Ever finished doing your laundry and pulled your towels out of the dryer, only to find that they’ve lost their softness and feel stiff and scratchy? There are several potential causes, including detergent residue, limescale buildup, friction during the washing process and how you dry your towels.
Towels are absorbent, which means they’re especially prone to collecting soap and fabric softener residue that doesn’t properly rinse out in the wash. This can accumulate over time, leading to reduced absorbency and a rough, scratchy texture. To prevent this, it’s important to know how to strip them to keep them feeling soft and cosy for years to come. To do so, five cleaning experts have all claimed that one kitchen ingredient is a must: white vinegar.
CEO of Cleaning Express, Michael Bogoyavlenskiy, said that a “natural and effective way to get a towel soft again” is to use white vinegar. When washing your towels, put about 100ml of white vinegar in the fabric softener compartment (you can also use the rinse cycle compartment if your machine has one).
He explained that the vinegar helps to dissolve oil, detergent, and mineral build-ups, which can “contribute to crusty towels”.
If your towels are “really bad”, try a vinegar soak before washing. Fill up your bath with enough water to submerge your towels, and then add 150 to 200ml of white vinegar. Leave them to soak for a few hours, drain the water, rinse quickly in the bath, and then wash on a normal cycle.
Michael added, “It’s worth noting with both of these options that your towels won’t smell like vinegar by the time they’re clean and dry.”
Natural home routine advocate and founder of Detoorp, Danny Leung, claimed that white vinegar is “your most natural and simple solution”.
He recommended pouring half a cup of vinegar into the machine with no detergent so that the acidic liquid can successfully “cut through all that built-up residue and mineral deposits that are making your towels feel like sandpaper”.
After that vinegar wash, Danny said to run them through again on a hot cycle with half a cup of baking soda. This neutralises any remaining vinegar and helps restore the towels’ natural pH balance.
Cleaning expert at Cottage Care, Scott Schrader, said that this two-step vinegar and baking soda wash is his “favourite natural method”.
He explained that it’s the vinegar that “dissolves detergent residue and breaks down minerals” in the fibres in the first wash, and the second wash that requires baking soda “deodorises, while also refreshing the fibres”.
CEO at Picture Perfect Cleaning, Jared Sarbit, claimed that white vinegar is “extremely effective” as it “resets the towels without leaving behind buildup”.
Cleaning expert and chief operating officer at Sparkly Maid San Antonio, Jessica Gonzalez, said that vinegar is her “go-to natural way to bring back hard towels and de-stiffen them”.
She pointed out that towels should be washed with one cup of vinegar on a hot cycle – “the highest cycle you have on your machine”.
While not essential, baking soda can be used on a follow-up cycle to deodorise and further soften towels. It’s the vinegar that is the most important step to get soft and fluffy towels.