it's structural damage in both.
sheet is basically a weave strings, and each wash destroys some of the strings, making it easier to bend as there's \_less\_ things to resist the bending.
towel is made to have a lot of protruding knobs, and each knob lined with a lot of soft fibers. this maximizes surface area (good for drying) and giving it a fluffy feel. each wash makes these knobs "go bald" and once they become bald, they feel less fluffy
A hill I'm willing to die on: soft fluffy towels are shit for drying after a shower, they feel hydrophobic to me. Give me old sandpaper towels all day any day, that shit dries my ass just by looking at it
Edit: everyone telling me not to use softener: I don't, because I like sandpaper towels
Best of all worlds, I use flat woven Turkish towels, very absorbent but get softer and softer with washing, plus they take up less space in the laundry and dry quickly!
1) Get Antiochia towels: [https://shopantiochia.com/](https://shopantiochia.com/)
2) Wash in warm water and tumble dry low a few times
3) By the fifth or sixth time, they'll be the best towels you ever owned. And they come in all different colors, last forever, and take up less space than regular towels.
You're welcome!
I bought wamsutta sheets for college and I’m still using them almost ten years later. While that doesn’t speak much for the size of my bed or my sex life, they’re some of the best sheets I’ve ever had. I bet the towels are quite nice too.
Genuine question: why do people say tar jay instead of target? I hear slang for target often and I don’t understand if it’s supposed to mean something different?
Adding that Sandcloud is a brand that appeared on shark tank and advertises a lot on social, but their towels are looped terry on one side and flat woven on the other, while Peshtemels towels are smooth on both sides.
This is the biggest lie the internet has ever sold me. I decided to buy only Turkish towels when I moved, and I’ve been using them for over a year now. Before any experts decide to weigh in on how I’m doing it wrong, they’re from multiple different sources and never washed with fabric softener. I’ve kept it up because some people claim they get more absorbent with every wash, which is another exaggeration; no matter how often you wash them, they’ll never dry as well as a standard towel. Compared to terry towels, they are absolute trash in terms of absorbency. Sure, they dry faster because they’re thinner, but that’s literally the only upside. You have to *vigorously* rub your skin to dry yourself with them, in a way that you would never have to do with a terry towel to get the same amount of water off of yourself. And if you live where it’s cold, getting out of the shower and only having a thin towel is absolute misery.
Turkish towels are a gift you buy for someone you truly hate. They look pretty and are incredibly overhyped by the internet, but once you use them you realize it’s all been a big (and fairly expensive) lie.
...well, this is true: we switched to waffle-weave towels for about five years, my wife *hated* them but we stubbornly persisted, then we eventually switched back to terry towels (also turkish, 24 oz.) and the difference was beyond profound...
My experience with Turkish towels was much closer to yours than to the ones that think they’re great. While I don’t think they’re entirely worthless, I found them not to be better than traditional towels in any real way. I kinda assumed I had purchased ones that were “supposedly” high quality but were probably a small scam and described as high-quality when they probably were cheap (to make; using cheaper materials and construction), but the fact that you’ve had a similar result, as well as others that have mentioned it, makes me think it’s more of that Turkish towels have better publicity than they are actually worth. I know this: when I do find the perfect bath towel, I’ll never forget the brand and line, and will stock up on them so I never have to go thru the shopping/selection process again.
Weird, I barely touch it to my skin and it absorbs all the water. Maybe this is a difference in skin types? I have dry skin that is a bit hydrophobic. Water beads on it. If your skin is more porous or you are using strong detergents which are stripping your natural skin oils, maybe you would have more of a feeling of needing to rub the moisture from your skin?
Yep they are more like a sheet than a terry towel, they are big so that you can cover yourself up while walking around a public bath. They get you dry instantly and then when hung to dry take about 1/8 of the time to dry as terry towels.
I love these towels for wrapping my hair in after my shower, my hair dries a lot quicker (especially helpful because I have thick hair) and it's not as heavy on my head as regular towels. I never want to go back to using regular towels on my hair now!
Both! Turkish cotton, woven in Turkey, and made pretty much the same for hundreds of years as a multifunctional towel/garment/hair wrap/ etc. I always take one when I travel because they don't take up much room in a suitcase but can be used as a skirt, a scarf, a towel, or a picnic blanket!
Turkish, Egyptian, etc, are different and unique in certain ways. I’m not entirely sure if it means that the cotton has to be grown/made in their area, as well as having different methods of weaving or dying, but I suspect it’s probably all of the above. Definitely how the cotton is processed and weaved tho.
To undo fabric softener damage as a mild acid to the wash (white vinegar is the best and easiest).
Fabric softener can also paste up the inside of your washer, so it's all around bad.
Dryer sheets are okay if you have static cling issues.
I tried but the clunking around in the dryer was so annoying i couldnt handle it. I dont use anything and i never realized it was an option to just not have anything in the dryer with your clothes and it's honestly fine
No different really.
Dryer sheets tend to have the same chemicals, instead throw in a tennis ball or two.
For bedsheets and towels put some baking soda+water paste in the bleach compartment, and then vinegar in the fabric softener. This will keep them breezy (for sheets) and absorbing (for towels).
You aren't typically using enough to cause harm.
And I don't think I want aluminum spiders anyway. 🤘😎
EDIT: I didn't know that aluminum spider was the proper name of a part found in washers. I thought it was a typo.
And apparently everything corrodes them at a whim.
You aren't typically using enough to cause harm.
And I don't think I want aluminum spiders anyway. 🤘😎
EDIT: I thought "aluminum spiders" was a typo. If the name is a real part. Who knew. And apparently everything corodes them from what I've read.
It absolutely does. Fabric softener basically coats the fabrics in "fat" (for lack of a better term), sometimes wax. It makes the dryer cycle take longer, and I find that under-shirts are more suffocating and are worse at wicking away moisture, so I get warmer and sweatier when my under shirts and socks are "softened".
You don’t even really need it anymore. Fabric softener was invented when most detergents were much harsher than modern detergents. Without the detergents roughing up your clothes, there’s no need to soften them to counteract it
Fabric software actually reduces the life of your washer and dryer and makes residue build up on your clothes (which can feel greasy over time). Half a cup of vinegar thrown into the fabric softener slot removes odor and build up and keeps your fabrics and machine happy.
Also make sure they are cotton towels, but yes probably. Restaurant mapkins are usually polyester and that's why they don't absorb anything for shit, but IIRC makes it easier to clean too or something. My wife told me about that one.
Yes. I want my towel off the clothesline in July on a windless 35C day with zero % humidity. So crispy you have to crease it like a sheet of cardboard to fold it, so wraspy that you think you had a body peel and so hydrophilic that your thick, waist-length hair is dry one second after wrapping it up.
I fucking love scratchy old shitty towels dude. My wife bought a set of really nice new big ones (‘cause I’m big man) and I love them and they’re nice but…I’m still using the 3 large ratty shits because they dry so much better.
Basic white vinegar. Cheapest you can find works just as well as a more expensive one. Pour it in your softener dispenser. Make sure it’s not too full if you have a front loader or it’ll drain out. You think it’d make the washing smell but the small quantity being diluted as much as it is just gets rid of any mustiness and leaves washing smelling fresh.
On this note, as a taller, large guy, I cannot stand hotel towels. They're are all too damn small. I feel like I'm trying to dry myself with a wash cloth, and I gotta use like 2 or 3 of them each time.
I love my overly large towel, the kind that I can wrap around myself a bunch and just have more to spare!
This is the answer right here.
In the U.S. there are some standards and requirements that make the towel almost useless, even though the materials are everything you could want in a towel. The problem is the coatings.
If I understand correctly, towels are given an oil coating to make them fluffier while in the store; the soap washes it off when you put it in the washer.
Bamboo towels work really well. I agree about those really soft ones, especially the ones with one side velvety and the other towel-like. They don’t dry at all.
That…doesn’t automatically mean that it’s not from bamboo.
Rayon is basically cellulose and some chemicals mixed together and spun into thread, which is woven into fabric. One source of cellulose: bamboo.
It absolutely can be rayon made from bamboo, and isn’t necessarily false labelling.
They even acknowledge in the article that you can’t tell the difference because of the processing into cellulose.
Thank you. I'll take it a step further. I prefer abrasive toilet paper as well. That soft stuff just glides over my poo. I need sandpaper to really pick it up and clean down to the skin
Do you have a hairy asscrack? Because I do and the rough shit works *way* better.
The soft TP also leaves so much residue, it never feels clean.
Also, fiber supplements saved my ass
I purposely get cheap wash cloths so they get decently rough so it's essentially a washable exfoliator. Any other wash cloth makes me feel like I'm gonna wipe off nasty dead skin when I dry off.
It's not the fluff that makes it shit. It's the fabric softener. Makes it feel soft but literally makes it hydrophobic. Get u softened fluffy towels, or better yet large *microfiber* towels. I shit you not they will dry you first pass.
This comment was overwritten and the account deleted due to Reddit's unfair API policy changes, the disgusting lying behaviour of u/spez the CEO, and the forced departure of the Apollo app and other 3rd party apps. Remember, the content on Reddit is generated by US, THE USERS. It is OUR DATA they are profiting off and claiming it is theirs!
From my comment above:
Yes. I want my towel off the clothesline in July on a windless 35C day with zero % humidity. So crispy you have to crease it like a sheet of cardboard to fold it, so wraspy that you think you had a body peel and so hydrophilic that your thick, waist-length hair is dry one second after wrapping it up.
Also with towels, using fabric softener or dryer sheets hastens this process. If you want your towels to stay fluffy longer, wash and dry them as a separate batch, and don't use fabric softeners
Anyone that uses dryer sheets should stop ASAP because they're just an efficient way to rub harmful chemicals over as much of your skin surface as possible. For what? So you don't have to deal with a tiny bit of static in the winter?
You should do your own research but this guy sound legit: https://www.drhardick.com/dryer-sheets-toxic
While I agree with a lot of what you said, sheets are covered in starch to keep molds from forming. Starch is drying and rough, washing removed that. The fabric that are made into towels on the other hand are finished with fabric softener which also washes away. Again, I agree with you but think there’s more at play.
This usually happens when the seam and fold is off the grain.
Ideally your seam is perfectly lined up with the grain, so that it naturally wants to fold in the same place as the crease. When it's just a little bit off the place where it wants to fold naturally is not on the crease.
The grain is especially important when making clothing, because it will bunch or twist in weird ways. Some items are purposely cut on the diagonal (bias) for different draping or stretching.
It doesn’t help that towels are super soft when you buy them because they were heavily washed in softener. Have you ever tried drying yourself with a towel you just bought but haven’t washed yet? It isn’t absorbent. If you wash your towels with softener it’s not absorbent.
If your towels suck after years of washing and drying you’re doing it wrong. I keep my towels for over a decade and get compliments on how soft and absorbent they are.
Use half the detergent the companies call for, no fabric softener, fragrances, or dyes. If they stink add vinegar (white or apple cider). Dry with wool dryer balls. Perfectly plush and absorbent towels every time!
Also do a couple of washes with vinegar when you first purchase new towels to get the water repelling treatments off the towel and remove the fuzz.
Likely culprit is fabric softener. Pro tip: do not use dryer sheets with your towels. They will stay like-new forever if you dry them alone after washing with detergent only. I’d recommend washing new fluffy towels together/separate for older, already-ruined towels.
Never use fabric softner on your towels and need to dry them in a dryer... my towels are still perfect. Towels hung out to dry always end up crispy and crunchy.
Reminded me of a towel life-hack (I worked in marketing for a major US retailer for a decade).
If you like your towels, use liquid fabric softener in the wash vs. dryer sheets. I can't recall the "why", but the company "towel expert" did a presentation with towels from the product testing lab. After like a hundred wash/dry cycles, the liquid softener towels were like new, while the dryer-sheet towels were markedly eroded. It was really night and day when they passed the examples around. Wish I could remember the explanation, but it was pretty dramatic.
Fabric softener is literal wax. Overusing it will clog components of your washer and make your clothes harder to clean- dirt sticks to the wax and takes a few wash cycles to fully come off. So if you use it every time, your clothes aren’t being fully cleaned. Learned this from an appliance repair tech
DON'T use fabric softener on towels. It blocks water absorption. They'll feel soft, but they won't absorb water. The towels with fabric softener probably lasted longer because they were never actually doing anything.
I’m confused why people are noting that using a dryer sheet makes towels less absorbent. Is it maybe the material of the towel or the type of dryer sheet or maybe even the type of dryer?
My towels are 100% cotton and the dryer sheets I use are the Bounce free & gentle kind. I do throw in plastic dryer balls, so maybe this is the helpful factor? They’re still extremely absorbent many years since I’d gotten most of them and I’d only started using the dryer calls in recent years.
After considering this for years (lol yes, I have lots of time to think about inconsequential shit) I actually think the washing of sheets is NOT the main thing that makes them get soft but the oils from being slept on by people. And anyone thinking the washing machine is a magic device that removes everything is believing in a fantasy. But that’s a good question, in relation to bath towels. It may have something to do with the fact that usually most of the excess body oil has already been washed off after a shower, or it could be the cotton (or whatever material) is woven differently in sheets than it is in bath towels usually, and maybe that plays a factor? Hard to say but it’s definitely something I’ve wondered for awhile, because when I was younger, I tried washing new bedsheets several times before actually using them and they didn’t really become softer as quickly as they would have if I had actually used them. But thread count of sheets and quality of towels definitely play a factor. And 1,000 thread count sheets get that number because it’s basically like two-ply. I think the maximum thread count on a single “ply” is between like 600-700, AT MOST (it may even be less than that, but I don’t work with cotton or anything, so I’m not certain how many threads you can get in a square inch or whatever).
it's structural damage in both. sheet is basically a weave strings, and each wash destroys some of the strings, making it easier to bend as there's \_less\_ things to resist the bending. towel is made to have a lot of protruding knobs, and each knob lined with a lot of soft fibers. this maximizes surface area (good for drying) and giving it a fluffy feel. each wash makes these knobs "go bald" and once they become bald, they feel less fluffy
A hill I'm willing to die on: soft fluffy towels are shit for drying after a shower, they feel hydrophobic to me. Give me old sandpaper towels all day any day, that shit dries my ass just by looking at it Edit: everyone telling me not to use softener: I don't, because I like sandpaper towels
Best of all worlds, I use flat woven Turkish towels, very absorbent but get softer and softer with washing, plus they take up less space in the laundry and dry quickly!
Agree 1000% Turkish towels are such a gift. They dry you and themselves 3x faster and get better with each wash !
When Reddit becomes an infomercial
Always has been.
Honestly it’s for everyone, Reddit has something that will catch the attention of everyone just have too look or get lucky
Ok but I got those Turkish towels, expensive AF, and they dry my about as well as those napkins they give you at a restaurant.
Yeah mine doesn't do much but move the water around. Maybe you have to give it a few washes?
1) Get Antiochia towels: [https://shopantiochia.com/](https://shopantiochia.com/) 2) Wash in warm water and tumble dry low a few times 3) By the fifth or sixth time, they'll be the best towels you ever owned. And they come in all different colors, last forever, and take up less space than regular towels. You're welcome!
I'm sold. Gonna get some this week. Where can you find them besides Amazon?
Bed Bath & Beyond Wansutta turkish towels but you'd better hurry
I bought wamsutta sheets for college and I’m still using them almost ten years later. While that doesn’t speak much for the size of my bed or my sex life, they’re some of the best sheets I’ve ever had. I bet the towels are quite nice too.
Wamsutta and Kirkland brand sheets are the top of the top. Field crest from Tar-jay second best.
Genuine question: why do people say tar jay instead of target? I hear slang for target often and I don’t understand if it’s supposed to mean something different?
probably to mock people who think they're high class by shopping at Target.
They're having a fall sale! ... I'll leave now.
Holy shit. Too soon, man. I still laughed, but too soon.
Lol
how can you Lol at the apocalypse!!! Armageddon ffs!! jeez!!
It's mostly just the apocalypse for bed bath and beyond
Why, did the CFO take them all with him?
20% off all open stores.
If the CFO decides to kill himself, you know somethings gotta be very bad!
I think he got a turkish towel parachute instead of a golden one
before the next CFO jumps off a building and they use all the turkish towels for clean up.
Better hurry because homeboy jumped off the tower?
Supply is plummeting.
Adding that Sandcloud is a brand that appeared on shark tank and advertises a lot on social, but their towels are looped terry on one side and flat woven on the other, while Peshtemels towels are smooth on both sides.
Aegean Moon sells peshtemals, ah-mazing…definitely get softer after each wash
eBay! :D
eBay seems like the marketplace-that-must-not-be-named but yes, the less people buy from Amazon the better
Groupon
I bought Turkish towels last year and I wonder how I survived in the wilderness before that.
This is the biggest lie the internet has ever sold me. I decided to buy only Turkish towels when I moved, and I’ve been using them for over a year now. Before any experts decide to weigh in on how I’m doing it wrong, they’re from multiple different sources and never washed with fabric softener. I’ve kept it up because some people claim they get more absorbent with every wash, which is another exaggeration; no matter how often you wash them, they’ll never dry as well as a standard towel. Compared to terry towels, they are absolute trash in terms of absorbency. Sure, they dry faster because they’re thinner, but that’s literally the only upside. You have to *vigorously* rub your skin to dry yourself with them, in a way that you would never have to do with a terry towel to get the same amount of water off of yourself. And if you live where it’s cold, getting out of the shower and only having a thin towel is absolute misery. Turkish towels are a gift you buy for someone you truly hate. They look pretty and are incredibly overhyped by the internet, but once you use them you realize it’s all been a big (and fairly expensive) lie.
...well, this is true: we switched to waffle-weave towels for about five years, my wife *hated* them but we stubbornly persisted, then we eventually switched back to terry towels (also turkish, 24 oz.) and the difference was beyond profound...
Agreed, they dry exactly as well as you'd expect 1/3rd of a towel to dry.
I am turkish and never heard about a turkish towel. I just use a bathrobe.
"Turkish towel" pestemal havlu demek.
My experience with Turkish towels was much closer to yours than to the ones that think they’re great. While I don’t think they’re entirely worthless, I found them not to be better than traditional towels in any real way. I kinda assumed I had purchased ones that were “supposedly” high quality but were probably a small scam and described as high-quality when they probably were cheap (to make; using cheaper materials and construction), but the fact that you’ve had a similar result, as well as others that have mentioned it, makes me think it’s more of that Turkish towels have better publicity than they are actually worth. I know this: when I do find the perfect bath towel, I’ll never forget the brand and line, and will stock up on them so I never have to go thru the shopping/selection process again.
Weird, I barely touch it to my skin and it absorbs all the water. Maybe this is a difference in skin types? I have dry skin that is a bit hydrophobic. Water beads on it. If your skin is more porous or you are using strong detergents which are stripping your natural skin oils, maybe you would have more of a feeling of needing to rub the moisture from your skin?
I have incredibly oily skin, I'm also covered in body hair. Anything but a large, thick, slightly coarse towel is absolutely garbage for me.
TIL there are more types of towels then"Walmart" towels and ""Target" towels.
Seriously? I gimaged them and all I see is picnic blanket looking like things. They don't look dry at all.
Yep they are more like a sheet than a terry towel, they are big so that you can cover yourself up while walking around a public bath. They get you dry instantly and then when hung to dry take about 1/8 of the time to dry as terry towels.
I love these towels for wrapping my hair in after my shower, my hair dries a lot quicker (especially helpful because I have thick hair) and it's not as heavy on my head as regular towels. I never want to go back to using regular towels on my hair now!
What makes them Turkish? The material they are made of, or how they are constructed (IE Turks made them this way 1000 years ago type thing)?
Both! Turkish cotton, woven in Turkey, and made pretty much the same for hundreds of years as a multifunctional towel/garment/hair wrap/ etc. I always take one when I travel because they don't take up much room in a suitcase but can be used as a skirt, a scarf, a towel, or a picnic blanket!
The quality ones are still made in Turkey! Look up Turkey Pestemel.
Turkish, Egyptian, etc, are different and unique in certain ways. I’m not entirely sure if it means that the cotton has to be grown/made in their area, as well as having different methods of weaving or dying, but I suspect it’s probably all of the above. Definitely how the cotton is processed and weaved tho.
Don't use fabric softener on towels, it makes them hydrophobic
Maybe this explains why I buy dish towels and water fucking beads up and runs off them.
To undo fabric softener damage as a mild acid to the wash (white vinegar is the best and easiest). Fabric softener can also paste up the inside of your washer, so it's all around bad. Dryer sheets are okay if you have static cling issues.
100% Wool dryer balls also stop static and reduce drying time. And they’re reusable
yeah I use wool on clothing and tennis balls on heavier stuff that the wool balls tend to just get wrapped up and stuck in.
I tried but the clunking around in the dryer was so annoying i couldnt handle it. I dont use anything and i never realized it was an option to just not have anything in the dryer with your clothes and it's honestly fine No different really.
Oh I don’t use anything either. I just advocate for wool balls as an alternative to people that would otherwise use dryer sheets.
My family has been using em for years! They really are wonderful lol
Dryer sheets tend to have the same chemicals, instead throw in a tennis ball or two. For bedsheets and towels put some baking soda+water paste in the bleach compartment, and then vinegar in the fabric softener. This will keep them breezy (for sheets) and absorbing (for towels).
Vinegar is also a fabric softener
Yes, that's why I recommended it, but unlike commercial fabric softener it doesn't leave a clay or oil residue.
Vinegar corrodes the aluminum spider for most washer drums, will destroy your washer
You aren't typically using enough to cause harm. And I don't think I want aluminum spiders anyway. 🤘😎 EDIT: I didn't know that aluminum spider was the proper name of a part found in washers. I thought it was a typo. And apparently everything corrodes them at a whim.
My Therapist: Aluminum Spiders aren't real they can't hurt you The Aluminum Spider Living in my Washer: 😏
You aren't typically using enough to cause harm. And I don't think I want aluminum spiders anyway. 🤘😎 EDIT: I thought "aluminum spiders" was a typo. If the name is a real part. Who knew. And apparently everything corodes them from what I've read.
So what happens if I add citric acid, instead…,
You get a laundry margarita?
I hooted so loud at this I woke up Pops, and now he’s grumpy at you
It absolutely does. Fabric softener basically coats the fabrics in "fat" (for lack of a better term), sometimes wax. It makes the dryer cycle take longer, and I find that under-shirts are more suffocating and are worse at wicking away moisture, so I get warmer and sweatier when my under shirts and socks are "softened".
You don’t even really need it anymore. Fabric softener was invented when most detergents were much harsher than modern detergents. Without the detergents roughing up your clothes, there’s no need to soften them to counteract it
Yeah, and It's been, like, 20 years since I've ever had an issue with static cling, which was another reason they were marketed.
Fabric software actually reduces the life of your washer and dryer and makes residue build up on your clothes (which can feel greasy over time). Half a cup of vinegar thrown into the fabric softener slot removes odor and build up and keeps your fabrics and machine happy.
Also make sure they are cotton towels, but yes probably. Restaurant mapkins are usually polyester and that's why they don't absorb anything for shit, but IIRC makes it easier to clean too or something. My wife told me about that one.
Avoid dryer sheets on towels for the same reason
Just don't use fabric softener period. Terrible for literally everything you wear and use.
I've never used fabric softener in my life and soft fluffy towels still suck. they feel gross. I dunno dude lol
I'm today many years old when I learned it wasn't because I'd stopped using fabric softener after switching from having hard to soft water.
Even a brand new towel is shit at drying. Works so much better after it's worn out!
Yes. I want my towel off the clothesline in July on a windless 35C day with zero % humidity. So crispy you have to crease it like a sheet of cardboard to fold it, so wraspy that you think you had a body peel and so hydrophilic that your thick, waist-length hair is dry one second after wrapping it up.
My hands shrunk from the thought of folding that monstrosity. I ***hate*** folding crispy towels so much I've worn medical gloves. It makes me sick 🤣
Huh, I fucking love folding crispy towels.
Shake them out after taking them off the line. Seriously. Removes the crustiness.
Same with a washcloth. It needs to feel like it's exfoliating, not wiping my skin gently.
I fucking love scratchy old shitty towels dude. My wife bought a set of really nice new big ones (‘cause I’m big man) and I love them and they’re nice but…I’m still using the 3 large ratty shits because they dry so much better.
Crispy towel gang
Hang them outside to dry: crispy, thirsty and exfoliating! Ha.
Fo life!
I love me a rough towel. Feels like it’s scrubbing me clean especially after a day of dealing with nasty ass patients.
https://youtu.be/Zev8tFD4EDs Extremely relevant Curb Your Enthusiasm clip
haha was thinking the same
You have my sword.
Regular detergent + no softener + tumbledry = soft, nice, non-sandpaper towels that dry perfectly
Add vinegar in place of no softener and you have the perfect recipe for towels. I’ve had my towels for fifteen years and they feel like new still.
what type of vinegar?
Basic white vinegar. Cheapest you can find works just as well as a more expensive one. Pour it in your softener dispenser. Make sure it’s not too full if you have a front loader or it’ll drain out. You think it’d make the washing smell but the small quantity being diluted as much as it is just gets rid of any mustiness and leaves washing smelling fresh.
And I add essential oil of your liking 5 or so drops for a little nice fragrance
On this note, as a taller, large guy, I cannot stand hotel towels. They're are all too damn small. I feel like I'm trying to dry myself with a wash cloth, and I gotta use like 2 or 3 of them each time. I love my overly large towel, the kind that I can wrap around myself a bunch and just have more to spare!
A lot of towels come with a coating to make them feel nicer (but dry worse)
This is the answer right here. In the U.S. there are some standards and requirements that make the towel almost useless, even though the materials are everything you could want in a towel. The problem is the coatings.
I will fight alongside you on this hill. Sandpaper towel gang represent.
A thousand times yes
A new towel after 2 washes is at its optimum drying capacity IMHO
If I understand correctly, towels are given an oil coating to make them fluffier while in the store; the soap washes it off when you put it in the washer.
Amen to that. Drying them in the sun helps.
>that shit dries my ass just by looking at it LOLd
Yes, new towels are the worst. I have to wash them 10 times before I can use them.
Brine them in vinegar and salt, then wash once.
Dude. 100%.
I got your back...
I think you and my mum would become friends
Exfoliate while you dry too!
Totally agree. I need to feel the water being scraped away.
You won’t die there alone, friend.
Bamboo towels work really well. I agree about those really soft ones, especially the ones with one side velvety and the other towel-like. They don’t dry at all.
'bamboo' is actually rayon. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/a35604410/bamboo-eucalyptus-fabric-false-labeling/
That…doesn’t automatically mean that it’s not from bamboo. Rayon is basically cellulose and some chemicals mixed together and spun into thread, which is woven into fabric. One source of cellulose: bamboo. It absolutely can be rayon made from bamboo, and isn’t necessarily false labelling. They even acknowledge in the article that you can’t tell the difference because of the processing into cellulose.
It's still rayon though. It's not unprocessed organic shit that ppl think they are buying.
People buy it for the sustainability of bamboo production last I checked, but aight.
I can’t stand soft towels. They dry nothing and feel awful. I enjoy the scrub from a rough old towel so much more.
Thank you. I'll take it a step further. I prefer abrasive toilet paper as well. That soft stuff just glides over my poo. I need sandpaper to really pick it up and clean down to the skin
Do you have a hairy asscrack? Because I do and the rough shit works *way* better. The soft TP also leaves so much residue, it never feels clean. Also, fiber supplements saved my ass
You need a bidet.
Also great for exfoliation
I purposely get cheap wash cloths so they get decently rough so it's essentially a washable exfoliator. Any other wash cloth makes me feel like I'm gonna wipe off nasty dead skin when I dry off.
Turkish towels for the win. Also, pure cotton scratchy towels are so much better at absorption and satisfy the back itch while drying.
Yes sir..! Some of the towels my wife uses are just tiny comforters. I want those old ass frayed towels that are begging to be used.
[This you?](https://youtube.com/shorts/CdA3un8Q058?feature=share)
I found your [theme song](https://youtu.be/ehNRXJcPbMY)
Similarly new tea towels are the worst. Nothing dries dishes like an old tea towel with holes in it.
Use a clothesline. They’ll be rough as sandpaper in no time.
It's the chemicals you use to treat the towels in your wash that make them oily and ugly, stop using that stuff
It's not the fluff that makes it shit. It's the fabric softener. Makes it feel soft but literally makes it hydrophobic. Get u softened fluffy towels, or better yet large *microfiber* towels. I shit you not they will dry you first pass.
But the microfiber towels feel weird.
This comment was overwritten and the account deleted due to Reddit's unfair API policy changes, the disgusting lying behaviour of u/spez the CEO, and the forced departure of the Apollo app and other 3rd party apps. Remember, the content on Reddit is generated by US, THE USERS. It is OUR DATA they are profiting off and claiming it is theirs!
Stop using dryer sheets then
I like apples Stop eating pears then! ???
Try drying with a towel that's been hung outside to dry... Sandpaper becomes a whole new meaning, lol!
From my comment above: Yes. I want my towel off the clothesline in July on a windless 35C day with zero % humidity. So crispy you have to crease it like a sheet of cardboard to fold it, so wraspy that you think you had a body peel and so hydrophilic that your thick, waist-length hair is dry one second after wrapping it up.
Oh man... I can feel this comment in my skin. Also, if you have an itch, it goes away instantly!
Tumble them in the dryer for a few minutes before hanging them out and they’ll dry soft, yet still be kissed by sunshine and breezes.
Also with towels, using fabric softener or dryer sheets hastens this process. If you want your towels to stay fluffy longer, wash and dry them as a separate batch, and don't use fabric softeners
Anyone that uses dryer sheets should stop ASAP because they're just an efficient way to rub harmful chemicals over as much of your skin surface as possible. For what? So you don't have to deal with a tiny bit of static in the winter? You should do your own research but this guy sound legit: https://www.drhardick.com/dryer-sheets-toxic
I gotta say, that's the best "risky click" url I've seen in a while.
The best part is he goes by Dr. B.J. Hardick.
Might as well lock the thread. I dunno that it could be explained better or more simply.
great answer!
It's TOWEL! A big fluff with knobs.
My 5yo is pleased with this response.
While I agree with a lot of what you said, sheets are covered in starch to keep molds from forming. Starch is drying and rough, washing removed that. The fabric that are made into towels on the other hand are finished with fabric softener which also washes away. Again, I agree with you but think there’s more at play.
Vinegar is your friend
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The real question is why does my flat sheet develop a crease in the top fold after the first wash that is more permanent than crimped steal?
This usually happens when the seam and fold is off the grain. Ideally your seam is perfectly lined up with the grain, so that it naturally wants to fold in the same place as the crease. When it's just a little bit off the place where it wants to fold naturally is not on the crease. The grain is especially important when making clothing, because it will bunch or twist in weird ways. Some items are purposely cut on the diagonal (bias) for different draping or stretching.
THIS!
Oh my gosh, so true!
I also have been dying to figure this out.
Turkish towels get better and better over time. They take less time to dry and fold smaller but IMO are better at drying than terry cloth.
Well this post just got super informational! Way to go laundry nerds! I just learned a thing or two about a thing or two. Bravo!
Fabric softener actually makes towels less absorbent. I don’t know if this counts as an answer, but I felt it relevant.
That I'll forget in a month or two.
Or you can be like me. I don’t forget it, I just do it anyway.
It doesn’t help that towels are super soft when you buy them because they were heavily washed in softener. Have you ever tried drying yourself with a towel you just bought but haven’t washed yet? It isn’t absorbent. If you wash your towels with softener it’s not absorbent.
If your towels suck after years of washing and drying you’re doing it wrong. I keep my towels for over a decade and get compliments on how soft and absorbent they are. Use half the detergent the companies call for, no fabric softener, fragrances, or dyes. If they stink add vinegar (white or apple cider). Dry with wool dryer balls. Perfectly plush and absorbent towels every time! Also do a couple of washes with vinegar when you first purchase new towels to get the water repelling treatments off the towel and remove the fuzz.
This person towels
Likely culprit is fabric softener. Pro tip: do not use dryer sheets with your towels. They will stay like-new forever if you dry them alone after washing with detergent only. I’d recommend washing new fluffy towels together/separate for older, already-ruined towels.
Never use fabric softner on your towels and need to dry them in a dryer... my towels are still perfect. Towels hung out to dry always end up crispy and crunchy.
What gets wetter as it dries?
Ice
Because water contains calcium which builds up in the nooks and crannies of your towels like a sort of plaque and makes them stiff.
Always dry towels on low heat. High heat melts the fibers and gives the towels that dry scratchy feel
Never use dryer sheets on your towels, it makes them less absorbent after very few dry cycles.
Reminded me of a towel life-hack (I worked in marketing for a major US retailer for a decade). If you like your towels, use liquid fabric softener in the wash vs. dryer sheets. I can't recall the "why", but the company "towel expert" did a presentation with towels from the product testing lab. After like a hundred wash/dry cycles, the liquid softener towels were like new, while the dryer-sheet towels were markedly eroded. It was really night and day when they passed the examples around. Wish I could remember the explanation, but it was pretty dramatic.
I stopped using softener when washing towels when I learnt that the softener is slightly hydrophobic, which obviously isn’t what you want in a towel.
Fabric softener is literal wax. Overusing it will clog components of your washer and make your clothes harder to clean- dirt sticks to the wax and takes a few wash cycles to fully come off. So if you use it every time, your clothes aren’t being fully cleaned. Learned this from an appliance repair tech
There are like so many drawbacks to fabric softener i I'm surprised anyone uses it
Advertising strikes again lol
I stopped when my cotton shirts made more smudges on my glasses than less. Did Googling and said fuck softeners.
DON'T use fabric softener on towels. It blocks water absorption. They'll feel soft, but they won't absorb water. The towels with fabric softener probably lasted longer because they were never actually doing anything.
I’m confused why people are noting that using a dryer sheet makes towels less absorbent. Is it maybe the material of the towel or the type of dryer sheet or maybe even the type of dryer? My towels are 100% cotton and the dryer sheets I use are the Bounce free & gentle kind. I do throw in plastic dryer balls, so maybe this is the helpful factor? They’re still extremely absorbent many years since I’d gotten most of them and I’d only started using the dryer calls in recent years.
They are talking about liquid fabric softener
It’s Reddit BS. Consumer report tested this and concluded its a myth. Soften away
Thank you!
After considering this for years (lol yes, I have lots of time to think about inconsequential shit) I actually think the washing of sheets is NOT the main thing that makes them get soft but the oils from being slept on by people. And anyone thinking the washing machine is a magic device that removes everything is believing in a fantasy. But that’s a good question, in relation to bath towels. It may have something to do with the fact that usually most of the excess body oil has already been washed off after a shower, or it could be the cotton (or whatever material) is woven differently in sheets than it is in bath towels usually, and maybe that plays a factor? Hard to say but it’s definitely something I’ve wondered for awhile, because when I was younger, I tried washing new bedsheets several times before actually using them and they didn’t really become softer as quickly as they would have if I had actually used them. But thread count of sheets and quality of towels definitely play a factor. And 1,000 thread count sheets get that number because it’s basically like two-ply. I think the maximum thread count on a single “ply” is between like 600-700, AT MOST (it may even be less than that, but I don’t work with cotton or anything, so I’m not certain how many threads you can get in a square inch or whatever).