Baking soda or vinegar will do the trick. BAKING SODA: Adding baking soda to your towel wash helps remove soap and chemical residue that can end up covering your towels. Add half a cup of baking soda with your washing detergent, then wash as usual.
The expert-recommended way to soften towels that have become scratchy is to use vinegar. 'Throw a cup of white vinegar in your next wash,' advises textiles expert and CEO of New Sega Home, Brian Delp. The towels have likely become stiff and scratchy because of the use of fabric softener.
Toss in a tennis ball or dryer ball.
Having a few unused tennis balls or dryer balls bouncing around in the dryer helps remove lumps while softening and fluffing your towels.
Mind Your Pour
Too much laundry detergent can cause something called detergent buildup. Too much detergent affects the wash cycle, leaving a detergent residue (or coating) on the fabric. When your towels fall victim to detergent buildup, a loss in softness and fluff is soon to follow.
If you let wet towels sit in the washer for too long, they will start to mildew and will become stiff. Adding softener: We don't recommend adding fabric softener to your towels. The softener can actually coat the fibers of your towels and make them less absorbent.
High-end hotels prefer to use Egyptian cotton, which is softer, fluffier, and cozier than regular cotton. Such that, even Mizu Towels use this fabric to make their luxury towels. Although it is lighter than Egyptian cotton, some hotels also use Turkish cotton in their towels.
Start a hot-water rinse cycle and let it fill up completely. The hot water helps break down chemicals and contaminants on the towels. Add about a cup of white vinegar to the mix, which will further help break down any chemicals that have made your towels less absorbent.
All you'll need is one cup of white vinegar and one cup of baking soda. You'll be using these two ingredients separately, as using them together will only cancel out the effectiveness of each one, during two washes on the same load of towels.
It contains an enzyme that breaks down body secretions such as sweat, but it doesn't activate at low temperatures. If you add a cap of white vinegar to the rinse cycle, it will disperse any remaining soap and give you a soft, fluffy towel. Air drying is best if you have the space.
'One cup per two big towels works well,' she says. Either pour it into the fabric softener dispenser of your machine or straight into the drum. Set your machine to the hottest wash possible and let the vinegar get to work – there's no need to rinse afterward.
Vinegar is a laundry workhorse superstar! Use 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar in the fabric softener compartment of your machine – it softens towels and helps removes bacteria, a much better option than coating said towels with synthetic chemicals.
They reduce static, leave towels fluffier, and don't deposit any build-up. Moreover, the reduced drying time can help your towels last longer by minimizing exposure to heat.
What should I run through my washing machine to clean it? Once you're finished wiping down the inside of your front loader, you should run distilled white vinegar through it. Measure out two cups of distilled white vinegar and pour them directly into your washing machine's liquid detergent dispenser.
Washing Machine
Vinegar is sometimes used as a fabric softener or for getting rid of stains and odors in laundry. But as with dishwashers, it can damage the rubber seals and hoses in some washing machines to the point of causing leaks.
Like fabric softener, dryer sheets contain oils that can coat towel fibers and destroy their absorbency. So, don't use them when drying your towels. Instead, create three-inch balls from aluminum foil and toss them in the dryer with your towels.
Most towel experts would agree that it's a bad idea to use fabric softener on towels regularly, as it will decrease their absorbency over time.
The main reason is that they wash their towels in hot water 40-50c with commercial detergent and no fabric softener. Fabric softener can really reduce the absorbency of your towels,which leave a waxy residue on towels, for example. Also, cotton gets more absorbent with use, and hotel towels are well-used.
Simply add 1/4 cup of white vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser or to a fabric softener ball. The white vinegar will act as a fabric softener AND it will keep your washing machine smelling fresh and clean!
Tom said: “You may think that hotter temperatures are better for cleaning clothes, but for towels the optimum temperature is between 30 to 40 degrees. Warm water absorbs detergent better, in turn leaving less chemical child up on your towels, which makes them feel stiff.