How do you wash towels?

[Gene9]

Will be buying The White Company towels for our new home since they've been suggested multiple times not sure I want white towels though

How do you wash your towels to get them nice and fluffy/soft?

MIL has the best towels ever (Asda Ones), and swears by letting them dry naturally and not tumble drying?

I tumble dry mine and they are lovely and fluffy. When I let mine dry naturally they are always quite hard.

I have white towels. They are washed in Daz or Lidl Formil powder, the occasional slug of Napisan and tumble dried. If we were in a hard water area I'd add vinegar to the wash

Mine are like cardboard if dried naturally. I think it's how they are washed which keeps them nice. I have Egyptian cotton that's gone a bit crispy hmm. I do skip fabric conditioner often sooo

I know I'm not supposed to but I use conditioner and tumble dry, 40 degree wash unless they're mega dirty.

Interesting, when I lived alone I always tumble dried and they were horrid and hard

No fabric conditioner, small amount of washing powder, sixty degree cottons wash and tumble dry.

60 degrees, bio washing tab, 30 min tumble followed by air dry for the remainder. No fabric softener- it builds up and does wreck the pile.

Lovely and fluffy.

I use those Lenor unstoppables, bio washing powder and fabric softener, wash towels on a 60° wash then put in the tumbler with dryer balls. They are always soft and fluffy. When I've dried them on the line they don't fluff up so much.

White towels - key to washing them and keeping them White is to wash only completely white items with them. Nothing with a logo or any hint of colour other than white and also nothing that was originally white and has greyed or pinked. In my case I wash a load of white towels and nothing else, then tumble. they are about a year old and they look brand-new

A bit of washing powder, a good slug of vinegar in the softener draw, 40 degree cottons program, then tumble dry.

Are you in a hard water area?

Bioloogical washing powder, not liquid, wash on a 60 degree cottons wash. Line dry in the sun where possible and finish off in the dryer. Don't use fabric softener or those awful scent beed things. They cause the towels to lose their absorbency and cling onto dirt and grease so they go grey.

If you wash on 60 doesn't that mean the bio washing enzymes don't work?

AccioNameChange, yes and no.
The enzymes work as the water heats up to remove stains and then once the temp is up, the bleaching agents kick in

I wash at 60, with a half dose of powder (liquid for my dark towels as I don't want to ruin the colour with bleach), o fabric conditioner at all, and tumble dry.

If I line dry, they end up like sandpaper. We have very hard water, which doesn't help. Tumble drying fluffs them up nicely.

And yes, I sometimes chuck in some white vinegar. I always have a bottle to hand for white marks on my work tops and drainer, anyhow!

White Company towels don't have to be white. misses the point

Tumble drying is the only way to soft towel ime

Your MIL is right about not tumble-drying them - it wears them out so they get thinner and thinner. Line drying is best.

(And use non-bio powder, not liquid or bio powder.)

So if tumble drying dries them out and makes them thinner, how do I line dry them?

What is line drying? Drying on the line outside? Drying on the radiator?

Never had towels get thin by tumble drying in 13 years of tumble drying.

Drying on the radiotor is a sure fire way of getting a damp mouldy house. Cheaper and healthier to buy towels slightly more often.

I haven't found tumble drying makes towels thinner. Using them over and over again does. And it depends how thick they were to start with

Oh I see, thank you lovelies

This is very interesting. I have issues with our towels being really rough and not soft at all. I was 60 cotton with no fabric softener and naturally dry them yet can't get fluffy towels no matter what I do. Is it a new vs old towel thing? Our towels are probably about 8 years old now so maybe I just need to get new ones?

I wash at 60 with washing liquid and fabric conditioner and then tumble dry. The fluffiness is all down to the drying. The same towels dried on the line would be stiff and rough.

wash at 60 then tumble dry and never had any problems with towels they come out nice and fluffy
in the summer when i line dry i still stick them in the tumble dryer for about 10 mins to finish them off or they are hard

Wash at 60 with powder and vinegar in the fabric softener drawer then tumble dry. Really hard water here so it's hard to stop them going crunchy.