Towels - colors or white?

[ktgrok]

I have always bought white towels. We for a long time all shared one shower (like, for a decade, with up to 6 people) so one kind of towel for everyone was easiest. 

Now we will have master bath for DH and I, a downstairs bath for DS22 that doubles as guest bath, DD11 gets her own (that DH will also sometimes use as it is the closest to his office but only she will shower in) and then DS9 and DD4 will share a bathroom. I am thinking as much as I like the convenience of bleaching white towels, they DO still show stains at times, and any dirt at all, etc. Not sure I want that in the guest bathroom downstairs? And as I'm revamping my laundry system to do each person's separately (or them do their own, depending on ability/age), maybe makes more sense to have them have towels that don't get bleached, so they can be washed with their laundry? And save the best of the white towels for DH and I and donate the older ones to animal shelter. 

Thoughts? 

[Katy]

I’d stick with white because 4 & 9 are too young to remember to go grab the bathroom towels doing laundry.  I do bathrooms on their own schedule or the wet towels end up in heaps, making all the laundry stink like mildew. 

[ktgrok]

1 minute ago, Katy said:

I’d stick with white because 4 & 9 are too young to remember to go grab the bathroom towels doing laundry.  I do bathrooms on their own schedule or the wet towels end up in heaps, making all the laundry stink like mildew. 

VERY good point - I totally forgot that's the main reason I like white towels - I can bleach them to kill mildew stink. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by ktgrok

[Tap]

1 minute ago, ktgrok said:

I have always bought white towels. We for a long time all shared one shower (like, for a decade, with up to 6 people) so one kind of towel for everyone was easiest. 

Now we will have master bath for DH and I, a downstairs bath for DS22 that doubles as guest bath, DD11 gets her own (that DH will also sometimes use as it is the closest to his office but only she will shower in) and then DS9 and DD4 will share a bathroom. I am thinking as much as I like the convenience of bleaching white towels, they DO still show stains at times, and any dirt at all, etc. Not sure I want that in the guest bathroom downstairs? And as I'm revamping my laundry system to do each person's separately (or them do their own, depending on ability/age), maybe makes more sense to have them have towels that don't get bleached, so they can be washed with their laundry? And save the best of the white towels for DH and I and donate the older ones to animal shelter. 

Thoughts? 

Washing towels with laundry does cause fuzz balls to form on the clothes. They extra friction also wears fabric out sooner. Some people don't really care about fuzz balls. It does make laundry easier, but clothes look worn out faster too.

That being said, colored towels look pretty, but I still like the convince of white towels for the kids. It also makes it less hassle with acne products that invariably bleach out colored towels. If you are going to go with colored towels, I would look for ones that say say they are resistant to benzoyl-peroxide. Here is a quick article about it.  I have some in my downstairs bathroom and it does help them retain thier color longer! Just a side note, it isn't always your own kids who are using acne meds, but company that comes for the weekend, or kids staying for sleep overs. 

[prairiewindmomma]

White so you can bleach them OR turkish towels.  I couldn't use regular towels when we lived in south Texas. Nothing would dry quickly enough on high humidity days and they would get a weird funky smell.

[PeterPan]

34 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

so they can be washed with their laundry?

I have separate towels for each bath, distinguished by colors as you say. It wasn't really thought out but just happened as we added and worked on the house. I don't find that guest towels get washed with people's clothes; those tend to get washed with the guest bed sheets. So what you *might* consider doing is having a couple towels that are your ds' (whatever themed or cute things he likes) and then a couple sets (literally just 2 or 3) to put out when company come. 

Yes, towels of your choice for master bath. Fwiw the JCPenny Fieldcrest towels review very well (best per a comparison I read) in the middle priced towels category. https://www.jcpenney.com/p/fieldcrest-casual-solid-bath-towel/ppr5008063322?pTmplType=regular&catId=SearchResults&searchTerm=fairfield+towels&productGridView=medium&urlState=product_type%3Dbath%2Btowels  I bought them for my dad when I replaced his stuff and they're quite nice. I have Vera Wang towels (Kohls) in my master bath only because I'm completely stuck on the color (purple). They wear down prematurely and don't dry well when new. If I weren't so vain about the stupid color, I should have bought the Fieldcrest (I'm on my 2nd round of the Vera Wang towels). So my 1st round of Vera Wang towels now go to the gym with me and my new ones make my bath pretty.

Have you thought about a more techy towel instead of a bleachable one? The Hygro towels from Kohls are deceptively adequate and make terrific hand towels. I probably wouldn't enjoy them for my bath towel, just me. But for hand towels and wash rags, definitely fine. I bought them for my dad to go with his big huge bath sheet Fieldcrest bath towels just so they'd take up less cupboard space. They seem to wash up really nicely and not hold dirt as badly as some of the more plush towels. And when you mix and match like that, no one knows, kwim? The purple of the Hygro is SO close to the purple of the Vera Wang towels. Not enough to quibble over, even with my ocd, lol. And when you do white, you really can't tell. I have a bathroom that I keep grey towels in (red bath, grey towels, football colors here) and the Hygro are fine for that. 

So then for your dd11, I bought my dd PINK towels when she was that age!!! It was totally fun and she didn't care how they lasted because, hello, PINK!!! So maybe just have some fun and don't overthink it. 

For the 4 and 9 yos, yeah just some kind of neutral blend of towels, anything you want. Does your city water tend to bleach things? I swear no matter what towels my mother buys they all look like vanilla mush after a while anyway. I've assumed it was the city water, no clue. Do your peeps re-use towels? I didn't grow up re-using towels but my dh's family did. So if they only use one towel a week, then you can go with cute ones for this kid bath and just the Hygro hand towels in whatever color to match the bath decor. I've made hoodie bath towels for my ds that he still likes at 13, haha, and he also has kid themed towels. 

That assumes storage at point of use. If the towels are going to be stored in one central closet, I'd stick to one color or maybe one color plus master and then maybe 2 sets for company.

Edited October 11, 2021 by PeterPan

[regentrude]

Color. Towels last easily decades and don't start looking bad, no bleach needed (hate the smell), can wash with other stuff. Never had any issue with stink or mildew. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by regentrude

[mmasc]

For kids sharing bathrooms, I get them each a different color so they know which one is their towel, and so I know who has left a towel on the floor instead of hanging it up.

For my bathroom, I like white and shades of very, very pale icy blue or gray. Just enough of a difference so they aren’t all white, but they all match and coordinate nicely with each other. 

[MercyA]

I love my bleachable gray towels from Target. 

[ktgrok]

1 minute ago, MercyA said:

I love my bleachable gray towels from Target. 

OOh! I'm interested in this..off to search...

[MercyA]

2 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

OOh! I'm interested in this..off to search...

I just did, and they no longer make the ones I have, boo!

But they do list these as being benzoyl peroxide resistant, which is similar to bleach friendly:

https://www.target.com/c/casaluna-bath/benzoyl-peroxide-resistant/-/N-5xo9wZl0dal

[Carol in Cal.]

Just whatever you do, don’t get black or charcoal gray.  They dye those in different ways, and a set that matches when you buy it can fade to be unmatching down the road.  For instance, a pinkish cast to some and an orangish one to others.

[Ausmumof3]

My kids picked a colour.  The colours all go with the sheets so I chuck them through with that.  I like that I know who’s towel is left on the floor and they know which towel is theirs.

[wendyroo]

I only buy white towels. I don't bleach them often, but it is very convenient that I can do so when necessary...mildew smell, but also chocolate/paint/blood/puke, etc.

I sew loops of thick, colored ric-rac onto the bath towels to 1) designate whose is whose and 2) act as hanging loops so they aren't constantly falling off hooks when kids hang them haphazardly.

[Ausmumof3]

6 minutes ago, wendyroo said:

I only buy white towels. I don't bleach them often, but it is very convenient that I can do so when necessary...mildew smell, but also chocolate/paint/blood/puke, etc.

I sew loops of thick, colored ric-rac onto the bath towels to 1) designate whose is whose and 2) act as hanging loops so they aren't constantly falling off hooks when kids hang them haphazardly.

Love that idea.  I might do this myself for the hanging purposes!

[sangtarah]

I just bought quick-dry towels for this house, in all different colors. The JCPenney ones I bought for our camper are super! The ones I just bought are from Kohls, so I have no idea if they will last.
My middle dd needs the reassurance of her own color, and I hope we will have cousins over a lot after covid, so being able to distinguish by color is important. 

[athena1277]

Colors and just wash them all together.  If each person has a different color, it’s super easy to know which bathroom/linen closet/shelf to put them in.  My kids share a linen closet and bathroom, so theirs goes in a stack and they grab what they need when they need it.  Same for dh and I.

Someone mentioned not washing them with clothes, I’ll add that you should definitely never wash them with flannel anything.  I sometimes wash towels and sheets together. Once I did it with flannel sheets.  The sheets were so badly pilled that they were not very comfy for sleeping on anymore.

[Faith-manor]

I do dark colors. White has to be bleached, and that wears them out too fast. I am not a fan of replacing them very often. LOL, I have a couple of towels so old and rough, I am fairly certain you could buff rust off a car bumper with them. 😁 I use them to exfoliate my legs that resemble fish skin sometimes!

In the new to us house, we have teal towels. In this house we have dark, chocolate brown.

[Guest]

I never get white towels and I almost never use chlorine bleach in the laundry. The most recent towels i bought were the type that dry quicker. I almost as sways have a load that is towels and cloth napkins, which we always use. 

[Selkie]

We’ve had pale gray towels for several years and they still look good as new. They’ve never needed bleaching (which is good, because I don’t use bleach on anything). Don’t know how they would hold up to acne medication - no one here uses it. I throw towels in with clothes often and have never had a problem doing that.

[SoCal_Bear]

I don't bleach, don't people experience yellowing? I do use Oxiclean for Whites. I have white towels and light buttery yellow or cream colored towels. Any brighter or dark colors I have avoided except for pool towels because I don't like towels to fade. I wash towels on hot because otherwise I feel ick about whatever is incubating on them. I live in SoCal so we need lots of pool towels. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by calbear

[SKL]

I would choose colors, and you can have lighter colors that can still be bleached.  Really any towel that isn't very dark can be bleached nowadays.  Have separate towels for the guests that are not ever used by the kids.  🙂

[SKL]

(I normally do not bleach my kids' towels anyway ... but then I don't let wet towels sit around if I can help it.  One of my kids does that, but she has her own towels so she can deal with the results!)

[Kareni]

On 10/11/2021 at 2:08 PM, prairiewindmomma said:

turkish towels

Do you have a favored brand/link that you could share? I'm thinking of putting (thin) Turkish towels on my holiday wish list.

Regards,

Kareni

[TexasProud]

We are on a septic system, so no bleach. I have always done colors because I find white to be sterile. ( Just me!!  Awesome if you like them!!!) I do the towels separately. I trained my children when they were in elementary school and they did it "correctly" then. But as they grew into high schoolers and have left the house, they throw everything together: colors, whites, towels, etc.  They seem to be doing fine.  I haven't done my children's laundry since 2005 when I trained my oldest to do it at the age of 10.  But I am not a stickler for things being done "right" I guess. I didn't care as long as they were doing it. So I have only been doing my and dh's clothes since then.