How many towels do you need?
- , Through Inge | Bath&Living
- 7 min read
Your old towels are worn out and you are ready for new ones towelsYou're probably wondering how many towels you should buy. The number of towels a household needs depends on several factors. How many people are in your household? How often do you use a towel before washing it? Do you wait to wash until your washing machine is full of towels, or do you wash them with your clothes? How big are your towels? Are they all the same color? Do you wash your hair often? Do you exercise often? Do you have guests often? How much closet space do you have?
As you can see from the number of questions, there's quite a bit to consider when buying new towels. Fortunately, we've compiled a list here so you can easily determine the answer to the question: how many towels do you need?
How many towels per person do you need?
To simplify things, we'll use the number of towels per person. You can then multiply this by the number of people in your household. We'll also assume daily use, meaning you shower or bathe every day.
If you ask around about how many towels you actually need, you'll sometimes hear: "1 in use, 1 in the wash, and 1 in the closet." Based on this guideline, you'd think three towels per person would be sufficient. The problem with this is that you're constantly busy doing laundry. You might prefer to wait for enough used towels to fill a whole drum. Besides, you sometimes need an extra towel after washing your hair. Or you use a towel for the floor when it gets very wet.
We therefore prefer to use four to five towels per person. For a four-person household, this equates to 16 to 20 towels. This gives you a little more flexibility when doing laundry and allows you to consider other uses beyond just drying your body after a shower or bath. However, it's difficult to determine the ideal number for every household. Below, you'll find a list of factors that can influence how many towels you need.
Differences per household
The number of towels needed can vary by household and their habits and customs. For example, some households use a clean towel after each use, while others prefer to reuse a towel several times. This could be for environmental reasons, to ensure a towel lasts longer, or simply because you don't feel like doing laundry often.
Reusing bath towels
In principle, you can easily use a towel for two or three days in a row, as long as everyone has their own, you don't use your towel on the floor, and it can dry thoroughly between uses. Otherwise, a towel will start to smell musty. If a towel stays damp for too long, bacteria accumulate and develop an unpleasant odor that you want to avoid. After all, no one wants to dry their clean body with it.
Keep in mind that your bath towel won't dry as well if you also use it to dry your face or hands during the day. In that case, you'll need to replace your towels more often. To prevent this, you can use guest towels. A guest towel is the perfect size for just your hands or face, fits easily on a hook near your sink, and takes up less space in the washing machine drum.
Different sizes of towels
Speaking of towel size: what size do you prefer? Are standard 50x100 cm bath towels fine, or do you prefer to wrap yourself in a 70x140 cm bath towel every day? Larger bath towels fill your load faster, especially if they're extra thick. This means you'll wash them more often, and you'll have a clean towel available more quickly. Keep this in mind.
The color of your bath towels
Are all your towels the same color? That's especially handy if you like to wash them separately from your clothes and still want a full load. With towels in a single color, you'll be able to do a wash sooner, and they'll be clean and back in the closet faster, meaning you'll need fewer spare towels.
However, it's also fun or practical to choose towels in multiple colors; for example, a different color for each family member. You can use towels as a styling tool, especially if you complete your bathroom with a bath mat, bathrobe, and accessories in matching colors.
If you choose bath towels in different colors, remember to wash them separately. This will keep their colors vibrant longer. You can wash each color together with other laundry in a similar color. This will prevent you from doing half loads.
How much space do you have?
Besides the question "how many towels do you need?", the question "how much closet space do you have?" is also important. If you simply don't have a lot of closet or drawer space, you can't buy a large quantity of new towels. With fewer spare towels, you can still get through the week with plenty of clean ones; you'll just have to do the laundry more often.
Extras for sports, holidays and guests
In some situations, it's worth considering buying a few extra towels. For example, if you're a frequent sports enthusiast or have guests over often. Even if you're going on vacation to places where you need to bring your own bath towels—like a campsite—it's nice to have plenty of fresh towels to use when you get home.
| households | daily use | with sports | regular guests |
| 2 people | 8 towels or 6-8 bath towels | + 2 towels | per guest + 1 towel, 1 bath towel and 1 washcloth |
| 4 people | 16 towels or 12-16 bath towels | + 2-4 towels | per guest + 1 towel, 1 bath towel and 1 washcloth |
| 5 people | 20 towels or 15-20 bath towels | + 2-4 towels | per guest + 1 towel, 1 bath towel and 1 washcloth |
For many holiday destinations, other types of towels might be more convenient, such as hammam towels for the beach or pool. These are not only generously sized, but also fold much more compactly, making them easy to fit in your suitcase. You can find these in our selection as well.
Helpful tips for washing towels
It's already mentioned often in this article: washing towels. We're happy to provide extensive tips for washing and drying towels, but we'll briefly mention the most important ones here. Use a clean washing machine on a normal cotton cycle and consult the washing instructions on the label of your towels.Use only a small amount of washing powder, no fabric softener or vinegar. To maintain the softness of your towels, we recommend tumble-drying them on a low heat setting.
