I’ve been in Germany for about two months now. I’ve stayed at a furnished apartment for about three weeks before moving into my current furnished apartment. Additionally, I’ve traveled and stayed at four different hotels during this two month time. Guess what I’ve discovered? Germans do not use washcloths. Nope, they don’t or at least I have to assume that. The furnished place I stayed in and the place I’m currently in have everything provided for me from the obvious furniture, as the name furnished implies, to lamps, TVs, curtains, pots & pans, toaster, coffee maker, plates & bowls, flatware, serve ware, glasses and mugs, utensils, dish rags, hand towels, pot holders, brooms, vacuums, cleaning supplies, bed linens, pillows, blankets, etc. . . . Well, you get the idea.
Hotels in Germany are what you’d expect too, as far as hotels go with all the standard furnishings: beds with linens on them and their ridiculously flat pillows (why bother with a pillow then people?), chairs, TVs with remotes, even a standard bathroom with hair dryers included and those small bottles of lotion and shampoos. Heck, they even supply q-tips, nail files, bath salts, and shower caps for your bathroom enjoyment too. But, out of all these places I’ve been to and stayed in the last couple of months, not a one of them provided our much taken-for- granted wash cloth. Oh, they all had body towels and hand towels, but absolutely no wash cloths. None.
At first when I stayed at the furnished apartment, I thought the lack of wash cloths was an oversight. Perhaps the maid forgot to resupply them, I thought. So I made do with the clean kitchen dish cloths I found at the apartment to wash and rid my face of makeup, a nightly routine I’ve been doing for half my life. I bought a loofah and shower gel to use in the shower since there was no wash cloth in my furnished bathroom. I made do. The next apartment I moved into here was the same thing. No washcloths. I had an abundance of body towels and hand towels provided, but no washcloths. Hmmmm. I thought this odd. What an odd coincidence that both apartments had no washcloths! Could it be?
At each of the four different hotels I’ve stayed in recently, not a one of them had a wash cloth either! I was incredulous and exclaimed out loud, “How the hell do the Germans wash their face for gawds sake??” James took it upon himself right then and there to research this bizarre European phenomenon.
He typed in the Google search bar: Why do Europeans not use . . . James didn’t even have to finish the sentence with washcloth as Google finished it for him. That means there have been plenty of others out there just as incredulous as we were and had to look it up as well!
Here’s what we learned: Europeans don’t use washcloths and don‘t understand what they perceive as our obsession with them. Some don’t even have a clue as to what they are or why you’d need them. I’m not kidding. Here are some travel links on the topic if you care to have a chuckle:
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/just-curious-what-is-a-washcloth.cfm
http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm?topic=54945
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/is-it-true-we-need-to-take-wash-cloths-with-us-to-london.cfm
Basically, Europeans think that washcloths, also known as ‘flannels’ are a personal item. As one gal commented on a travel forum: “The general concept is that a washcloth is as intimate and personal as underwear, thus not provided. I can see it that way, I guess, though I have no qualms sharing at home.”
Here’s another forum comment that made me say, “Oh my!”: “I saw ‘a washcloth’ for the first time in my life at the Hilton Metropole in London two weeks ago. Oh, well, at first I thought it was a bidet towel..till I began to think logical and thought that was not possible because there was no bidet.”
And here’s another European comment: “Americans assume wash cloths are provided while most Europeans would not dream of using a wash cloth someone else had used before.”
The forums go on and on with similar statements. I find that I am in disbelief that washcloths are viewed as some terribly soiled cloth. As if, how dare these simple cloths be cleaned and recycled after another used one? What about everything else that people use and touch in hotel rooms?? TV remotes have more germs and nastiness on them than anything else in hotels, but people aren’t traveling around with personal, disposable remotes! So then, I suppose one of my favorite comments from these forums is from a kindred traveling spirit who retaliated perfectly to the European’s comments. He simply stated, “I not only take my own wash cloths and bed sheets, but I take my own mattress and box springs as well. You just never know!”
As I read through the forum comments, I realized that people have very strong opinions about washcloths and cleaning themselves. Europeans think that cleaning yourself can be done simply with your hands and some shower gel. “Who needs to scrub with a cloth?!” Or as Betsy said on a post: “How about using the two built-in washcloths at the end of your arms–your hands?”
Yet, most American commenters can’t believe that you can get your body clean without using a washcloth: “Without a wash cloth, how does one get his/her back clean? I don’t take washcloths to Europe when traveling so my back only gets soapsuds and a rinse the whole time. I can hardly wait to get home and get a good back scrub.”
Generally though, the reason there are no washcloths is that it comes down to the fact that Europeans have an aversion to using a washcloth that someone else used previous to them. It doesn’t matter that these same Europeans are using body towels to dry off their crack from a steamy shower that hundreds of others have used before them, or sleeping in hotel bed with linens on them that hundreds of others have drooled and slept on and even have done ‘dirty deeds’ on; nor do they mind sitting on a public toilet seat that hundreds of others have sat down on to relieve themselves. All that is ok. They simply wouldn’t ‘dream’ of putting a personal washcloth to their face that could have been used on someone else’s unmentionables. Period. I guess the millions of gallons of scorching hot water and gallons of bleach used daily to clean hotel linens just doesn’t kill the gross idea of someone else’s body part having touched that icky washcloth prior to their face.
Wanna know something interesting though? Even though Europeans won’t use a washcloth that has been used previous to them, they will wipe their hands on these outdated things still:
Public restroom rotating hand towels are still being used in Germany. Ew.
Really? So this fiercely germ and bacteria clinging, rotating hand towel that the last 300 people used in the public restroom is ok to touch? Clearly, cleanliness and sanitation are really just illusions that we pick and choose to fit our culture.
So I suppose now when James and I continue to travel here in Germany and Europe that we will have to take along our own washcloths and put them in ziplock baggies as the forums’ suggests. I assume I can purchase these ‘personal items’at a local store, but if not, I may need you all to send me one or two from the States just in case. If you do send me one from your own personal collection though, be sure it’s properly cleaned and sanitized after using them on your. . .ahem. . .private parts. I won’t tell the Europeans, if you don’t.
