There are endless stacks of immaculate, white bath towels at a fancy spa. They are all absorbent, soft, odour-free, and devoid of stains. Do the towels you have at home fit well?
The nicest feeling in the world is a warm shower or bath with a fluffy, soft towel. However, your laundry routine is most likely to blame if your bath towels are dingy, scratchy, and have an odd fragrance. Inadequate cleaning and drying procedures might cause discolouration, textural alterations, and odours in your towels. These are the seven bath towel laundry errors you are committing; don’t worry, they are all easy to correct.
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Mistakes That Make Your Towel Dingy
Selecting the Incorrect Detergent
The most private areas of our bodies are covered with bath towels, which can collect bacteria and body dirt. You need a strong detergent to get rid of grime and body oils. Make sure your detergent has multiple enzymes (such as protease, amylase, and cellulase) by carefully reading the chemical list. Oils and stains are broken down by enzymes so that the wash water may remove them.
Applying Fabric Softener
Adding fabric softener to the rinse cycle will retain soil in the fibres of the towels, making them dingy, if they don’t get clean during the wash cycle. Fragrances from fabric softeners smell good for a while, but the residue not only attracts dirt but also odour-causing bacteria that resurface when the towel becomes wet.
Lastly, the fibres are coated with fabric softeners, which makes the towel less absorbent. During the rinse cycle, use one cup of distilled white vinegar in place of fabric softener. Any detergent residue that remains in the fibres is broken through by the vinegar and washed away, leaving the fibres absorbent and soft.
Washing With Cold Water all the Time
While washing with cold water is ecologically responsible, it’s a good idea to include a hot water wash for bath towels at least monthly, especially if you use a less effective detergent. For dirt and detergent residues to be washed away, hot water helps break them down.
Forgetting to Clean Your Washing Machine
Cleaner clothing comes from a clean washing. Towels that have become dingy due to soil re-deposition can be prevented by incorporating a monthly cleaning cycle into your laundry routine.
Failing to Sort Your Laundry
That white towel will probably collect some of the free colours released in the wash water from the colourful fabrics when it is thrown in the laundry with some blue trousers and a red T-shirt. Sorting the textiles first and not filling the washer will result in whiter, brighter towels. Avoid washing microfiber towels with cotton garments as microfiber tends to gather lint, which can distort colours.
Using Hard Water for Washing
Towels that are washed in water with high mineral content, or “hard water,” and that have too much detergent in them may have residue left on them that causes the fabric to become stiff, scratchy, and dingy.1. Reduce the amount of detergent you use, add a water conditioner, and add distilled white vinegar to the rinse cycle.
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