7 Tips to Care for Bath Towels
Cozy bath towels are the ultimate for your daily bathing routine. Once you've purchased high-quality towels in the size and color you want, you can extend their life and effectiveness with a little care. Check out our guide for some simple and helpful tips.
1. Wash your towels before use
Wash your towels with a ½ cup of white vinegar before using them for the first time. The vinegar will help fix the dyes and make the colors more resistant. It also washes the towels in the wash cycle so they're less likely to stain, which often happens with new towels.
2. Wash your towels together
If you don't want your towels to clump, wash them only together with other towels. What's a "pill?" When short fabric fibers rub against the long fibers of towels, they tangle and form small nubs on the fabric called "pills" Excessive drying can also cause pills, so pay attention to drying time.
3. Wash towels in small laundry packs
Trying to wash and dry too many towels at once can damage your washer and affect your dryer's ability to dry towels properly. An overstuffed load of towels in the dryer won't allow enough air to circulate to loosen the fibers. Instead, too full a load will mat the fibers, making the towels stiff instead of soft.
4. Use vinegar to remove buildup
Add 1 cup of white vinegar to your wash cycle occasionally to remove chemical buildup and hard water that's become trapped in the fibers from your towels. This will restore the absorbency of your towels and make the fibers fluffier and feel softer against your skin.
5. Eliminate musty odors with baking soda
Add a ½ cup of baking soda to the wash cycle to eliminate the musty odor often associated with bath towels or hand towels that have been in a gym bag for a while.
6. Avoid fabric softener
It may seem like a contradiction, but fabric softeners lose their effectiveness after repeated use and can actually harm your towels. Fabric softeners cause buildup and can mat the fibers, making them stiff and decreasing their absorbency.
7. Replace your towels regularly
No matter how well you care for your towels, they'll lose fiber and absorbency with repeated use. Luckily, fluffy towels are an affordable treat. So, if they've been used regularly for more than two years, it's time to replace them.