Showering at workplace: drying wet towel?

Cheeseface22

Bit of a wierd one, but I'm sure fellow commuter has some clever hacks!

So a new work place for a while will be in a hospital.
Padlocked bike shed. Great.
ID card access changing room with showers and lockers. Great.

But

The locker is small (1/2 hieght locker, hip height). Not ventilated.
My office is shared (two other people), no radiator, no wall hooks or anywhere to hang a wet towel.
Plus I don't think it's courteous to hang a wet towel in a shared office anyways.

So what can I do with a wet towel from the morning shower?
Get one of those sports quick dry "shammy" type and keep it damp in the locker?
I'm definitely not doing the "wet wipe" strip wash for the sake of the environment and cost.

What's your hack, fellow commuters??

monkimark

Could you hang the towel somewhere in the shower area?
In the summer, you could probably drape it over the handlebars to dry.

redvee

Luckily for me I have access to 4 showers in the changing rooms but only two are used to shower in the other 2 showers are too close to people walking past so the shower cubicle directly behind my locker gets used by myself to air my riding kit with the single fixed hook supplemented with two suction hooks. the towel gets draped over the curtain rail then rolled up later in the day when dry and put in my locker.

Cheeseface22

Thanks everyone.

Letting the towel hang to dry outside the locker, shower, or curtain rail is not an option for me, as these places are accessible to other members of staff (I have no idea how many actually use) and would be causing inconvienience. Also very likely that someone will help themselves to use it (?!) or claim it as their own. Basically no, but thanks for mentioning; I would've done that if it's just me that uses the shower.

I can't think of an option other than quick dry towel, make sure I wring the towel after use and just have to take it home everyday to dry.

Hmm...

mrfpb

I just stick the microfibre towel in a bag with my sweaty undershorts to take home to wash at the end of the day. So long as the bag is closed it won't stink up the locker. I leave my top and shorts hanging up on the hooks. My locker is tiny (less than a foot tall) so cant hold much, andcany clothes tend to be rolled up or folded.

darkhairedlord

Soft-pedal on the way in.
Or drip dry.
Or microfiber towel from decathlon and hang over the back of your monitor/chair/lathe.
Or microfiber, wring out, Jersey pocket.

me-109

Give it a blast under the hand driers, if they have them.

thistle_

Take it down to the bike shed and spread it out on your bars? (or stick a hook on the side of the bike shed for it)

Ask the FM guys if there's a boiler room or service riser you can hide it in?

Does the hospital have an on site launderette?

Does the server rack have some fans on it? Ours is warm and draughty and accessible

scotlandtim

When I worked in hospitals I had the same dilemma.

The answer was to use the entrance through A&E, borrowing a hospital towel from the laundry cupboard on my way in,

Shower / Dry - towel into laundry bucket and got on with my day. Rinse and repeat the following day.

slowmart

Kitchen paper towel. Absorbs water well, fairly tough and easy to dispose.

Not cheap or that environmentally friendly though

fenix

Deffo sports towel - they dry really quickly. try it inside your locker - it might work. Magnet or something to hold it to the top of the locker ? Or magnet it to the outside of the locker.

Would anyone nick someone else's towel ? Weird if they did.

Cheeseface22

scotlandtim wrote:

When I worked in hospitals I had the same dilemma.

The answer was to use the entrance through A&E, borrowing a hospital towel from the laundry cupboard on my way in,

Shower / Dry - towel into laundry bucket and got on with my day. Rinse and repeat the following day.

That's cunning! Though I need to find out where the towels are and where the laundry bucket is located.

Otherwise, thanks to everyone's suggestion, I have an idea:

One of the office walls is actually a full length glass window (non-opening). Hook suction cups and a string might work!

You are all genius!

meursault

Two towels. Find somewhere discreet to dry.

ugo.santalucia

Don't shower... how long is your commute?
Mine is 12 miles each way and I have never showered

Cheeseface22

Cycle slow? I agree in shorter distance, but not for my circumstance unfortunately.

I sweat easily when I exercise. Plus I am a bit of a LAW-ABIDING “red line” commuter (I can't help but compete against my lazy self) on a SS. I ranged between average of 14-18mph on my old 14 mile commute. That usually took 45-60min per leg. Good amount of time in the morning and evening exercise.

The new commute can range from 17 - 21miles each way, depending on whether I take direct (60 / national speed single carriage for 15miles... I'm not keen) or indirect (proper deserted back country lane, but adds hillier 3-4 miles). I expect to take 60-90min per journey. That's probably the max time I want to be riding.

So, going slow to minimise sweating is not my desirable option. I rather cycle fast and deal with sweat than pootle for much longer then very likely I'll have to take a shower anyways. If it's a mere 5mile commute then I'll just pootle and avoid sweating.

I’m going to investigate the hospital towel route. If not, then it’ll be a quick dry towel and suction cup – string hack in the office!

darkhairedlord

Honestly, it's a bit of sweat. Shower before you go to work, you won't smell.

darkhairedlord

Small decathlon sport towel in Jersey pocket.

peat

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Don't shower... how long is your commute?
Mine is 12 miles each way and I have never showered

Your missing the obligatory statement "and no-one has ever told me I stink"
...because they are polite. You are the bloke who smells of B.O at worst, a wet dog at best.

peat

Sporst towels are small and packable, could just have multiple ones - wash and dry at home.

But, they do dry ever so quick. Could you lash up a small clothes line under your desk between the legs? I wouldn't hang sweaty clothes, but a sports towel should be inoffensive enough.

darkhairedlord

Peat wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Don't shower... how long is your commute?
Mine is 12 miles each way and I have never showered

Your missing the obligatory statement "and no-one has ever told me I stink"
...because they are polite. You are the bloke who smells of B.O at worst, a wet dog at best.

If you shower before you go to work you won't stink.
It takes time for the bacteria to get to work and make you smelly, longer than if you just have a quick wipe down to remove excess and spend the day at work. The stinky people at work are the ones that go out on the piss all night after work, stagger home get out of bed, go to work, repeat.

gooner-at-law

meursault wrote:

Two towels. Find somewhere discreet to dry.

This. I alternate on consecutive days then after a couple of days bring one and then the other home to wash. The other is on a cupboard used to hold coats. I have also used a coat stand (discretely placed).

peat

darkhairedlord wrote:

Peat wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Don't shower... how long is your commute?
Mine is 12 miles each way and I have never showered

Your missing the obligatory statement "and no-one has ever told me I stink"
...because they are polite. You are the bloke who smells of B.O at worst, a wet dog at best.

If you shower before you go to work you won't stink.
It takes time for the bacteria to get to work and make you smelly, longer than if you just have a quick wipe down to remove excess and spend the day at work. The stinky people at work are the ones that go out on the wee-wee all night after work, stagger home get out of bed, go to work, repeat.

You. You're your offices smelly bloke.

ugo.santalucia

I don't smell, I never did... I am lean, healthy and eat a balanced diet... I don't smell more than a (dry) short haired dog smells and people don't have a problem with (dry) short haired dogs

Think of me as a retired greyhound...

If you smell, there is something wrong with your skin, your diet or your habits... I would address those issues rather than showering to mask the problem

darkhairedlord

Peat wrote:

darkhairedlord wrote:

Peat wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Don't shower... how long is your commute?
Mine is 12 miles each way and I have never showered

Your missing the obligatory statement "and no-one has ever told me I stink"
...because they are polite. You are the bloke who smells of B.O at worst, a wet dog at best.

If you shower before you go to work you won't stink.
It takes time for the bacteria to get to work and make you smelly, longer than if you just have a quick wipe down to remove excess and spend the day at work. The stinky people at work are the ones that go out on the wee-wee all night after work, stagger home get out of bed, go to work, repeat.

You. You're your offices smelly bloke.

I don't work in an office.

NeXXus

Microfibre towel from Go Outdoors or Decathlon

batmo

You need three microfibre towels.
Take one with you each day, use it and bring it home to rinse and dry.
Alternate between towel A and towel B so that each has a whole day to dry (not that they need it...)
Towel C is the back-up for when you leave one at work or don't have time or forget to wash one up.

Cheeseface22

Drying microfibre towel at home makes sense. I always dried towel at work so I just got stuck in that mentality.

So my best options are:

a) grab a hospital towel as I get in and poletely return it to laundry bin
b) but 2x quick dry towels, swap at home

Either would work nicely.

Thanks every one.

PS. My sweat don't smell either. My skin just gets clammy and a bit grainy... Not sure what's worse.

ugo.santalucia

I just had a shower after 9 days... a bit of an experiment (the 9 days, not the shower)... no ill effects

chris_bass

I assumed you washed in that time?

darkhairedlord

Greased up with marmite and got the dog to lick him clean.

ugo.santalucia

Chris Bass wrote:

I assumed you washed in that time?

Brushed my teeth twice a day and washed my face with water in the morning... washed my hands, that's it