How often do you get a new towel to use to dry off after taking a shower? Two weeks? One week? Every day?
Experts say that you should use a towel a maximum of THREE times before getting a fresh one.
"Towels used after bathing or showering that are just damp could be hung to dry and used up to three times," says Kelly A. Reynolds, Ph.D., an environmental health science professor. "Bacteria and mold will begin to accumulate but growth will be slowed as the towel dries.”
Apparently, every time you use a towel after taking a shower, dead skin cells accumulate onto the towel. Combine that with the moisture of the water from drying yourself off, bacteria and mold start to form until the towel dries off. The magic number of three is how many times you can use a towel. Reynolds says that washcloths should be changed every time because those towels get much more damp and have a much higher rate of bacteria formation as a result.
Read the full story on Buzzfeed
Photo: Getty Images