Towels Question, sorta OT

Judy, I don't know about you & your DB, but I found our years ago, not to use any type of softeners/dryer sheets with your towel because it causes them to become less absorbent. Emily

Boil wash them, give them an intensive rinse, never EVER use fabric softener/conditioner on them. Tumble dry - or line dry until 'ironing damp' and then tumble the rest of the way to soften them up. They won't be quite as fluffy as they are when brand new, but they should dry you!

"Nick and Judy" wrote in news:pOXEi.53180$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr29.news.prodigy.net:

never use fabric softener, either liquid or dryer sheets, on towels. that will reduce absorbancy. i wash towels with a bare minimum of detergent & use white vinegar in the rinse... which is pretty much how i wash everything actually. on clothes & blankets i use a touch of liquid softener in with the vinegar (my machine has a dispenser well on the agitator, so i put in the tablespoon of softener & fill the rest of the way with vinegar instead of water), just to remove cat hair. lee

Velour towels are ultra soft to the touch, but do a pitiful job of drying a wet body. Love the feel of them, but always I pass them by when buying new towels.

This is why beach towels have a velour side for lying on and a looped side for drying off. :)

Adding a bit of bi-carb soda to the washing powder with the white vinegar in the rinse works well. I've been using this a bit and my old face washers that were stiff and scratchy are now starting to soften up.

Doesn't that foam a lot? IIRC, that's how we made "volcanos" for science class.

I don't use a lot of bi-card, about a tablespoon for a full load, and the vinegar is diluted by the rinse water, I use about 1/4 cup or less (I never measure).

Try a little experiment. Get a little bi-carb soda then drop a bit of vinegar onto it. Undiluted vinegar on the bi-carb will foam and froth like anything!

Skip the baking soda... all you're doing is neutralizing the vinegar.

It will indeed do that, because you're releasing carbon dioxide and making sodium acetate from the baking soda and vinegar, but sodium acetate and carbon dioxide won't do anything about softening the fabric. Stick with the plain vinegar and let it work on the hard water deposits in the fabric.