How to keep your bath towels fresh naturally

Keeping your things well kept - our ongoing product care series.

While the apartments we share on our socials and spend our time dreaming about are large airy spaces filled with natural light, the reality is that I, like most of you, have a semi-cramped apartment bathroom that sees not even a sliver of daylight. One of the not-so-wonderful consequences of said small, cramped bathroom is that towels seem to take forever to dry and, when they do, they have a slight musty scent. 

This is no good for two reasons:

/  Nobody wants to dry their skin with a smelly towel.
/  The musty scent is actually a sign of bacteria growth.

Easy all-natural ways to keep your bath towels fresh:

1 - Dry your towels outside of your bathroom.
As annoying as it might be, come to terms with the fact that drying your towels in the bathroom just isn’t effective. I find that draping them over the back of my dining table chairs works well—by the time my work day is done my morning shower towel is dry and ready to be hung back up in my bathroom (out of sight for my evening of cooking and relaxing at home). When the weather warms, I like to hang them outside.

2 - Add vinegar to your wash cycle regularly.
Wash your towels on a cold cycle with half a cup of white vinegar once every few weeks (or whenever you notice the smell returning).  The vinegar helps eliminate bacteria and odors.

3 - Never leave your washed towels in the machine damp.
Make sure your washed towels never sit in the washing machine. This seems obvious, but I know a lot of people who throw the laundry on when running out of the house and then switch it over later on in the day. Make sure you remove your towels from the machine as soon as the cycle is over and hang them to dry.

4 - Remove build up and bacteria by "stripping" your towels.
Deep clean or “strip” your towels every six months or so. You may have been witness to laundry stripping videos on tiktok, and while most of these tout the benefits of Borax, we would recommend going Borax free (while Borax may be “natural” that doesn’t mean it’s harmless—read why we avoid it here). I make my solution with ½ cup of white vinegar, ¼ cup of washing soda and ½ cup of detergent. The technique is simple: fill a basin/laundry sink/bathtub with hot water, mix through solution and allow it to dissolve, add towels, stir them once an hour, soak until water has completely cooled. 

5 - Clean your washing machine.
Don’t forget to clean your washing machine! You’d be surprised how few people actually do this… it’s easy, run your machine empty on a hot cycle with 2 cups of white vinegar, wipe out the inside of the machine with a warm water & vinegar solution, run the machine one more time on a hot cycle with ½ cup of baking soda to remove any residual buildup.

Following these simple tips can help keep your bath towels fresh and free of bacteria. Remember to wash them regularly, avoid leaving them damp, and give them a deep clean every six months or so. And finally, don't forget to clean your washing machine. With a little effort, your towels will remain soft and fresh. 

*Stripping can be quite harsh on certain fabrics, so avoid doing it often. Also, ensure you’re only doing it with like colours in order to avoid any dye transfer.
**Some manufacturers don’t recommend running your washing machine completely empty, if this is the case for you, use the method outlined above, but add in a few clean hand towels.

#wellKEPTthingsKEEPwell

img : Cristina Gareau