How to Make New or Old Towels Softer & More Absorbent

Have you just bought a new batch of towels, or do you just feel like your current towels aren’t getting the job done? Don’t worry—it’s easy to refresh your towels with a hot-water laundry cycle, along with some household ingredients like vinegar and baking soda (though not at the same time!). We’ll walk you through everything you need to know, including how to keep your towels fresh and absorbent, so you can enjoy fluffy towels for plenty of showers or baths to come.

How to Make Towels More Absorbent: Quick Tips

Wash your towels on a hot or warm cycle with 1 cup (240 mL) of vinegar. Then, add 1 cup (272 g) of baking soda and run another warm or hot cycle. After that cycle, dry your towels, and they should be much softer and more absorbent.

Section 1 of 3:

Baking Soda & Vinegar Trick for More Absorbent Towels

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1
Run a full wash cycle with 1 c (240 mL) of vinegar. Instead of adding any laundry detergent, use just white vinegar for this load, pouring it into the slot where your detergent would usually go. ^{[1]
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Research source} If you’re washing lighter towels, stick with a warm-water cycle; if you’re washing darker towels; opt for a hot-water cycle. Your towels will probably smell of vinegar once the cycle’s done, but that's okay! ^{[2]
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- Make sure that your washer is no more than 75% full, as you don’t want to overload the machine.
- Don't wash anything else with the new towels, or else the colors may bleed.
- Alternative: Wait until you’ve started a warm- or -hot-water cycle and pause the load once the washer fills completely. Then, pour in the vinegar.
Do not take your towels out of the washing machine to dry them yet. Instead, sprinkle baking soda over the towels. (Don’t worry—the vinegar has washed out, so you don’t need to worry about creating a mess.) Leave them in the washer and let it fill up with hot water again. Use the same settings that you used the first time.

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Begin a second wash cycle. Using the same wash settings that you did before, wash the towels with the baking soda. Let the cycle completely finish.
- Warning: Do not mix the vinegar and baking soda in the same wash cycle! This will cause a large chemical reaction that will probably lead to a big, foamy mess and could cause damage to your laundry machine.
4
Take the towels out of the washing machine and dry them. You can dry your towels as you normally would. You can use any method that you like—your dryer, a drying rack, or air drying in the sun. Just be sure to read the care label and follow those recommendations!
- The high-heat or sanitizing option is a good choice if you’re tumble-drying your towels. ^{[3]
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- On care labels, dry cleaning is symbolized with a circle inside a square. If this icon is crossed out, don’t dry-clean your towels. ^{[4]
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Section 2 of 3:

Ways to Keep Towels Absorbent

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Avoid using fabric softeners when washing your towels. Even though fluffy towels are something most people enjoy, the fabric softeners used to get fluffy towels can contribute to build-up in your washer; plus, these products can lead to skin irritation. ^{[5]
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- If you still want the softest towels you can get, there are ways to soften them without the use of fabric softeners.
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Use a shot glass worth of detergent. With laundry detergent, a little goes a long way. Using a whole cupful of detergent won’t make your towels cleaner, but it will contribute to pollution. Whenever you wash your towels (or any laundry load), try to practice moderation. ^{[6]
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- If you’re washing an especially dirty or big load of towels, feel free to double this recommendation in your wash cycle.
- Detergent also tends to build up in your clothes over time. ^{[7]
  X
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  Go to source} Using less detergent overall may help mitigate this.
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Do half-sized loads of laundry when you wash your towels. Overloading your washing machine means that any detergent you do use won’t distribute evenly across the laundry. Take the amount of laundry you planned to do in one load and divide it into two equal piles so that you have two loads. Consider doing loads of only towels instead of throwing them in with other laundry. ^{[8]
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- Your towels won't be washed as thoroughly if you're using large loads, which you definitely don’t want.
Stick wool laundry balls in your tumble dryer. Some people find that dryer balls can help make towels more absorbent when they’re tossed in with a regular dryer load. They’re also known to make fabrics softer, and can be a residue-free substitute for fabric softener. ^{[9]
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Section 3 of 3:

FAQs

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Chances are, hotels skip over the fabric softener in their wash cycles and stick to hot water in their cycles (just like we’ve suggested above). They likely also use detergent in moderation.
Wash them! Towels feel pretty fluffy when you’re checking them out at the store—but this is typically because of the silicone that’s on the fibers, which prevents the cloth from being as absorbent. By washing your towels ahead of time, they’ll soak up a lot more water whenever you use them next. ^{[10]
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Give your microfiber towels the vinegar and baking soda treatment, as outlined above. Then, test them out and see if they’re more absorbent than they were before.

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Question

What can I use to replace fabric softener?

Community Answer

Put two rubber dryer balls (old tennis balls work, too––just make sure they're clean!) in the machine with the towels when drying them. This will help to fluff up the towels and they will then be more absorbent.

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How do we recondition a slippery bathing towel into the scratchy towel it was before?

Community Answer

Try line-drying it in the sunshine and fresh air rather than in a tumble dryer. The slipperiness is probably a result of too much fabric softener, so once it's been washed a few times without this it should regain its absorbent qualities.

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Do I use soap when I wash the towels?

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Yes, as you want your towels to still smell fresh without that sandy smell.

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Things You'll Need

Vinegar
Baking soda
Wool dryer balls (optional)

Tips

If you have a variety of light and dark towels, create separate loads. If possible, laundry professionals advise dividing your towels into 4 groups: whites, pastels/medium colors, brights, and darks. ^{[11]
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Warnings

Do not use vinegar and baking soda in the same rinse. The chemical reaction will create lots of frothing, which can cause damage to your washing machine or make a big mess.

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Don’t use vinegar in the wash super frequently, as it can harm the internal components of your machine over time. ^{[12]
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How to Make New or Old Towels Softer & More Absorbent

How to Make Towels More Absorbent: Quick Tips

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Baking Soda & Vinegar Trick for More Absorbent Towels

Ways to Keep Towels Absorbent

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Community Q&A

Video

Things You'll Need

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Warnings

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