Yesterday, I decided I COULD NOT TAKE IT any longer. That is, I could no longer take drying off from a shower using my grey (they were once white), crunchy (as my son calls them) towels.
A sale was on at Kohls. This was my opportunity. So, with my coupon and Kohls cash in hand, I headed out to restock my towels. I checked Kohls towel ratings online, and then spent a good 15 minutes feeling all the towels for optimum softness. I ranked Jennifer Lopez towels as the softest, which makes complete sense as they are designed by a Diva. However, I went with the Sonoma, which were still soft and were a good $10 cheaper a towel, which also makes complete sense as these were not designed by a Diva.When I got home, I immediately yanked out all my old towels and then....filled my linen closet with the new fluffy white ones. Pure domestic joy!!
But this time around, I wanted to be sure my towels stayed white and soft for as long as possible. What could I do to prevent these towels from the same dingy fate of my old towels? After some research, I discovered that with any towel, softness can disappear after only a few washes due to hard water, excessive detergent and the use of fabric softener. Who knew??So here is the best advice I found for keeping new towels white and fluffy....
- Use less Detergent. Too much detergent eventually coats the towels fibers and leads to the dreaded crunchy towel. Use about half as much detergent as normal, so the rinse cycle can fully rinse out the detergent and wash in hot water to let the heat sanitize the towels
- Do not use fabric softeners or dryer sheets. Who new??? Fabric softener actually damages your towels by building up on the fibers and pushing the fabric down. Fibers stiffen and become less absorbent.
- Wash & dry fewer towels in each load. Smaller loads in the washer allow your machine to rinse out detergent better. Smaller loads in the dryer allow the air to fluff up the fabric.
- Use vinegar. Vinegar is great for removing almost any buildup. Use about 1 cup of vinegar with only a little detergent and it will help remove detergent buildup and hard water stuck in the fiber or your towels. Not only will this keep the fibers fluffy and soft, but it will keep your towels absorbent.
- Use baking soda. Occasionally add half a cup of baking soda to your detergent. This will help to loosen up towel fibers and clean off any buildup. This also helps eliminate any odors.
- Use a water softener. This was a great recipe for homemade water softener that I found at www.hotelathome.net. This is good to use occasionally instead of vinegar if your water is hard. (This recipe also works great at restoring softness to older towels that you arent ready to toss).
Using a 2liter bottel that you have labeled as water softener....
From www.hotelathome.net...
From www.hotelathome.net...
- The recipe. In the jug, pour a ½ a cup of Borax (available in most grocery store laundry sections) and a one cup of washing soda (sodium carbonate, sometimes called "lectric soda", also available in the laundry section) and 1/2 fill the jug with very hot water.
- Mix well. Mix the solution until the powder mixture has completely dissolved. Pour this mixture into your 2 litre bottle and then fill the rest of the bottle up with water.
- Softening your water. To use your homemade water softener, add one cup to each load of laundry, for particularly crunchy towels, you may need to add two cups of the mixture.
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