It’s never nice to reach for a clean towel only to quickly make the discovery that it’s got amusty smell to it, even though you’ve just washed it.
If you’re struggling with having your clean towels having a funky smell, even though you know you’ve just washed them, there’s a simple thing you can do to get them back to smelling nice and fresh – and all you need are two items from your kitchen cupboard.
Taking to Instagram, cleaning guru Courtney Jacobs have shared her top tips on how to get bad-smelling towels back to new by just changing the way your adding your towels to your washing machine.
“If your clean towels still smell funky, this is why and how you fix it,” she said at the start of the video.
She went on to explain the reasons why your towels might still have an odd smell to them even if you’ve just washed them
“Fabric softener, detergent buildup, and not drying it properly after use traps odour,” she explained.
She went on to adds in the caption on the video how the three different issues could be causing your towels to smell bad. The first thing you should look out for is using too much detergent, which could leave residue behind on the towels, especially if it doesn’t wash out properly. This will then lead to an odour formng.
The same thing also happens with fabric softeners, which can coat the fibres on the towel with a waxy layer that traps moisture and odours.
You also need to make sure you’re washing the towels in warm water, as lower water temperatures don’t kill the odour-causing bacteria.
However, it could also be that you’re not drying your towels properly. If you don’t let them dry properly after use, or leave them for too long in the washer, mildew can start growing which will cause a bad odour to form.
How to make towels smell nice again
“Here’s how you reset your towels,” she said before jumping into explain the step-by-step guide.
The first thing you need to do is to make sure you’re washing your towels in hot water. When you’ve added your towels to the washing machine, Courtney says to add one cup of white vinegar without any other detergents or laundry products.
“After that’s done, run a second wash with a half cup of baking soda, again on a hot cycle,” she said.
She then urges people to pop the towels in a dryer, however if you don’t have one, you can hang them to dry completely on a drying rack. However, it’s worth noting that this will take longer.
“Make sure there’s no dampness,” she said, as this will cause the towels to start to smell again.