Scratchy towels

[Twinsgranny]

My husband moans about our towels. Off to buy more new ones. Yet another article about using vinegar in The Sunday Times. Says half a cup white vinegar in rinse cycle. Does anyone do this? And how much is ‘half a cup’ it’s so very vague! Does it make a difference in hard water areas, am presuming that’s part of problem? I don’t use fabric conditioner normally and I dry on line or in tumble dryer, not on rads. Any help appreciated! Apparently towels are coated with silicone or similar when you buy them which gives them that fluffiness in shop but means not very absorbent till washed. Such a mundane problem but husbands complaints annoying me!

Buy Heal's waffle towels - 50% off just now. They are always soft - I hang outside - no conditioner, no vinegar. www.heals.com/waffle-towel-putty-pink.html and dry very quickly.

a metric cup is 250 mls, so half a cup is 125mls

a spin in a tumble dryer usually fluffs towel up.

Suede microfibre towels are brilliant. Not fluffy but smooth and dry incredibly quickly.

How old are your towels, how often do you wash them and do you buy good quality ones?

I have M&S luxury egyptian cotton towels, don't own a tumble drier, just dry on an airer and they don't go scratchy.

Current ones are about 5 years old and get washed around once a week usually on 40, occasionally on 60.

(I do use fabric softener though and recommend it)

Asda do some with bamboo in them, which helps keep them soft. Working for us so far.

Thanks for comments so far

I often use vinegar in the rinse cycle. I don’t know if it’s actually 125ml but its about the same amount as I use for fabric softener with other laundry. I always use powder but less than the box suggests, wash at 60 and spin at 1400 rpm twice. I always hang them up, either inside or outside but put them in the tumble drier for 10 minutes before they are totally dry.

I used to have crusty towels in a soft water area using fabric conditioner, stopped using the fabric conditioner and they improved. Moved to a hard water area and obtained a tumble drier and they are now lovely and soft so I don’t know if I perfected the technique or it was the hard water. Occasionally I’ll put a tablespoonful of soda crystals in too.

I also have found that it’s difficult to permanently revive towels that are crusty. I’ve got one set where one towel was used a lot and got crusty and the other was essentially brand new. The crusty one reverts back if anyone else does the laundry.

I second this - peg them out and dry on the line and then 10mins in the tumble dryer to soften them up works wonders.