What Happens When You Wash Clothes & Towels Together

When you have a big pile of dirty laundry demanding your attention, it's so tempting to just toss everything into the same wash cycle and call it a day. However, not sorting your clothes before doing laundry will cost you more time than washing everything together saves you in the long run. You probably already know that washing dark and light laundry together will discolor the light fabrics, but have you been separating your towels from the rest of your laundry, too? If not, you may want to rethink that. When you wash your clothes and towels together, the two different laundry items likely won't be rinsed or drained equally within the machines since towels are far thicker than most clothing fabrics. Additionally, towel lint, dye, and bacteria may transfer over onto your clothes.

As a result, washing and drying your clothes and towels separately will best protect your laundry. If you take the time to separate everything appropriately, you do not have to worry about heavy towels slamming against delicate clothing items, ruining your favorite wardrobe pieces, or contaminating fabrics that come into direct contact with your skin with bathroom or kitchen germs. Although sorting laundry can be time-consuming, it's worth the extra work. If needed, you can make the chore simpler by using the 3-bin laundry organization system.

When it comes to towels and clothes, the difference between the weight, absorbency, and texture of the fabrics is what makes them prone to damage when they're washed together at once. Unless all clothes in the machine are a similar weight as the towels, like heavy denim pieces, lighter or more delicate clothing may fray, rip, or pill. Fluffy and colorful towels also produce lint and bleed dye that easily makes its way onto clothes. Who wants to spend time cleaning up that mess? 

If you like to maintain a sanitary environment within your home (and on your laundry), you might find the risk of a potential bacteria transfer from your towels to your clothes concerning. This fear is justified, given the alarming amount of bacteria found on towels. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, helped put this into perspective during an interview with Time. "After about two days, if you dry your face on a hand towel, you're probably getting more E. coli on your face than if you stuck your head in a toilet and flushed it," Gerba explained.

Washing and drying your towels on high heat kills most of this bacteria, but those high temperatures can damage certain clothing fabrics. Separating your laundry will help you avoid this towel-washing mistake. If you still insist on tossing both laundry items in your machine together, make sure to only combine towels with fabrics of a similar weight and color, place the machine on a medium or heavy cycle, and use a detergent that is compatible with the fabrics in the load.