How to Make Towels Fluffy

How to Soften Rough Towels

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If you are wondering how to make old towels fluffy again, there are many DIY laundry hacks you can use to soften your rough towels. Give these easy tips a try, and your bath towels will be soft again in no time.

Quick tip: You can get rid of the lint on bath towels by “shaving” it off with a disposable razor, yes it will take a while but it is well worth it if you don’t like lint on your towels or other items. For just over $10 you can get this fabric defuzzer thing that shaves the fuzz right off of new towels!

How to Soften Towels Naturally

There are several ways to soften towels naturally, but the easiest way is by using a combination of baking soda and vinegar. Baking soda and vinegar work great to fluff up worn out towels.

Wash your towels on your washing machine’s hottest setting, using half of your normal laundry detergent. Add 1 cup of white vinegar to the wash. You can just pour it in after the washing machine fills up with water.

When your washing machine is going through the rinse cycle, add 1/2 cup baking soda to the wash.

Vinegar is a great natural way to remove any buildup residue and/or odor from your bath towels that may have led to them losing some of their softness. The baking soda is a great natural fabric softener and also helps to remove buildup.

How Do Hotels Keep their Towels so White and Soft?

There are a number of ways that hotels keep their towels white and soft. Here are a couple of their top tips.

Wash your bath towels regularly. This seems like a no brainer, but I don’t wash our family’s towels as often as I should. If you think about it, hotels wash their towels every day. Of course we aren’t going to wash our towels every day, but the more often you wash them, the more you remove all the filth and residue that builds up on the towels every day, causing towels to lose some of their softness.

Wash your towels separately. I also don’t do this, but it makes sense. It is best to wash your bath towels in hot water, with baking soda and vinegar added to remove extra buildup from your towels (see tips above). Your other laundry doesn’t need to be washed in this way, so it makes sense to wash your towels separately from your other clothes. Also make sure you separate towels by color, you don’t want to wash your white towels with your colored towels.

Dry your towels completely. Guilty. I don’t always make sure my towels are 100% dry when I remove them from the dryer, especially if I am in a hurry. If your towels are even a tiny bit damp when you put them away they can build up mold and mildew, which will cause them to get that funky odor that bath towels are famous for.

How to Keep Towels Soft When Line Drying

Some people love the smell of their towels when they are line dried, but your towels will also not turn out as soft as you had hoped. They can turn out rather “crunchy”.

One way to help ensure soft towels when line drying is to add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the wash. Vinegar is a natural fabric softener and will help keep your towels soft when you hang them outside on the clothesline to dry.

You might also try cutting the amount of laundry detergent you use in half. Too much laundry detergent can cause your towels to become too stiff when you are line drying them.

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2 Comments on "How to Make Towels Fluffy"

Vicki
February 8, 2022 6:19 pm

My washer has a lock on it when it starts. There is no way to open it for the rinse cycle what do you suggest to put the baking soda in?

Joy Morrow
October 26, 2019 11:49 pm

I love this idea but I’ve got a front load washer. I can put the vinegar in where the bleach goes but I’m not sure where I can put the baking soda to get it in the rinse. Do you think something like Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent in the detergent dispenser would work okay as a substitute?