind of germs can lurk on hand towels if you skip out on the chore and how to properly launder your hand towels.

How Often Should I Wash Bathroom Hand Towels?
Based on the levels of microbes that can grow on bathroom towels, they should be washed at least once a week, microbiologist Jason Tetro, author of The Germ Code and The Germ Files and host of the Super Awesome Science Show podcast, says.
“Studies looking into the microbial contamination of towels reveal they can grow into the hundreds of thousands and possibly millions within that time,” Tetro says. “This may be enough to transfer back to your skin and lead to either odor or possible infection.”

Researchers for a 2011 study published in the American Journal of Public Health examined cut two-inch-diameter discs of cloth from towels and had participants use them to dry just-washed hands. Shockingly, they found 15,000 to 48,000 individual bacteria on each disc.
If your bathroom hand towels get a lot of use—say multiple family members are using the same hand towel or you frequently host at your home—you may want to up your wash schedule to every couple of days to prevent the buildup of bacteria that can cause a wide range of infections, Shields suggests.

“These can end up with traces of fecal bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus, especially if we don’t wash our hands properly,” she says. “And if the towel stays damp, it can even grow mold.”
Are Dirty Bathroom Hand Towels a Health Hazard?
You can’t entirely prevent your towels from getting germy, and most bacteria won’t do you any harm.

You see, almost any type of microorganism can grow on a towel, Tetro explains, but the ones that are most concerning are those that can cause infection. This includes Staphylococcus aureus and its antibiotic-resistant version, MRSA, which most commonly occur in people who’ve been in hospitals or other healthcare settings, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Staph infections start off looking like pimples or bug bites but can turn into painful abscesses.

How Often Should I Wash Kitchen Hand Towels?
Dirty kitchen towels can present another problem: foodborne pathogens.
If you use a kitchen towel only to dry your hands, you might be able to get away with throwing it in the washer once a week or so. But if it gets very wet, you need to wash it more frequently and trade it out after a few days, Tetro says.
If your kitchen towels start to smell musty or sour, it’s time to give them a good wash because that odor is a sign of bacteria breeding, Feliciano adds.

Are Dirty Kitchen Towels A Problem?
We hate to break it to you, but yes: There’s a good chance your kitchen towel is germy. Researchers for a study collected 82 kitchen hand towels from households in five major cities in the United States and Canada to uncover the bacteria load on the towels. Coliform bacteria were detected in 89 percent of the towels and E. coli in 25.6 percent of towels. The research has found that kitchen towels can harbor Salmonella and Campylobacter as well as E. coli. The study found that the more people washed their towels, the less E. coli was growing. Bacteria can survive on dirty towels even after they dry, and they can regrow when the cloth becomes soiled again. These types of bacteria can lead to upset stomachs and other foodborne illnesses.
“If you tend to use your kitchen hand towels to dry the counter, then you better make sure that it is clean and free of any raw juices and other materials that might be found on foods,” Tetro says.

If you work with raw meats and vegetables and other potentially pathogen-laden foods, then make sure you disinfect all surfaces afterward, and use a disposable paper towel to rinse and dry the surface, Tetro says.
“It will make things much easier and safer,” Tetro says.
Using kitchen towels for multiple purposes is a common mistake, Feliciano says. Drying your hands with a hand towel that you then use to dry dishes can transfer bacteria onto your dishes. Similarly, wiping down your counters after cooking and then using the same towel to dry your hands can pose a cross-contamination problem.
A color-coding system can help so that you can assign kitchen towels separate duties—say, a white (and bleachable) set for wiping down counters, a blue set for drying dishes, and patterned ones for drying your hands.

What’s The Best Way To Wash Hand Towels?
If the fabric type allows it, use hot water (at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit) to kill most germs and add a disinfectant or color-safe bleach if possible, Feliciano recommends. Don’t overload the washer to help ensure your towels come out clean, he adds. Dry towels on high heat. One more thing: Skip fabric softener because it can make your hand towels less absorbent, Shields says.