Washing Towels

[jane finan]

why are my towels so hard after washing

[gina32]

do you use conditioner and do you put it in at the same time as the powder and do you tumble your clothes?

[chazza]

Generally towels feel harder if they are dried either outdoors on a line or indoors on a clothes horse. The tumble drier will make them feel softer but I find that after i put them in the tumble drier once, I have to keep on doing them as they will be even harder than before if i dont!

You could avoid this by buying some new ones and tumbling them! By the way you shouldn't use fabric softener on towels as it reduces their absorbancy

[DSJ]

Give them a few minutes in the tumble dryer, if you have one. That will fluff them up beautifully.

[gina32]

they are by far the best after being tumble dried so soft

[crapmemory]

I dry mine on the radiator and they are lovely and soft(cheaper than a tumble drier too!)

[Ice.Maiden]

I've never dried towels over a radiator and had them turn out soft. Perhaps you use a lot of fabric conditioner? That, and putting them in the tumble dryer's the only way I know of ensuring a soft, dry towel. Mind you, it also depends on quality., and Chazza's right. Tumble dried towels lose their absorbancy unless they're decent ones to begin with.

[heathfield]

Fabric softener shouldn't be used on towels. It leaves a plastic coating on the fibres, making the towels less absorbent, as Chazza says. The plastic also makes the fibres slippery, leading to fibre loss in a tumble dryer. Our local Debenhams used to have a large notice displayed in their household section warning against using softener on towels.