No dryer and towels are like sandpaper

[Gingernaut]

I live in a hard water area and have recently changed from a washer/dryer to a washing machine.

The towels are coming out hard and scratchy.

Besides taking the wet towels to the launderette a quarter of a mile away for 10p a minute in their dryers, how do I stop my towels exfoliating me every time I wash them?

Same here both with and without conditioner, there isn't a local launderette or I'd take them down there to dry.
I figure it's good for my skin to have a rough old towel. Luckily I live alone.

No real advice but I love a tumble dried towel. Laughed so much when Julia’s Mum in motherland said Julia’s towels were like drying herself with a weetabix

I have found my people! I too love a scratchy towel, fluffy ones feel like they don't dry properly.

I use water softener tablets and pods - no chance of overdosing with detergent.

I've got no preference to be honest, but it's nice to offer guests soft towels instead of crispy ones.

I live in a hard water area and don't have a tumble dryer. My towels are also like sandpaper. I use fabric softener but it barely makes a difference

@Bagelsandbrie

No real advice but I love a tumble dried towel. Laughed so much when Julia’s Mum in motherland said Julia’s towels were like drying herself with a weetabix

Love that scene!

Hang them up to dry on a washing line outdoors. They don't go crispy then.

Fabric softener works but makes the towels unabsorbent. Ref every Airbnb ever.

If you can bear to use a towel more than once it's less hard after you've dried off with it once and then let the towel dry again, especially if it dries on a radiator. May not be a brilliant solution for guests.

If it's just for the sake of a guest towel now and then, steam ironing does make them better. Catch them still a bit damp, finish them off with a steam iron, if you can put them in an airing cupboard till you need them even better.

When they are dry off the line, rub them against themselves - actually scrunch them up in your hand as if you were scrubbing off a dirty mark. It softens the fabric up quite a bit. Not as much as a tumble drier but so much quicker and cheaper.

Love a hard scratchy towel

Ours are hard and I think the fabric conditioner is to blame. So if you’re not using it I’m not sure what to suggest.

I’ve tried
boiling them with vinegar
boiling them with bicarbonate of soda
boiling them with soda crystals

And they are maybe slightly better. Maybe.
And now I’ve stopped using fabric conditioner.

Less powder, vinegar instead of fabric conditioner and a really, REALLY good shake and then hang on the line. If you give them a rub together and another good shake when you take them off the line it helps to soften them off.

Shake them out very hard before hanging them on the line. I line dry all year round and although we prefer towels on the crispy side, I do find shaking them makes them a bit fluffier

This thread has brought back memories of having to 'zizzle' the line-dried terry square nappies. Zizzling was much the same as @AgentCarterRocks suggests.

I buy these www.linenme.com/bathroom-linen/bathroom-linen-towels/linen-sea-foam-bath-towel-waffle-big- Can also get them "Not on the high street". Initially bought them for camping however now use them all the time. Dry really, really quickly and I never put them in the tumble dryer. They aren't as "crunchy" as towelling towels. Feel really good.

I love sandpaper towels and hate soft fluffy ones that won't dry anything. I feel a tad jealous of your towels to be honest 😕

I always wash towels with bio powder and distilled white vinegar.

I quite like a scratchy towel but I realise most people don't.

I've given up fabric conditioner (and anyway it coats towels and makes them less absorbent). I now use white vinegar with a couple of drops of lavender oil in all my washing. It makes clothes and towels softer but doesn't leave a coating on the towels. And essential oil gives a lovely, much more natural smell than fabric conditioner imo.