I just had a huge revelation (in the shower, where most of my big breakthroughs shake loose). When I was doing laundry the other day I found a bleached spot on my fave bathroom towel. This came as a huge surprise since we don’t even have bleach in the house.

I thought about it and realized that whitening toothpastes utilize hydrogen peroxide to keep those pearly whites in tip top shape. Hydrogen peroxide (aka a glob of toothpaste spittle) left to just hang out on your towel will slowly create a bleached spot. (This might be a fun experiment for removing a small stain from a white cloth!)

So, for those of you who use a whitening toothpaste, when you are drying your mouth after brushing your teeth, give your face a complimentary splash with water before toweling off. You’ll save your towel from a case of the bleachy measles.