How Often You Should Really Be Cleaning Washcloths

Bathing and cleaning yourself is an essential part of everyday life. Maintaining personal hygiene is conducive to living a long, healthy life, warding off any infections or illnesses, and nurturing good mental health. Just as important as keeping yourself clean, it's also necessary to properly wash the tools you use to cleanse yourself. From shampoo scalp massage brushes to loofahs and sponges, there are plenty of tools on the market that can help provide a deeper cleanse to your hair, face, and body. Whichever tool you implement in your daily shower or bath, it's important to clean and replace them regularly. Cleaning your bathroom towels, for example, is something you should be doing after three to four uses or at least once a week. Smaller washcloths, which are often used to cleanse your face or your body, should be swapped or washed more frequently — after two uses at most.

If doable, you should even consider washing your washcloth after every use. Since washcloths are used quite regularly for both bodily and facial cleansing, they are usually not given adequate dry time between uses. The more damp a washcloth is, the more likely it is to become a breeding ground for bacteria. Often used to wash makeup and other gunk off your face, washcloths catch all of the dead skin cells, oil, and other nasties that can latch onto your skin after a long day. Because of this, it's important to regularly wash and rinse them, ensuring they are completely dry between each use, and replacing them altogether after two uses, even if thoroughly cleaned and dried.

In an ideal world where free time is abundant, daily washes of your washcloths can be possible. Since most of us do not have time or energy to dedicate to this, properly washing and disinfecting your washcloths regularly will have to suffice. Like how you wash your hand towels, which are also breeding grounds for bacteria due to the high traffic they receive, properly cleansing your washcloths requires a little extra care to maintain their integrity and purify them from dead skin cells, bacteria, and other skin irritants.

While you can dedicate an entire load of laundry to your washcloths, should you have that many in your stash, you can also wash these small linens with other towels that use warm or hot water cycles. As washcloths are often used to wash the delicate skin on your face, using a fragrance-free, gentle detergent is encouraged, especially if you have sensitive skin. There's no need for fabric softener, since it negatively affects your towels and linens by coating the fabric in chemicals, ultimately preventing thorough cleaning. The strong fragrance of fabric softeners can also trigger skin irritation and even allergic reactions. To protect the integrity of your washcloth whilst getting rid of all dirt, wash it on a gentle hot or warm water cycle and dry with medium or high heat. That said, even though you can dry your washcloths in a dryer, consider line-drying them in direct sunlight to prevent shrinkage, damage, and bacteria growth. After completely dried, try TikTok's favorite ways to fold and store washcloths when putting them away.