Towels are hard after washing because they build up soapy residue and are over-dried. Here's the good news: With a few simple tricks, you can restore your towels to their original softness and help ensure that they never go scratchy again. Use warm water.
Baking soda or vinegar will do the trick. BAKING SODA: Adding baking soda to your towel wash helps remove soap and chemical residue that can end up covering your towels. Add half a cup of baking soda with your washing detergent, then wash as usual.
The main culprit for towels losing their magical softness is residue from detergents and body oils that build up within the fabric. This buildup of leftover products will cause stiffness and a rough, crackly feeling. These remnants from products also diminish your towel's ability to absorb moisture.
Prevent overheating – Dry towels on the lowest heat setting possible to avoid tight, stiff towels. Too much heat can damage the individual cotton fibers.
Eventually even the best towels can become stiff, scratchy and not very absorbent. It happens when fabric softeners and residue from dryer sheets build up on the fibers.
One of the downsides of front loaders (and water-efficient top loaders) is that they can produce stiff, rough or scratchy towels. That's because the towels are generally tumbling through just a little water rather than floating through lots like in an older-style top loader.
Wash your towels in warm water or hot water -- not scalding -- with one cup of white distilled vinegar. This will strip towels of any built-up residue and help restore absorbency. DON'T USE DETERGENT, only white vinegar. Run the load a second time using only a half-cup of baking soda.
A good temperature for washing towels and sheets is 40 degrees, but a 60 degreewash will be better at killing germs. Changing your sheets and towels once a week can help to keep them fresh and clean**. Use ourlaundry tips section for guidelines on different fabrics.
Do not add any detergent or fabric softener. Instead, add two cups of distilled white vinegar to the washer drum. The vinegar will help strip away the residue left in the towels that is causing them to feel stiff.
If your towels are very stiff and scratchy, try adding around 250ml of vinegar to a wash along with your laundry liquid. Add it to the washing machine drum just before you load and set the cycle going, don't worry, it won't make your washing smell like a bag of chips.
"A good thing to remember is to replace bathroom towels every two to five years and kitchen towels and washcloths every year or every two years, depending on their quality," explains Wischnia.
Use Vinegar or Baking Soda
Avoid fabric softeners. They usually contain silicon, which makes towels less absorbent so they don't wash well. Instead, use half a cup of vinegar or baking soda with your towels. Add this to your regular washing detergent.
1. Soften Towels. Soak non-absorbent bath towels overnight in a bucket of warm water with half a cup of Epsom salts. The next day, wring out and tumble dry for soft-as-new towels.
If you have a standard washer machine, use 1 cup of baking soda and add it to the towels and then fill with water. DO NOT ADD SOAP OR VINEGAR, ADD NOTHING BUT BAKING SODA! Run a full cycle using hot water for the wash and rinse cycle. You will be absolutely amazed on how fresh the towels smell.
But you may not have known that your new bath towel has a "break in" period before it reaches maximum softness and absorbency. In fact, it can take as many as three full wash cyclesfor your bath towel to feel great and absorb water the way it was designed to.
Use fabric softener according to directions, but add it only every three or four washes. Waxy buildup from softeners can deteriorate the towel fibers over time and reduce their absorbency. No one wants a towel that's not fluffy, so be careful when using fabric softener with towels.
Wash Towels Before You Use Them
New towels are also often coated in fabric softeners so they're nice and plush for shoppers—but these ingredients actually prevent towels from soaking up water. To get rid of that buildup, add a 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle during the initial wash.
Towels should be washed in the warmest water appropriate for the fabric according to the care label. Generally, warm or hot water is recommended for washing towels. Use a cycle specifically for towels or a normal/regular cycle.