How to wash a towel in a washing machine so that it is soft?

Today, housewives with a washing machine have practically forgotten what hand washing is. Modern washing machines offer a wide range of special modes, allowing them to wash even items that require special care. Towels are a common household item that require frequent cleaning. Most users throw them in the drum along with the rest of their laundry and run the wash cycle on an economy cycle. This causes the towels to lose their softness. Is it possible to machine wash these items while preserving the fabric's original properties? We'll discuss how to make towels soft below.

Making a towel soft

To ensure that towels that touch your skin every day remain pleasant to the touch, they need to be properly cared for. Terry fabric is quite capricious and requires special, careful handling during washing. Here are some basic guidelines to help you properly wash a terry towel in an automatic washing machine.

1. It is best to use a liquid washing gel; this detergent will maintain the fluffiness and prevent the fibers from becoming deformed.
2. It is recommended to wash towels using a cycle that completely fills the drum with water and heats the water to 40°C – 60°C. After the main cycle, select "Extra Rinse."
3. Add down balls to the drum along with your laundry; these will agitate the fibers and prevent them from creasing.
4. It's best to avoid using fabric softeners and bleaches when washing towels. These products don't rinse out well from the terry fibers and can damage the fibers.

It is advisable to avoid ironing items entirely, or to smooth them out using hot steam, hanging a towel on a rope, or holding it in the air.

Another reason towels lose their softness is hard water used for washing. It's common knowledge that most Russian regions have poor-quality water in their water pipes. Therefore, to preserve the quality of your laundry, experts recommend installing filters either at the entrance to your apartment or before the washing machine's inlet hose. This will prevent scale and sediment from building up on the machine's components and will also keep your towels soft.

If installing a filter isn't possible, soften the water with proven remedies: salt, baking soda, or vinegar solution. These will not only keep the terry pile fluffy, but also maintain the color of the item.

Why does fabric become stiffer after washing?

After using a terry towel for a while, you may notice that the pile has become less fluffy, denser, and slightly lost its shape. This can easily be explained by the following mistakes made by homeowners:

• using regular washing powder when washing instead of a liquid gentle detergent;
• use of hard, unsoftened water;
• washing or rinsing the product in an overloaded drum;
• use the economical mode for cleaning towels, which involves filling the tank with a small amount of water;
• smoothing terry cloth with the sole of an iron.

Experts warn that the fabric should be smoothed only with hot steam.

By avoiding the mistakes described above and trying to maintain the quality of the product from the very beginning, so that it remains soft and fluffy, you can avoid turning a pleasant-to-the-skin towel into a "stiff" fabric.

The best fabric softeners

In the days when the market wasn't overflowing with various detergents for all kinds of fabrics, housewives had to invent their own ways to make towels soft. These methods proved so effective that they are still used today.

1. Salt. Softens fabric well. You can use either regular table salt or special salt designed for automatic machines. You can pour the detergent into the washing machine's detergent drawer by mixing 3 tablespoons of salt with the powder, or pour a salt solution (the same three tablespoons diluted in 200 ml of water) directly into the drum.
2. Vinegar. Pour 0.5 cups of a 9% vinegar solution into the fabric softener dispenser. After washing in the washing machine, lint-free towels will be very soft. Additionally, vinegar will help eliminate unpleasant odors.
3. Baking soda. Pour three tablespoons of the solution into the washing machine drum. This will help soften the hard water in the system.
4. Vinegar and baking soda. Pour 0.5 cups of 9% vinegar into the rinse aid dispenser, and half a cup of baking soda into the drum. This softening method is especially suitable for washing light-colored items—the baking soda and vinegar will also have a bleaching effect.

You can also make a special homemade towel rinse. In a container, mix one cup of water, the same amount of baking soda, and six cups of 9% vinegar. Wait until the foaming process is complete, then add another six cups of water. To scent the conditioner, add a drop of essential oil (peach, grapeseed, etc.) to the solution. This mixture can be used in place of store-bought rinse aid when needed.

Restoring the former softness to an old towel

If your favorite towel has lost its appearance and started to look unpresentable, don’t rush to throw it away. You can try to revive the item using proven folk methods. Dissolve table salt in a basin of water. Add 2 tablespoons of salt to five liters of water. Let the item soak in the solution for half an hour. Then, load the towel into the washing machine on a standard cycle.

If fabric fades, becomes dark, or stains become ingrained, soak the textile in a water-salt solution for 10 hours, adding a small amount of ammonia. Ammonia can be made at home by mixing the following ingredients in the following proportions: 1 liter of water, 1 tablespoon of table salt, and 1 teaspoon of ammonia.

   

Readers' comments