My 85-cent tip is the best way to make scratchy towels soft and fluffy again – people agree that it beats baking soda
SOFT towels can be a simple way to establish quiet luxury in the home but keeping them soft isn’t always easy.
Countless laundry cycles can roughen the material and be harsh on the skin but an expert has shared a tip to keep them fluffy.
Textile experts shared their laundry advice to restore old towels in a Homes & Gardens newsletter.
Even the most expensive towels can get weathered after too many dryer cycles, leaving fibers scratchy.
The CEO of New Sega Home, Brian Delp, recommended using a cup of white vinegar in the wash to improve towel texture.
He explained that the method may take several washes for results, due to excessive fabric conditioner buildup.
A writer at Food52 put the trick to the test, alongside other pieces of advice they picked up online.
Alongside vinegar, they revealed that a common piece of advice was to add baking soda to detergent for a softer feel.
Not only that but baking soda was also supposed to help eliminate mildew smells from overly damp towels.
Upon finishing up a load of laundry, they revealed that while the baking soda worked to make their towels “thicker and bouncier,” the threads were left feeling “spikier.”
The white vinegar cleaning hack, however, bore prosperous fruit.
Instead of detergent, they relied solely on white vinegar to soften the towels and kill bacteria.
They poured a cup of 85-cent white distilled vinegar into the fabric softener compartment.
Once the towels dried, they noticed it felt softer and somehow “newer like it had been washed fewer times than the other towels.”
Unlike the baking soda, the white vinegar didn’t leave the threads feeling strange.
“The threads felt closer together. This was definitely the winning hack,” they said.
