Refresh Towels and pillow covers w/o chemicals

thegiver

Mon, Sep 11 2023, 9:36 pm

I don’t want to add anything not natural to my clothing but how can I get it to smell good again?

My towels smell awful after one use and they used to last a few days before needing to be rewashed.

Also the pillow covers often have an unpleasant musky odor even after being washed. Do you think if I prewash them by leaving immersed in vinegar or something that would help?

What are natural ways to keep everything smelling fresh

zaq

Tue, Sep 12 2023, 12:36 pm

Fresh air and sunshine above all. Hard to accomplish if you don't have an outdoor clothesline.
Wash in the hottest water possible, but use as little detergent as possible. Excess detergent is food for mildew. If you use a dryer, dry on HOT to kill mildew spores.
Try adding vinegar to the final rinse of the washer or baking soda to the load before the wash cycle.
Make sure your things are BONE dry before folding and putting away. Hard to do in extremely humid weather.
Spread damp used towels as much as possible so they can dry well between uses. You may need to add more towel bars.
Keep the bathroom as dry as possible. Open the window, install an exhaust fan, turn on the ventilation if you have no window, or consider installing a dehumidifier.

zaq

Tue, Sep 12 2023, 12:48 pm

To keep linens fresh-smelling while in storage, use sachets. Lavender is a classic favorite and has the bonus of repelling certain pests. You can make your own sachets by filling an old sock, nylon stocking, handkerchief, fine mesh bag, tea ball or even a square cut from an old shirt with dried lavender blossoms and/or other botanicals such as dried citrus peels, whole cloves, eucalyptus leaves, cinnamon sticks, myrtle leaves (Hadassim), bay leaves and so on, and tuck them here and there in the linen closet. Easier still, use bars of fragrant soaps, bonus being that before or after the fragrance dissipates (it takes a long time), the soap can be used for its intended purpose. And, having dried out a lot or a little, it will take longer to melt away or turn into goo in the shower.

You can also iron your pillowcases on HOT to kill mildew spores.

The bad news is that synthetics hold on to odors more than cotton, so if your pillowcases are not 100% cotton, it may sometimes be impossible to deodorize them, though you can try either bleaching them or leaving them airing in the sun for a few months.