What makes bath towels stink

Using too much detergent to wash your luxury cotton bath towel will make it difficult and almost impossible for you to rinse the detergent out completely. As the detergent residue builds up on your towel, it will start to attract dirt and bacteria. Of course, you can tell where this ends. Smelly towel! Dirty laundry machine — You might use the right proportion of detergent, remove your towel from the washer immediately after wash, stay away from fabric softeners, dry the towel immediately, and still get a smelly towel.

How is this possible? Blame your washing machine. When your washing machine is dirty, it means it will breed bacteria, mildew, mold, dirt, and also smell. These can be transferred to your luxury soft towels each time you put them in the washer.

You can get rid of your towel smell by giving your towel a deep wash and cleaning, making sure your washing machine is not dirty, and drying the towel out to get rid of the moisture quickly. There are some other efficient ways like using an ultrasonic cleaner instead of a laundry machine, changing your laundry product, and finally buying a self-cleaning Mizu towel.

Giving your luxury cotton bath towels a deep cleaning basically depends on two factors. These are the washing machine and the washing process. A clean washing machine can help achieve deep cleaning.

I believe you already know how to clean your washer. Apart from this, the washing machine you use can hugely contribute to how clean your towel will be. I often encourage people to go for an ultrasonic washing machine like Sonic Soak. It is very reliable and gives a more effective cleaning than a laundry machine. With the ultrasonic cleaner, you will be able to get rid of Even though replacing your bath and hand towels might not be compulsory since you can give them a deep cleaning and get rid of the annoying odor, you may sometimes need to replace them.

If you think replacing your towel with a new one is the best solution for you, we encourage you to go for quick dry towels like Mizu Towels. On top of that, they alert you when they detect impurities, and let you know when your towel needs wash. No wonder they are called the best smart bath towel on the market. Is your towel still smelly? There is a solution. Make sure your washing machine itself is sanitary. Perform some heavy-duty cleaning on your towels. Boorstein recommends washing small loads of no more than three towels in hot water on the longest setting.

Remove them from the warm environment of the washing machine quickly or bacteria will start breeding within one to two hours. And be sure to dry towels completely. If a towel continues to have a smell, it means that bacteria are still in your machine or on your towel. Best regards! I think the hot sun and fresh air help a lot! Well, I am one of those people who uses the dryer for towel because I like them soft… Towels, underware and socks are the only thing that go in the dryer on a regular basis.

So that is not the difference… So I am very curious what makes the differance! We lived in AZ for the last 2 years and just returned to Germany. We wash our underwear, towels and everything white cotton with over 75C or even 90, which is close to boiling. It always works! I soak them in hottest water in my top loading machine with ammonia and detergent for about minutes.

I also love all white towels, I bleach them every 2 or 3 times and never mix the bleach with the ammonia, that is right NEVER mix the two, it can be deadly. A hot dryer for cotton drys best. I also never use fabric softener as they are not as absorbent with its use. Plus the dryer makes them very soft if they are a good towel and are rinsed well.

I always rinse twice. Hot water and vinegar. Also the vinegar helps keep the HE washers from getting gunk build up that leads to smells. Double action and natural. I buy vinegar by the gallons because I use it so many places in my house.

Washer, dishwasher, sinks, garbage disposal, shower drains. Dry as usual in dryer or hang to dry. Works well if you have colored towels. I used baking soda or OxiClean for whites and vinegar in the wash. I also hang them so that they are as spread out as possible not bunched up and wash them often.

I think you are right about the hot water. My frugal side likes to do the wash in cold or warm, but hot really does help with the smell. Thanks for the reminder. I am not able to use bleach since I have colored towels, and I cannot use white towels since the water here combines with chlorine and turns all my whites rusty yellow color. I think it is due to minerals in the water. I also have a washer expensive front loader that is supposed to save water that frays the edges of my bath towels if I use the high speed spin setting.

And all that combines to make for stinky towels also. The best solution for me was to buy detergent that claims to remove sweat and body odors from clothing. My usual detergent is the free and clear version — no perfumes, no dyes. I use the Oxy-Clean powder which seems to help also.

That is yet another bugaboo I face with my high priced laundry equipment. I have to run my towels through the drying cycle twice, 60 minutes each. I had Sears come check the drying temp and was told it is fine. The only tip the technician offered was, spin them longer. I decided that I would take fraying over smelling that awful smell on my skin!

So with the longer spinning and the double bake cycle on the dryer, I think I can say I have beaten this issue. My next washer will definitely not be a front loader requiring HE detergent.

I never had this issue with my old top loader, and since my drying times are longer and I have to use the extended spin cycle and hot water, my gas and electric and water bills are all impacted. My son had this problem with their drier. Turns out the vent was plugged It has a long run to the outside. They have to have it cleaned every year to remove the lint. For towels, I agree with the build up of detergent.

Yes on the hot water and make sure they are really truly dried when they come out of the dryer. I have a super sensitive sense of smell and it drove me nuts! Also in our old house in SD the closets had so much moisture in them all the clothes smelled funky, THAT was the worst! As for my dish towels, I knit wash cloths and soak them in boiling water and super wash soda before washing them.

I use different ones daily, so I always have the tiniest load of kitchen towels. Dry without dryer sheets. For stinky dish rags and wash cloths, I boil water on the stove and cook them for five minutes. They smell much better after this treatment.

Thanks for the great tips. I do love some of my Norwex cloths, and they clean well, but they can and do get stinky sometimes too, even under proper care. Have you heard of Norwex? It is microfiber and has silver tightly woven in which is a natural antibacterial so it is self cleaning. It never gets stinky and if used properly, only needs to be washed every 3 weeks. The microfiber does all the cleaning. At the Norwex party they proved that you can clean up raw chicken off a counter with no chemicals and then use that cloth on different areas of your house without transferring the raw chicken because it gets embedded in the microfiber and stays there until you rinse with hot water and then it is self cleansing thanks to the antibacterial silver.

So no more musty smelling kitchen rag now either! Green cleaning, no chemicals, lasts forever and saves so much money on cleaning products!

I super big love Norwex. Although I will say I find their facial towels and washclothes do get a funky smell. As do their Norwex cloths. It has been passed down in tradition to me that one should never use fabric softener with a load of towels because it prevents them from working properly. Repels water rather than soaking Also, last time I washed my towels I sent them through the wash cycle twice on hot without soap after my initial wash cycle.

Learn what you can do to remedy this problem and how to prevent it from recurring. Musty towel smell is the same issue that happens with unsanitary mop heads that are not left to dry properly or cleaning sponges that fail to dry out between uses. A warm, moist environment is most conducive to germs. When a towel gets a sour, musty smell, it is a sign that a bacteria colony is breeding and growing.

Most often, a bunched up, damp towel in a warm room is all it takes for a colony to start. Hanging a towel to allow air to circulate and dry it after use is definitely the best way to prevent odors. If you have a family, particularly with younger children, it may not be likely that every towel gets hung up properly. One way to get compliance with towel hanging is to assign each person in the house their own color-coded towels.

You can figure out who is causing the towel infraction by noticing the color of the towel wadded up on the floor. Work with the person to develop the habit of hanging their towels after each use and come up with creative towel-hanging ideas, too. It is also important to remember to switch towels quickly from the washing machine to the dryer and clean your lint filter regularly to make sure that your dryer is running as efficiently as possible.

If you notice that it takes a long time to dry towels, you may have a problem with your washing machine leaving too much water in them or with your dryer. Also, just like dishwashers and other regularly used appliances, your washing machine needs a good cleaning every now and then. Fortunately, washing the washer is pretty easy, as the appliance does most of the work for you.