I Put My Grandma’s Smartest Towel Trick to the Test, and It Was Brilliant
If you’ve ever been to a spa, you might’ve noticed a few details that made it extra relaxing, like the calming aroma of lavender in the air, the refreshing lemon-infused water, or the tranquil music playing. But of all these aah-inducing accoutrements, the fluffy towel the facialist drapes on my face at the end of a session is always my favorite. I’ve always wondered — how do they get the towels so clean and fluffy? When I mentioned this to my grandmother, she shared her own laundry trick for achieving this: washing towels with vinegar and baking soda.
How to Revive Old, Stiff Towels
Put your towels in the washer without any detergent; instead, add one cup of white vinegar to the detergent compartment. Set your washer to “warm” or “hot,” depending on if the towels are colored (warm) or white (hot). Allow them to go through one complete cycle. On the second cycle, sprinkle one cup of baking soda directly into your washer before you shut the lid. After a cycle in the dryer, the towels will be cleaner and fluffier than before!
My Grandma’s Laundry Trick to Get Towels Soft and Clean
All you’ll need is one cup of white vinegar and one cup of baking soda. You’ll be using these two ingredients separately in two washes on the same load of towels, as using them together will only cancel out the effectiveness of each one. (Again, this trick isn’t about saving time or water — it’s mostly about indulgence!).
Start by putting your towels in the washer, being careful not to cram them in. Instead of detergent, add one cup of white vinegar to the detergent compartment. Place your washer setting on “warm” or “hot” depending on if they are colored towels (warm) or white ones (hot). Allow the towels to go through one complete cycle. Once your towels are through their first wash, you’ll wash them again. This time, sprinkle one cup of baking soda directly into the washer before you shut the lid.
After two washes, your towels will have much less detergent caked into their fibers, which tends to be the reason they lose their softness. And after a cycle in the dryer, the towels will be cleaner and fluffier than ever!
How Often to Wash Towels with Vinegar to Keep Them Fluffy
You don’t need to use vinegar every time you wash your towels. In fact, manufacturers like Whirlpool warn that routine exposure to acidic solutions can cause wear to washing machine components like hoses and seals. Some towel experts recommend using vinegar once every few months to maintain that plush, spa-like feel. Between these deep-cleaning sessions, you can launder your towels with a gentle liquid detergent as usual.
What to Do if Towels Still Smell Like Vinegar After Washing
Vinegar is pungent, and there’s a chance you might still smell it after your towels come out of the wash. It’s tempting to try a fragrant detergent or fabric softener, but you’ve just done so much work to strip the towel fibers of all that commercial product buildup. Instead, try these alternative methods to get rid of any vinegar scent that might linger in your laundry.
- Spray with essential oil. Just fill up a spray bottle with some water and a few drops of your favorite essential oil, then give the towels a spritz (don’t douse them!) before air drying. Consider using lemon for a clean, citrusy scent, or eucalyptus, which is reminiscent of a day at the spa.
- Air them out. A bit of fresh air always makes a difference. If you don’t have a clothesline to pin them, hang the towels over a drying rack and open the windows to ventilate the room until the odor dissipates.
- Rewash with just baking soda. Again, this hack is not about conserving water. You can either run the second baking soda cycle again, or you can sprinkle the towels with baking soda, let them sit for a few hours to absorb the odor, and then put them in the wash (no detergent) one last time.