Gay man. At home, I expect face clothes washed in 145F water with chlorine bleach and fluff-dried.

Out in the world of relations, I live with what's on offer. In Scotland, it all was clean but I didn't like the scent, in Ireland it was beat to death and looked just like it had in my childhood visits (probably was) but clean and dusty, in Italy smelled like sun and strong detergent and in Germany, sadly, my relations are all hysterical eco-freaks and I bring my own and don't let on. There's limits, even for me.

No idea what my American relations do, they're all Trump supporters and super-duper Christians, so we don't speak.

As to saying something - I'd sooner cut out my tongue than offend someone who has offered me their hospitality. 

Barry, when you think about it, most boomers were in mid 20s at most on down through teenage years when the first energy crisis hit and electric rates went through the roof.  That's when cold water washing really took off from what I've observed.  And many probably never looked backi. 

My mom used wash cloths as hand towels for guests from the beginning. They're just the right size, fold beautifully and look great in an open basket, with a lower basket to place them in after one use.

A bit more upscale than the roll of paper towels I keep in 'my' bathroom.

But we do have an equivalent in Germany - Waschlappen, which are always sewn together to be too small for my hands and always seem to shrink seven sizes when they come out of the washing machine.

Oh, yes, indeed - the horrors of damaging the acid-rain-coat of the delicate skin.

Of all the nonsense of my German relations, this one outranks even the 'Kreislaufkolaps' nonsense (feel free to add my usual adjectives, there - can't use them in this forum).

My mom made me shower twice a day as a kid, I still have to, at least twice a day as an adult - dirt likes me.

And, despite being a ginger, my skin is in damn good condition for a guy half my age, never mind my chronological age.

Each culture has their own myths and this one about too frequent bathing being bad for you is one of the most stupid of all in Germany.

It's fading fast, thank goodness. Especially silly because every good German washes 'down there' more frequently than Americans do. But, that doesn't count....the acid rain-coat of the skin must be protected......

We don't have houseguests (thank the Lord)!  Besides, I don't know many in either family who would be comfortable in a house with 4 cats!  (Except for my parents.) Even though the cats don't go in the bedrooms.

The dangers of using two languages to express irony.

I'm not talking about Waldsterben, I'm refering to the - surely you've encountered it- absolutely hysterical Angst many Ökofreaks have of damaging the acid balance of the human skin through too frequent bathing, especially with any sort of cleanser which actually works -

Personally I don't feel clean if I don't use a wash cloth in the shower (or bath rag as we say down here) to help scrub away old dead skin cells and general bleck from working in a hospital for 12 hours.  I'm around stuff that Ajax won't wash off!  I've tried those scrunchy things but it's not the same.  Besides, rubbing a bar of soap on a washcloth and then rubbing said washcloth on me prevents the bar of soap getting short curlies on it!  And I hate body wash gels.

Bedding and bath linens get a hot water wash and line dried, weather permitting. Otherwise, it goes in the dryer on medium heat.  I've never been able to get a good night's sleep on strange sheets.   Even as a kid I felt this way.  I detest laundry that been washed with soft water as I feel the detergent isn't completely rinsed out.