What Makes My Wash Cloth Smell So Bad

If you use a wash cloth in the bath or shower, you may have wondered why it smells so bad after about a week or two without putting it in the laundry. It comes down to the type of soap you're using. There are basically 3 types of soap. Body wash which is a liquid soap. Then you have solid bars of soap. The third type comes down to what the first two are made of. Some ingredients in soap or body wash can make a wash cloth start smelling bad, so it's important to understand what's in your favorite soap whether it's liquid or solid. 

Cheaper bath bars like you find in large multi packs for a discount are usually made from something called tallow because its an inexpensive ingredient for making cheap soap. In most cases than not, tallow is why your wash cloth smells so bad. It's because tallow is made from cow fat, yes that's right, good ole cow fat which explains why its cheap soap. It makes a good soap that's cheap and it even does a great job at getting you clean provided you change out your wash cloth every few days and launder it promptly. One would think why you'd even need to launder a wash cloth to begin with since you're using soap on it everyday. But each time you use that wash cloth, you have dirt and oil leaving your body, it's mixing with tallow and some of it is left on the bath cloth. So now you have cow fat, the days dirt and your body's natural oil on it and its being left in a dark moist place like the shower. It's easy to see why it stinks when you think about it.

With all that said, some people use a wash cloth every day and it never stinks. So what exactly is the secret to keeping the same wash cloth in your shower for a week or two without it smelling so bad?

It's primarily the choice of soap you choose to use. Liquid body wash is convenient but unless you use one that's made from ingredients more on the natural side, you may find it tends to leave an odor hanging around your shower on that wash cloth; it's what some chemicals do when mixed together. One of the simplest ways to keep a wash cloth smelling great is to use a high quality soap bar made from plant oils and botanical extracts as these ingredients tend to not have much of a smell after you hang that wash cloth up in the shower for next time. 

Dirt and oil from one's body can in fact contribute to a smelly wash cloth but as long as you're using a soap that doesn't have cow fat as its main ingredient, a good quality bar of soap made from nature can help keep that rag smelling pretty good after weeks of use. Body Detailer bath soap and shower bars are made from oils extracted from plants and enhanced with things like Shea butter and other skin healthy extracts to leave you and your wash cloth smelling great. So go ahead and get yourself a luxury bath cloth and try a new soap to see if you notice a difference. You just can't beat a good luxury wash cloth paired with a luxury bar of soap; it's as if they were made for each other. Besides we prefer to leave the cows fat on the cow where it belongs and we think the cow prefers it too.