Nothing ruins a steamy shower like a hard and scratchy towel. It feels like you’re cracking a board of sandpaper in half just to wrap it around your body, or – as my sister would say – like a cat’s tongue is licking you dry. You’re probably exfoliating yourself in the process, but this isn’t how a towel should be.
You want a towel that’s soft, fluffy and luxurious. But between the hot-wash cycles, the overdosing of detergent and the stagnant drying (my towels have dried in the shape of how they’re hung on the line), it seems impossible. And if you don’t have a dryer, it’s not even worth trying! But there is a two-second trick that can make all the difference to your scratchy towels and restore them to their fluffy glory. Here’s what you need to do.
Why do towels turn hard and scratchy?
Towels are coated and sold with a silicone-based finish – this makes them feel extra soft and fluffy on the shop shelf. The problem is, once that coating is washed away, they’re never as luxurious again – nor can you restore them to such levels of softness.
From there, our towels are subjected to repeated hot washes (often at 60° if you’re looking to kill bacteria) during which they’re heavily dosed with detergent. Using too much detergent will leave soapy residue locked in the towel and give it a hard and crunchy feel. If you live in a hard water area, minerals will contribute to the stiffness, too, and can even combine with the residual soap to form a substance that’s difficult to wash away. All in all, your washing machine will be taking its toll on your towels.
Fabric softener won’t help, either. In fact, we recommend limiting this on your towels as it will coat the surface (a bit like the finish when you first bought the towel) and stop it from drying so well.
And let’s not forget the drying process. If you don’t have a dryer, your towels – with all of the absorbed soap and minerals – will be hung on a line and mould to this shape.
Cotton towels contain cellulose fibres and hydrogen bonds (this is how they absorb and hold on to water). These fibres swell with water, which disrupts the bonds during the wash cycle; then, as the towels are line-dried, the bonds break and restructure. That’s what makes them feel so stiff and scratchy. The sunlight won’t help things – this accelerates the drying process and ‘bakes’ it into position.
Considering all of the above, is it any wonder your towels are so rough?
What two-second trick will make my towels soft?
The reason your towels feel so soft when they come out of the tumble dryer is because the fibres have been flexed and opened during the tumbling process – the hydrogen bonds cannot reform to create the rough finish.
This two-second trick aims to replicate the tumbling action of a dryer, without taking too much time or effort. It’s as simple as this: you just need to give your towels a quick shake before you hang them up to dry.
This isn’t your usual shake, though. For best effect, you need to give them a proper snap to open the fibres. It works across all your laundry (but avoid on delicate items) and will prevent stiffness, wrinkles and clumping. We recommend shaking towels regularly as they dry (every few hours if line drying or every 20 minutes in the dryer) to stop them from hardening.
And that’s all there is to it! But you need to do more than shake your towels if you want guaranteed results.
How to make your towels soft again
- Make sure you’re using the correct dosage of detergent
- Use an additional rinse cycle if there’s residual soap
- Only wash at temperatures as hot as the care label allows
- Every few months, wash your towels with 200ml of distilled white vinegar to strip residual soap and limescale
- Limit fabric conditioner
- Use dryer balls if you have a dryer for extra softness
- Line-dry outside to take advantage of the breeze, but stick to a shaded position
GHI approved bath towels
Score: 92/100
Score: 90/100
