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Forum -> Household Management -> Cleaning & Laundry

Towel smell

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View latest: 24h 48h 72h

BasMom ↓

Thu, Aug 17 2006, 12:31 pm

Hey, does anybody have any advice as to how to get my bath towels to keep fresh longer? It seems like after just two showers the towels get a sort of musty smell. I do not have any ventilation in the bathrooms, and it is Florida, so humidity is especially high in the bathrooms. I wash the towels in warm water with a nice amount of soap (Tide with downy clean breeze) and I dry them on high heat with a Bounce dryer sheet. What should I be doing differently?!

MOM222

Thu, Aug 17 2006, 12:39 pm

Place the towels in the dryer after the shower.
It kills bacteria and it will be dry!

↑ BasMom ↓

Thu, Aug 17 2006, 12:41 pm

Great idea, thanks!

HelloEverybody

Thu, Aug 17 2006, 1:05 pm

How many times do you normally use a towel? I would think two uses and it would for sure need to be washed, no?

chen ↓

Thu, Aug 17 2006, 1:14 pm

HelloEverybody wrote:

How many times do you normally use a towel? I would think two uses and it would for sure need to be washed, no?

Not unless you live in a coal mine, suffer from a highly contagious infection like impetigo, or are using the towel to clean yourself rather than dry yourself off. If you are doing in the shower what you should be doing in the shower, namely, getting clean, and you hang your towel to dry rather than throwing it on the floor afterwards, then your towel is removing clean water from your person and can safely be used for a week before needing to be washed.

↑ BasMom ↓

Thu, Aug 17 2006, 6:38 pm

Thank you Chen, I agree. (If only my towels would last that long!)

↑ chen ↓

Fri, Aug 18 2006, 10:52 am

BasMom wrote:

Thank you Chen, I agree. (If only my towels would last that long!)

I don't really have a solution for your humid-bathroom situation short of installing an exhaust vent or a window that you can open. ( whose asinine invention was bathrooms that cannot be ventilated?) Putting towels in the dryer after every shower seems like a terrible waste of fuel --can you hang them on an outside clothesline or in another room, and just leave a handtowel to be used between showers? (Also a nuisance, but maybe worth it if the smell really repulses you. )

chocolate moose ↓

Sat, Aug 19 2006, 9:40 pm

We have discussed this thread on other boards too and I never really got a straight answer.

You can wash in hot with bleach and dry with fabric softener, but if the smell persists, you may end up replacing your towels and washclothes. I am about to do that with mine!

↑ BasMom ↓

Sun, Aug 20 2006, 1:56 pm

Thank you for all your suggestions. It does seem a terrible waste of energy (on my part and the machine's) to have to put the towels in the dryer after every shower. I'll try a combo of all your suggestions, and I hope something helps, otherwise I'll just have to continue washing them frequently as I've been doing...

↑ chocolate moose ↓

Sun, Aug 20 2006, 2:27 pm

I'm going to run a couple of loads of towels soon, bli neder and dry them too, like we've been saying.

However, I don't think I'd want to dry them after each bath as well...........

I see the writing on the wall about new towels Bas Mom; shall we shop together?

↑ BasMom ↓

Wed, Aug 23 2006, 9:34 pm

that would be lovely, except you're in crown heights, and I'm in florida. happy shopping!

↑ chocolate moose ↓

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 9:46 am

so far, whatever magic I worked on Sunday seems to be holding, bl ain horah!

↑ BasMom ↓

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 10:11 am

Well, you'll have to let me know what you did, thanks!

frummom ↓

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 10:15 am

try using vinegar in the rinse instead of fabric softener - you won't need a dryer sheet and it smells fresh!

↑ chocolate moose ↓

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 10:30 am

I don't get a rinse in a side loader.........

↑ frummom ↓

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 10:37 am

do you use a laundromat? don't they have a thing where you put the detergent in one compartment and the softener in the other?

I wonder if it would work just putting the vinegar in with the detergent....

↑ chocolate moose ↓

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 11:17 am

I don't want to shlep to a laundromat.

I do hve a compartment for det., etc., buit I don't know when it goes in, I guess I could call the company...

su7kids

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 11:56 am

Do you fold the towels to hang them on a towel rack after using them? We hang ours over the shower door, open wide, until they dry, after using.

↑ chocolate moose

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 12:41 pm

yes we do. doesn't seem to matter.

↑ frummom

Thu, Aug 24 2006, 1:45 pm

put it all in at the beginning in the proper compartments and the machine figures out the rest!

also maybe baking soda?

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