How often should one replace a yoga mat?

[Anonymous]

I do Bikram, and I always seem to have people around me, usually other women, who have the smelliest, nastiest mats you could possibly imagine.

I toss a mat after about two weeks, if I'm doing my normal schedule. The cleaner deodorizer stuff is mostly useless, and I want to avoid chemicals anyway, so it's easier to just start with a new mat a couple times a month.

I don't think some people ever get new mats. It's gross.

[Anonymous]

My old teacher said to wash them in a washing machine. I only replace when my toenails have chewed them up but I don't do heated.

[Anonymous]

You're doing something wrong, OP, if you toss a mat out every two weeks.

[Anonymous]

I'm not doing anything wrong.

I sweat. It gets on the mat. I throw the mat away BEFORE it starts stinking, so I don't become odoriferously offensive to those around me.

I wish everyone did the same.

[Anonymous]

I do hot yoga at corepower 6-10 times a week. I have a jade mat and two yogi toes cloth toppers. I wash my (top) mat after each class. I've been using the two in rotation for a long time and they don't smell.

Maybe you are especially stinky? At $50/mat I can't imagine throwing them away twice a month. That's $1200/year on yoga mats.

[Anonymous]

No. I throw them away BEFORE they stink. That's the whole point.

Why doesn't everyone else? Just a little courtesy for everyone around them.

I'm soooo tired of smelling other people's funky ass mats that smell like ammonia and vinegar and ass sweat.

[Anonymous]

You're insane, and insanely wasteful.

[Anonymous]

Use a cloth or other mat topper and wash/replace that instead of your base mat. Replacing a base mat as frequently as you do is extremely expensive, and not everyone who practices yoga can afford that. If you think we can, you're playing into the stereotype that everyone who does yoga is rich.

[Anonymous]

OP you are nuts. You have very weird issues, and throwing away a mat like that is absurd.

Clean your mat. And use it with a washable (reusable) towel.

It sounds like you have OCD issues that cause you to be extremely wasteful and frivolous.

[Anonymous]

I have a towel that goes over my yoga mat so if I sweat, the towel absorbs it. I wash the towel after every class. The mat I wash every month.

[Anonymous]

I wash my yogitoes mat after each hot yoga class, and wipe down my mat. My mat doesn't smell and is good shape after 10+ years. I've been thinking of getting a new one but only for more cushion.

[Anonymous]

Prime example of why being wealthy leads to irrational decisions - without financial restraint, OP dumps in the landfill and never bothers to clean her mat.

[Anonymous]

OP wants everyone else to throw out their mats twice or month, too.

Do you think people even used mats when yoga first started? No.

[Anonymous]

Op, is stay home and do yoga by yourself.

[Anonymous]

Can used mats be donated to the homeless?