Towels - how to get them fluffy and soft (but not retain water!)

[SleepyJim]

Sorry if this is the most boring question in the history of mumsnet but it’s honestly been on my mind for a month!

Went on holiday to Spain over the summer where we stayed in an Airbnb, and their towels were amazing!

Soft, fluffy, large enough to cover everything, and the most important bit - they seemed to dry almost instantly after using them.

At home we have nice towels, but after I’ve had a shower they stay wet for ages, sometimes until the next day.

What am I doing wrong at home and how can I have towels like on holiday!?

Is it that the towels on holiday were newer and all towels behave this way at first? Ours are about 5 years old. Is it a washing thing? I use non bio with fabric softener and then either line dry (but they go crispy, not fluffy) or tumble dry (but our drier is a bit old and useless) or dry inside on a drying rack.

I am actually dreaming about these bloody towels and need some help with some answers please!!

You shouldn't use fabric conditioner on towels as it reduces their absorbancy.

Apparently you can use white vinegar or soda crystals as a softener.

The

I dont use fabric conditioner on mine, I'm sure we're not supposed to either

I love this kind of boring thread, OP. 🤣

My tip is to tumble dry your towels.

Yes you shouldn’t use fabric softener on towels, and then tumble dry them.

Right, excellent. Fabric softener out, tumble drier at the ready! Do they have to get completely dry in the tumble drier?

Also, do you think in Spain they would have tumble dried them? It was 30+ degrees so would have thought a waste of electricity to tumble dry stuff? Or maybe they focussed more on glorious fluffiness?!

I don’t have a tumble drier but always add vinegar and it definitely helps.

I don't have a tumble drier, but I heard about the vinegar thing so I ditched fabric softener and started using vinegar.

It made sod all difference imho!! 😂

So sadly, my towels are crispier than a packet of walkers - I put it down to them being fairly old, but mostly the very hard water where I live. Luckily, I quite like a crispy towel, but I'm sure any house guests probably moan about them something cronic! 🙄

Get a water softener. Aside from using less washing powder. having softer, whiter washing, it makes bathroom cleaning a breeze.

I think if your towels have already lost their fluffiness, nothing will reinstate it! Vinegar helps to preserve fluffiness ime.

Wash them in the machine just with water. It'll get rid of all the build up soap and they come out like new x

The drying out thing was just Spain, partly the heat but also the dryer atmosphere. When I moved back to the UK after living there it took me ages to get used to how long it took my hair to dry here

I don’t tumble dry mine completely but only for about 10 minutes before they are fully dry (and often have to hang them up again to dry fully). It seems to do the trick.

It really wasn’t that. We took over some beach towels that had been washed here and they took ages to dry after use, whereas the lovely Spanish towels just didn’t stay wet.

No fabric conditioner, it will have built up in your towels so do a very high 60 or 90 degree wash with bio with extra rinse then tumble. Never use fc.

If you want dry them outside then put in the tumble with a spiky ball or tennis ball to make the crispness soft.

Could they be synthetic?

And yes, use tumble drier balls, minimum soap and no conditioner.

Sounds like they may have been microfibre- synthetic as pp said.

Adding to pp about the vinegar - a tablespoon in the wash. Then tumble dry.

I love a crispy towel