Can Bedbugs Live in Towels and Bathrobes in Richmond?

People who find bedbugs often start worrying about every piece of fabric in the house, and the linen cupboard and bathroom are usually next on the list. It helps to know where the risk actually is, so the effort goes to the right place.

Why Towels Rarely Hold Them

Bedbugs hide close to where people sleep or sit for long spells, in tight, dry, undisturbed gaps. A towel in the bathroom is none of those things. It hangs well away from the bed, it is often damp, it is used and moved every day, and it goes through the wash regularly. A bug that wandered onto one would soon be washed, shaken or left far from anyone to feed on.

That does not make towels impossible. A pile of used towels left on the bedroom floor for days, or a towel draped over the headboard, sits right in their range. The question is always where the fabric is, not what it is made of.

Why Bathrobes Are Different

A robe tends to live in the bedroom. It hangs on the back of the door, on a hook by the bed or on the bedpost itself, and it can stay there for weeks between washes. Thick towelling and the folds of the collar, cuffs, pockets and belt loops give bedbugs plenty of grip and shade, and the person they feed on puts it on every night and morning.

Robes also travel. They get packed for a spa break or a stay with family and come back rolled up in a case. A robe that hung by a bed somewhere else is a better carrier than almost anything in the bathroom. If you have been away, the UK holiday guide covers unpacking.

Washing Them Properly

Heat kills bedbugs and their eggs, and a normal household wash and tumble dry on the hottest settings the labels allow will deal with towels and robes. The drying is at least as important as the wash.

1. Bag robes and towels from the affected room in the room itself, and tie the bag before carrying it through the house.
2. Tip the bag straight into the machine and put the empty bag in the outside bin.
3. Wash on the hottest setting each label allows.
4. Tumble dry on high until completely dry, not just damp-dry.
5. Store clean items in a fresh sealed bag, away from the bedroom, until treatment is finished.

For anything that cannot be washed hot, such as a delicate or silk robe, a long tumble on high heat alone may be enough if the label allows it; otherwise keep it sealed and ask us what to do with it.

Towels and Robes During Treatment

Before a chemical visit, strip the bed, hot-wash the bedding and clear the floor, and include any robes or towels kept in the bedroom. Keep them out of the room until the treated surfaces are dry. Because the eggs are not reliably killed, you will repeat the wash before the follow-up visit, which is usually about 10 to 14 days later; how many treatments explains why.

With heat treatment, fabrics can usually stay in the room and are treated along with it, though you should follow the list we give you for what must come out. If you are unsure whether you have bedbugs in the first place, an inspection starts from £120, and treatments start from £220.

Do You Need New Ones?

Almost never. Towels and robes wash well, and throwing them out adds cost without reducing the problem. Bagging them loosely and carrying them past other rooms to the bin is more likely to spread bedbugs than a proper hot wash. Once the room is treated, just keep robes on a hook away from the bed, and wash them as often as the sheets.

← Bedbug Control Richmond · Bedbug Control London