Making towels soft

jax.26

Just as title say's really

I prefer to buy white towels so I can boil them and make sure they are really clean. But, I loose that new, fluffy and pure white colour i.e. just bought from the shop look. I also boil them in a 90c wash with soda crystals which does help the whiteness... but, not as white as I would like!
Does anyone have any tips on how to keep them white AND soft?

beemuzed

Not sure about how to get them really white if your 90c wash and soda crystals isn't succeeding - but softness requires the tumble drier I find. Not too OS when the weather is OK for line-drying, but I'm afraid I often give in and put the towels in the TD as I prefer softness to rasp when getting myself dry!

Pink.

Hi Jax,

There are lots of tips and advice on these threads that should help:

Making towels soft

Tips for whitening towels

I'll add your post to the first link later to keep the ideas together.

Pink

jax.26

Thanks Beemuzed, Pink-Winged
In hotels they same to have some secret to keeping their towel's white and soft, so I was just wondering if anyone had any tips.

Thanks for the links

xx

Blackpool_Saver

don't let them get really dirty, wash at 60 with good quality powder, use a blue fabric conditioner, dry as you wish but final drying in dryer..........

same with white shirts/t shirts, the blue gives an optical white appearance

LolaLemon

i use only soap nuts or ecover for washing our clothes, i sometimes put in essentail oils in my conditioner drawer, but other than that, i dont use anything else.

problem is my 3 year old son is complaining about the towels being too rough.
will using a glug of vinegar help?

oh i dont use a tumble dryer, and i live in a soft water area, use the line as much as scottish weather allows or the clothes horse in the house.

any help is greatly apprechiated

Apollonia

Try adding Soda Crystals to your wash. I live in a hard water area and started using Soda Crystals to prevent limescale build up but then I noticed that I don't need fabric softener when I use Soda Crystals.

And Soda Crystals are much cheaper than fabric softener! It is less than £1 for 1kg.

Edit - and environmentally friendly and fragrance free

robbiedoggy

Be interested to see what come's up as replies to you. I have been trying to avoid using my tumble drier since I got the last electricity bill! but find towels are hard. Many moons ago when I used real nappies for my children before I had a tumble drier to soften them I used to sit and rub them together to make them softer for them but really don't want to start doing that again!

artichoke

its natural exfoliation - but i have heard that vinegar does help...

we have the same problem - it is usually better in spring/ summer when the towels are line dried in the wind - but in the winter they go rock hard on the airers...

i have not tried vinegar as we only have brown malt vinegar and i was worried about the smell??

art

iamana1ias

White vinegar in place of conditioner should do the trick