The bathroom can be a difficult room for storage, with many of us opting for built-in cupboard space and minimal storage solutions. We thought we’d make you aware of several items that you shouldn’t store in your bathroom. You may discover you don’t need so much storage space after all.

Temperature fluctuations may damage your items

Many items that we typically keep in the bathroom should be kept in a cool, dry environment that doesn’t experience regular fluctuations in temperature and humidity. It may seem unusual to keep some of the following items in another room, but keeping them in the bathroom could damage them, or even pose health risks. Below we’ve included a list of everyday items that you may want to think about moving.

Medication

While most of us have a designated cupboard or kitchen drawer for our medicines, many people keep medication in the bathroom. Medicines, vitamins, and first aid kits need to be kept in a cool, dry place, where moisture can’t get into them. Typically, tablets are activated by water and will begin to dissolve. Storing your tablets in the bathroom where they’re exposed to heat and steam can induce this process, in turn reducing their effectiveness. Plasters, dressings, and bandages need to be kept dry to avoid dampness and bacteria growth.

Towels

Bathrooms can be the perfect environment for mould and mildew, especially if you don’t have good ventilation or an extractor fan. Towels are particularly subjectable to soaking up moisture, resulting in your fresh clean towels smelling and feeling damp. Keep your clean towels away from the bathroom in a cool airing cupboard or storage box. To avoid your hand towels or towels you’re currently using from getting damp, make sure to hang them to dry after use, and open the window whenever possible to keep the room’s air well circulated.

 

Jewellery

Jewellery boxes are typically kept in the bedroom or dressing room for a reason. The humidity in the bathroom can cause your jewellery to tarnish much faster than normal, particularly sterling silver. When you’re not wearing your jewellery, make sure to store it in a cool dry place, in a jewellery box or protective bag.

 

Makeup

Leaving your favourite makeup items in the bathroom exposes them to heat, moisture, and bacteria, causing your makeup to go bad much faster. Due to the bathroom temperatures constantly rising and falling, the formula of your makeup will also be affected. It goes without saying, makeup brushes should also be kept away from the bathroom, as the humidity can cause mould that may not be obvious to the eye. You certainly don’t want to be putting that on your face.

 

Perfume

If you tend to leave your perfumes in the bathroom, you may notice they begin to lose their strength quite quickly, and the fragrance may begin to sour. This is due to the continuous fluctuations in temperature destroying the molecules in your perfumes.

Keep your perfumes in the bedroom instead to savour the fragrance and help them last longer.

 

Razors and razor blades

The razor you’re currently using is fine to keep in the bathroom, but unused blades need to be stored well away to avoid rusting.

If you leave a fresh pack of razor blades on the windowsill, you may discover they’re already blunt and rusted by the time you come to use them. Drying your current razor after use and storing it outside of the shower cubicle should help blades last longer, too.

 

Dressing gowns

Ironically, bathrobes shouldn’t be kept in the bathroom.

Like towels, dressing gowns are also incredibly susceptible to mould and mildew and can begin to smell musty if left in the bathroom. Store your dressing gown on a hanger or hook in the bedroom, instead of on the back of the bathroom door.

 

If you’re looking for storage solutions for your bathroom or need some advice from the bathroom specialists, get in touch with the team at Alan Heath & Sons today. We’d be more than happy to help.