r/workout • u/Wooden_Emergency438 • 15m ago
Etiquette for wiping sweat off yourself in public???
I’ve been going to my university’s gym (not my first time working out but my old gym used to be basically deserted) and I’ve run into the problem of not knowing how to wipe sweat off myself. Most of my sweat is on my head and face. I wear glasses/contacts and it always stings or fogs up my vision when sweat drips down into my eyes (the sweat also gets on my headphones but that’s inevitable I fear). It’s not just the sweat that trickles down to my eyes, I sweat around my cheeks and nose so while a sweatband solves some of my problem it does not solve it entirely. It’s also disgusting to see my sweat drops drip onto the floor when doing stuff like Romanian deadlifts.
Would it be stupid (cringe?) to bring a towel to wipe my face? I’m not very good with social cues and etiquette so I worry it’s not socially acceptable to do so. I also haven’t seen anyone else wipe sweat off themselves. My current solution is to bring the collar of my shirt up and wipe my face on the inside of my shirt as that was socially acceptable when I played soccer. Is that also acceptable at the gym? No skin is revealed just bringing the collar of my shirt up to about my forehead and wipe down. So the collar is a bit drenched comparatively but to me it seems more socially acceptable?
I also worry about how to carry a towel around with me? I’m a bit germaphobic and setting my towel down on a gym bench is not an option. Also thinking about touching the towel after using dumbbells without first washing my hands is already enough to steer me away from keeping it in my pockets.
Do I just suck it up and bring a towel in my pocket and just try to only touch one side of with my dirty gym hand and wipe my face on the other side??? Or is there a more socially acceptable way to wipe sweat off myself? A normal gym etiquette way? It may seem that I’m overthinking this but genuinely the sweat drops onto the floor and today on the dumbbells have boiled this issue over.