Towels Hard Drying On Washing Line

scottygirl_2

HELP HAS ANY ONE GOT ANY IDEAS NOW THE WEATHER IS BRILL IVE STARTED TO HANG OUT WASHING ON LINE, BUT MY TOWELS ALWAYS SEEM TO GET VERY HARD AND SANPAPERY WHILST DRYING ON LINE. IVE TRIED PUTTING EXTRA CONDITIONER IN WASH BUT ALTHOUGH REST OF WASHING IS FINE THE TOWELS NEVER SEEM TO BE SOFT. IM ALWAYS PUTTING THEM IN DRYER FOR 10 MINS JUST TO SOFTEN THEM BUT THIS ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE A WASTE OF MONEY TO ME ON SUCH BEAUTIFUL DAYS ANY IDEAS ANYONE:rotfl:

Pink.

Hi scottygirl,

The replies on these older threads might help you:

Making towels soft

Towels

Pink

soba

I love scratchy towels and hate it when we go somewhere and they've used conditioner and they're soft!

Whoosher

I thought you shouldn't use fabric conditioner on towels. It's something to do with silicon (maybe, not sure of exact details here) coating the fibres and decreasing their absorbency. Anybody know any more?

fannyadams

you are right whoosher.
Also if you use Fab Soft on nappies they don't work. We use vinegar.
DS#2 currently wearing 'cardboard' nappies - we dried then on the line today and they are 'wellard'.

iwanttosave_2

Whoosher wrote:

I thought you shouldn't use fabric conditioner on towels. It's something to do with silicon (maybe, not sure of exact details here) coating the fibres and decreasing their absorbency. Anybody know any more?

It lanolin Or so I recall

hardpressed

soba wrote:

I love scratchy towels and hate it when we go somewhere and they've used conditioner and they're soft!

Me too, I thought I was the only one!:j

Whoosher

Just went to check the ingrediments on the fabric conditioner I use (Tesco Pure) and noticed it contains formaldehyde. Surely that would have the opposite effect to softening - isn't it used as a preservative?!

bumpybecky

I've found with my terry nappies that if you tumble dry for approx 10 mins before hanging on the line, they end up a lot softer than if you just line dry them. Works just the same for towels

Not as soft as completely tumble drying, but much my electric bill is less I don't use softener on towels or nappies either.

bumpybecky

Whoosher wrote:

Just went to check the ingrediments on the fabric conditioner I use (Tesco Pure) and noticed it contains formaldehyde. Surely that would have the opposite effect to softening - isn't it used as a preservative?!

the formaldehyde is there to stop the softener going off. I doubt it has any effect on the towels (or other washing!) itself.

I was told (long long ago when I worked in the towels department at Bhs as a saturday girl!) that the softener coats the fibres of the fabric to make them feel all smooth and nice. That coating stop the fibre being as absorbant, so is a bad thing where towels are concerned.

Whoosher

Thanks Becky - that's set my mind at rest! I thought I was going to have to get the books out from the chemistry course I did last year as I'm sure it came up in relation to surfactants. I do like to get to the bottom of these little queries!