Making towels soft

Honey_Bear

I've only read a couple of pages of this thread so this may have been suggested before. I use soapnuts for towel washes and they come out beautifully clean and soft. Nothing else, just half a dozen soapnuts. (Don't use them on white things though, or you'll get rust-type marks on them.)

I found using vinegar as a fabric conditioner left white streaks on dark clothes, so although it gets all of the soap out of clothes and towels it didn't actually soften them wash after wash after wash.

onewhoasks

My bath towels are really rough and "scratchy" to the touch and nothing I'm doing wash-wise seems to be improving things. One or two of the towels were new last summer and now they are terrible.

I started washing them recently on a 90 degree setting with no detergent and have even added white vinegar to the wash but I'm not seeing any difference as yet.

I've been drying them on a clothes rail indoors and we don't have a tumble dryer.

We had a water softener installed end of last year so hard water is no longer a problem.

Does anyone have any other tips or insights?

thanks

wallbash

Buy a tumble dryer.
Sorry thats not a lot of help.
The only good thing about having a wet miserable day, I can stick the bath towels in the dryer. When they are dried elsewhere, as you say

really rough and "scratchy"

lee111s

Agree with above, tumble drier doesn't make them hard, quite he opposite. I hated drying towels in the winter before I had my tumbler!

JoolzS

If you've got a family member or friend with a tumble-dryer, dampen one of the towels (only needs to be a small one) and get the load tumble-dried until the damp one is dry (will probably only take 15 to 20 minutes). The steam from the one damp towel should help soften all of them. My mum does this in the summer after line-drying them.

I also sometimes use a small amount of fabric conditioner every 5 or 6 times I wash my towels because I don't have a tumble-dryer now. Don't use it every time because it makes them less absorbent - but every few washes seems to be okay.

[Deleted User]

Iron them on a steam setting once they are dry. This should do the same trick as the tumble dryer.

adandem

I think I must be one of the only people I know who actually prefers my towels when they're rougher

worbikeman

adandem wrote: »

I think I must be one of the only people I know who actually prefers my towels when they're rougher

They make great back-scratchers.
Trouble is they go all soft after a while:D

Nile

Are you still using soapnuts, that could be the reason?


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5172025=




Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

I’ve moved your thread from the ‘In my home’ board to the ‘Old Style’ board, where it is better suited.

Regards

Nile

lostinrates

adandem wrote: »

I think I must be one of the only people I know who actually prefers my towels when they're rougher

I like them scratchy too. . Nice and exfoliating. But I appreciate I'm odd.