How do you wash towels?

[Indoobidubly]

Hot/warm/cold water?

High/med/low heat?


The label on my towels says "Wash in Warm Water" and "Low Tumble Dry".

But I've heard hot water is better.

Does washing/drying them a certain way damage the fibers of the towel?

Thanks.

[luv-my-boys]

I think some of it depends on the material say cotton terry vs microfiber or some other blend. I have several categories of towels...bath,utility,kitchen. I wash all in the hottest setting and dry on the hottest. I may do a cold water *pre rinse* cycle if they are grimy or dirty (utility or kitchen) and then the normal cycle. With washing/drying on Hot the things I would be concerned with would be shrinkage and color bleeding or fading. Im not concerned with either on my towels.

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by luv-my-boys

I think some of it depends on the material say cotton terry vs microfiber or some other blend. I have several categories of towels...bath,utility,kitchen. I wash all in the hottest setting and dry on the hottest. I may do a cold water *pre rinse* cycle if they are grimy or dirty (utility or kitchen) and then the normal cycle. With washing/drying on Hot the things I would be concerned with would be shrinkage and color bleeding or fading. Im not concerned with either on my towels.

Yeah that exactly. I usually put some bleach in with mine since they do get wet/dry several times between washes.

[cristeen]

Yes, washing different ways does damage the fibers more. The hotter you get it, the less time your towels will last. The more often you bleach them, the less time they'll last.

I wash my towels on warm, dry on med hot. Which is the same way I wash my jeans and my family cloth.

[ChetMC]

Washing Towels

I don't pay attention to the washing instructions on towels. However, we buy 100% cotton towels, solid colours, no fancy appliqués, etc.

We wash on the hottest settings. They either dry on the hottest setting in the dryer or outside in the sun. The same for sheets.

[oneKnight]

In the washing machine, with everything else. Warm wash, Watkins III Generation detergent, cold rinse, vinegar in the rinse cycle. Cold wash in the summertime.

I get hotel style towels from Sam's club, they are very absorbant and tough enough to stand up to a LOT of washings. I never use bleach on anything and I don't care if my towels are stained so no pretreatments either.


ETA: I line dry everything 99% of the time.

[marimara]

I wash mostly all cold. Sometimes I'll do a hot wash for white towels only if they were stinky or something. My towels are perfectly clean with a cold wash. For the record though, we hang up towels to dry. I never put wet towels in the hamper.

[MamaFern]

i generally wash everything on cold, but sometimes i do a hot wash for towels. all of ours are pretty worn in and soft, i dont worry about washing directions. i like to do a vinegar/baking soda soak though. i like my towels to look and feel and smell really clean@:

[Ola_]

I wash most things on cold, but towels and underwear/socks get done on warm. Not sure about drying temp as our dryer only has a "normal" setting. We use one of those "cold water" detergents and I find it does as good of a job washing in cold water as it did when we used hot before. I add vinegar in the rinse also (in one of those downy ball dispensers).

If your towels have that horizontal strip close to the ends that's a different texture, that's the piece I find shrinks and then scrunches the towel making it look funny.

[sbgrace]

I wash all clothes on cold but towels (and underwear and socks) on hot. I dry the hot stuff on hot too. I like the extra bacteria killing power of hot water for those items.

[SAHDS]

What kind of towels are we talking about?

For bath towels (which are essentially still 'clean' even after we use them 3-4 times), I wash them on the regular cycle in cold water, just like most everything else.

For kitchen towels, I wash those on warm w/ more soap in a slightly longer wash.

Just like miramara, we never put anything wet in the hamper so it doesn't gets nasty or mildewy. Everything goes in dry (or slightly damp, maybe).

[vm9799]

i wash all our bath towels (100% cotton) in hot water (no fabric softener) and dry them on high heat. for my kitchen towels (which are all the williams-sonoma white microfiber towels) i also add some bleach from time to time to get out food stains. works great!

[JenniferLovie]

Almost everything gets washed cold with detergent and a vinegar rinse. Everything is dried on the cotton setting. I don't think it's the hottest on my dryer, but I'm not sure.

[Drummer's Wife]

I was them with warm water, just like everything else I wash (besides diaper, which are washed on HOT!)

[mommathea]

Hot wash, cold rinse, hightest heat in the dryer.

Both my mom and I jhave found that when we line dry towels they seem to sour faster than drying in the dryer.

[mamasgroovin]

Originally Posted by MamaFern

i generally wash everything on cold, but sometimes i do a hot wash for towels. all of ours are pretty worn in and soft, i dont worry about washing directions. i like to do a vinegar/baking soda soak though. i like my towels to look and feel and smell really clean@:

So, this is an issue I keep meaning to ask about as well! How do you keep your towels smelling fresh? I was thinking about trying a vinegar rinse...but hadn't thought about a vinegar/baking soda pre-soak. Please tell me how to do this.

I think a lot of it is my washer. I have a front loader and the drum is getting scuzzy. I keep trying to clean it with either vinegar or a product specially designed for this purpose, but I think it's too late.