NCDR- bath towel issues

[mimsy]

I have dark bath towels and since we've moved to the new house, they don't dry nicely and retain a musty smell. None of our lighter towels do this. So I have two questions-

1- will bac out help this issue?

2- they are 100% cotton, could I just bleach soak me for a bit- make them lighter (albeit uglier) towels that don't get musty smells?


A seems to think at it should just use my Christmas girftcard for Marshall's from his Gram to buy new towels instead of clothes that fit instead...

[grumpycakes]

What kind of detergent do you use? I find that Tide is pretty good at removing musty smells. Other than that, I'd try the Bac Out or a washing soda soak first. And maybe start drying them with dryer balls to get them good and dry for the future.

[brandiewine11]

I'm not sure color has anything to do with it. Are they thicker than your other towels? We have dark ones too and they don't act any differently than the light ones. Can you hang them somewhere with more airflow to dry? Ours don't dry as well in summer since its more humid, so I hang them flat over a bar vs. on a hook in summer.

BacOut could help make them fresh again I suppose....

[ovenrack]

Yeah I was gonna suggest washing soda. But I have an obsession with that stuff right now, ha.

[grumpycakes]

Jan 20, 2015 15:43:05 GMT -5 ovenrack said:

Yeah I was gonna suggest washing soda. But I have an obsession with that stuff right now, ha.

Washing soda is the balls.  It solves funk.

[grumpycakes]

I've had mixed results with Bac Out, but it wouldn't hurt to try it first if that's what you have in the house.

[ovenrack]

Jan 20, 2015 15:44:00 GMT -5 grumpycakes said:

Jan 20, 2015 15:43:05 GMT -5 ovenrack said:

Yeah I was gonna suggest washing soda. But I have an obsession with that stuff right now, ha.

Washing soda is the balls.  It solves funk.

[mimsy]

I did a vinegar soak and wash about a month ago and it worked until recently. I've not used tide on the towels, I'll try next load, and the dryer balls are new, so I'll try those. Thanks.

[abby]

I used to have the same problem. The bleach did not take away the musty smell. I thought it actually made it worse. I stopped using fabric softner and switched to Tide and the smell is gone. If you want a quick fix I would suggest trying washing soda.

[TJ]

Are you using the same cycle? I know my whites cycle is warm and my darks cycle is cold. Maybe they need warm water to get defunkified?

[pipsqueak]

I wash all towels together in the same load assuming the dark towels are old enough that they no longer bleed. You can bleach towels the same way you would diapers.....I have added bleach to my load of towels (light, dark, and a few multi color ones) and didn't notice any difference. I also wash my towels the same way I wash my diapers....including the prewash since I often have wash clothes with who knows what cleaning products and other such stuffs on them.

ETA: I also wash them on hot.....gotta kill the bacteria and such that transfers off the skin.

[mimsy]

Because they are dark I've done warm/cold to prevent fading. Oddly enough, it never really occurred to me that I should try hot water. It was one of those hard and fast laundry rules.

[nvywife]

I strip my towels about twice a year when they start to get a funk going. I do 1st wash with 1 cup vinegar, then a 2nd with 1/2 cup baking soda then a final wash with detergent. Seems to work for us.all washes on hot.

[velvethelicopters]

Do you have hard water? That's why my towels get some funk going on.

My fixes, which may not work for most as I have hard, alkaline water.

1 - Heavy duty mineral stripping. I do the FLCDS DIY version at twice strength as I have extremely hard water, washing soda wasn't getting everything done so I had to strip monthly. RLR and Mighty Bubbles require two-three times the recommended amount, so too expensive.

2 - Tide. No other brand works near as well for me.

3 - Adding washing soda to every load. Water is so hard, Tide didn't cut it alone.

4 - Biz always. I have to use F&C or my kids react, which isn't enough. Sigh. The F&C is behind 1-4 I suspect, but I did need washing soda in original Tide years ago.

5 - Vinegar in rinse. Seems to help get any residue off best. However, this only works with alkaline water, acidic water will make it worse.

6 - No chemical softener, no plant based softener, no wool dryer balls. Any coating holds the funk, and wool here just doesn't agree with towels.

7 - Bleach them. Mostly because despite knowing the washer gets everything clean, I get grossed out by not bleaching towels and sheets. The musty smell is mildew to me.

8 - No line drying. Here it's too humid to work or too cold to work on heavy jeans/towels/blankets, so towels stay wet for days. Thus the mildew funk.

9 - Wash after every use. Wasteful as all get apparently, but using towels twice here = funk.

[awful]

I've started doing a prewash on warm, no detergent like I do my dipes for my towels (cleaning, kitchen, bathroom) and I found they get much cleaner. Also washing soda in addition to Tide for the main wash.

[chickypoo2468]

Jan 20, 2015 21:15:12 GMT -5 mimsy said:

Because they are dark I've done warm/cold to prevent fading. Oddly enough, it never really occurred to me that I should try hot water. It was one of those hard and fast laundry rules.

I always wash towels, sheets, underwear, etc on hot. Nothing has faded.

[mimsy]

Time to experiment.

[piccyami]

I decided to try oxi clean a couple of weeks ago to see if it would help with our towel funk. I think it helped H's towels, but I'm allergic to the free version. I haven't worked up the courage to try it with the regular version yet.