A soft, fluffy towel is a bathroom essential if you ask me. After all, there’s nothing less luxurious than drying yourself with an old, rough, ratty towel. But if you plan on reaching for the fabric softener to give your towels a refresh, laundry experts have revealed that this is a big no-no.
There’s an art to washing towels, and it differs from your normal laundry routine. While our clothes can benefit from fabric softener to feel smoother and smell fresher, if you were wondering, ‘should you use fabric softener on towels?’ The answer is no.
Laundry experts have revealed that using fabric softener on towels can have quite the opposite effect to what you were aiming for. And if you’re looking to provide fluffy towels for your guest bedroom ideas or to improve your own bathroom experience, this is everything you need to know.
Should you use fabric softener on towels?
Fabric softener is a conditioner for your clothes, but when it comes to your towels, it can reduce the absorbency of your towels and even make them feel greasy and stiff.
Fabric softener coats the fibres of your towels, and can become caked to your towel – this becomes even more tacky and stiff as it dries.
(Image credit: Future PLC/ Nathalie Priem)
‘While it may be tempting to use fabric softener on your towels, this should really be avoided. Softener leaves a waxy coating on your towel’s fibres, which reduces its absorbency over time and ruins its chance of drying properly,’ explains Katy Roberts, laundry expert at AO.com.
‘Your towel relies on open loops of cotton to help soak up water – fabric softener clogs these same fibres, which will leave them less absorbent and prevent you from soaking things up effectively.’
How to get soft, fluffy towels
Instead of reaching for the fabric softener, one of the best ways to fluff up and clean your towels is with white vinegar. White vinegar is the unsung hero of cleaning, and if you still haven’t stocked it in your cleaning caddy, we recommend Miniml’s Wild Rhubarb White Vinegar (£8.25 at Amazon) as it smells amazing.
‘Using white vinegar once every 6 weeks will remove any detergent and fabric softener residue that has built up,’ says Emily and Jonathan Attwood, founders of Scooms, explaining how to revive towels that have fallen victim to fabric softener.
‘First, wash your towels on a normal wash with detergent. Then run a second wash cycle with 1 cup of white vinegar.’
(Image credit: Future PLC/James French)
For soft, fluffy towels, Emily and Jonathan recommend investing in some dryer balls (£7.49 at Amazon). Not only are these great for softening clothes without fabric softener, they are also very energy efficient and reduce drying time in your tumble dryer.
‘The best way to dry your towels so that they regain their cosy softness and fluffiness, is to use a tumble dryer on a low heat setting. High heat can damage the cotton fibres,’ they say.
‘Once dried, don’t leave your towels sitting in the dryer. Take them out straight away and give them a shake to fluff them up.
‘Adding wool dryer balls can also help. Wool dryer balls create air gaps between your towels as they dry, which reduces the drying time. The natural lanolin in wool also helps soften your towels. We suggest using 4 wool dryer balls each time.’
What you need
Miniml
Miniml Eco White Vinegar Cleaning Sorrento Lemon Scented
If the rhubarb scent isn’t for you, this Sorrento lemon scented white vinegar is beautifully fresh and fruity – which I think makes it a great scent for cleaning.
Nooril
Nooril Tumble Dryer Balls Pack of 4
Dryer balls speed up the drying process meaning they make your standard tumble drier more energy efficient. They bounce around, softening your clothes in the process.
Nikura
Vanilla Fragrance Oil – 10ml
If you miss the scent of your fabric softener, instead add a few drops of your favourite essential oil to your dryer balls or laundry drum so that your towels come out beautifully fragranced.
Next time you go to wash your towels, don’t feel tempted to reach for the fabric softener. The last thing you’ll achieve is soft, fluffy towels if you do.