How often should you wash your towels?

Towels are normally a key part of our hygiene routine, but according to one expert, they can do more harm than help.

They can act as a filthy haven for bacteria, funghi, dead skin, fecal matter, urine, and many of the other germs lurking in your bathroom.

These germs, many of which come from your toilet, then multiply among your towel's damp, warm fibres.

Now, hygiene expert Professor Philip Tierno recommends we wash our towels after only three washes to avoid any infections from bathroom germs.

And that's only if it dries completely between each wash, Professor Tierno, a microbiologist and pathologist at the New York University School of Medicine, told Tech Insider.

'The idea is to be prudent and to be aware,' Professor Tierno said. 

'A damp towel is growing.

'If there is odour coming from the towel, wherever there is odour, there are microbes growing so it should be washed.'

Professor Tierno says that it's difficult to judge whether or not the microbes growing on bathroom towels are harmful.

Most household germs are not, he says.  

But for those who share a towel with others, the risk is far greater.

This is because those who share a towel could come into contact with organisms their body is not used to dealing with.

These include 'Staphylococcus aureus' bacteria, Professor Tierno said, 'which may give rise to a boil, or a pimple, or an infection.'

Towels are the perfect home for a sea of bacteria and funghi.

They hold many of the key ingredients for hosting microbial life.

These include water, warm temperatures, oxygen, a neutral pH, and even food in the dead skin people leave behind after a thorough dry.

The human body also boasts these ideal living conditions, which is why our bodies are host to trillions of bacteria throughout our lives.

As a towel is used to dry the body, microbes sitting on the surface of the skin are deposited onto its damp, warm surface.

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