An American woman had the biggest fright of her life when she used a small towel hanging by the shower at her mother-in-law's house.

The woman and her partner had been staying at his parents' home while his mother and father were away on holiday.

However, the incident occurred after the parents arrived back and the woman's future mother-in-law realised someone had used her towel, which was hung up in the bathroom.

The anonymous woman, who shared her story on the public forum Reddit, explained how she was then informed that the towel she'd used to dry her hands was in fact her partner's mother's vagina towel.

Posting her shock on Reddit, the woman spoke of the moment her future mother-in-law asked who had used it and detailed what is was used for.

The woman explained: “I say I have, then she says awkwardly that she uses it on her private parts.

“I go absolutely red. I apologised and said that I'm glad to know it now. I feel super-duper embarrassed now and a little disgusted and I think she feels it too.

“Next time I enter someone’s house for the first time I'm making oh so sure what towel to use.”

Instead of being horrified at the situation, Reddit users were focusing on why the woman had a towel for her vagina.

One said: “I’ve had a vagina for almost 50 years and I have never heard of something like a person having a vagina towel.”

Another added: “Who has a specific towel for their junk?”

A third commented: “I have never heard of vagitowels. She is just weird.”

Commentators also had a lot of burning questions about the whole thing.

One wrote: “It makes me wonder if she uses another towel for the rest of her body, or does she only dry off her vagina?”

A woman using a towel on her hands

Another added: “So is it the only bathroom or does she keep her vagowel in the bathroom everyone uses?”

And a third asked: “Does she have a poop knife too?”

But others suggested the woman’s mother-in-law might be using a different towel because of an STI.

A Reddit user said: “People with a number of STIs will use a different towel for their ladybits or boyparts so that they don't get their diseases into their eyes or face.”