Hard towels

I usually tumble mine and they are always soft.

My mother (who didn’t have a tumble drier) used to iron the towels to soften them.
Occasionally on a warm day I line dry my towels and then I run the iron over them (it doesn’t take long...).

We have a water softener but towels still hard if dried outdoors.

Never use conditioner on towels. My MiL does this; they smell after the first use as the conditioner traps the water and stops it from evaporating and drying properly. Yuck.

What I do:

Wash on 60 degrees with HALF the amount of recommended powder.

Line dry or put on the clothes rack until 80% dry.

Finish off in the tumbler.

I have tumbler balls in my tumbler which helps, in my opinion.

I wash my bath towels twice a week. Hand towels are changed daily, two days at most.

Hard water area here. I do have a tumble drier but only use for towels if I dry them outside and want to soften them. I pop them in to finish off. When the aga is on I dry then on an airer and That tends to keep them softer. If all else fails I use a steam iron on the towels and roll them up. The little bit of steam seems to relax the fibres.

I read a great tip in the newspaper some time ago which I now always use. Put white vinegar in the fabric softener tray instead of fabric softener. When the towels are washed, hang them on the line until they are nearly dry then put them in the tumble dryer for a few minutes. They come out beautifully soft.

Fabric Conditioner & tumble dry works for me.

I live in a hard water area and do not have a tumble dryer. What works for me is an ecoegg for the laundering of everything. All my towels are soft and I haven’t had to buy washing powder/tablets for years now.
It saves money and I only buy one small fabric conditioner a year which is used for hand washing. Perfect!

Add bicarbonate of soda to the rinse, and hang them out of the sun.

Try putting your towels on 40 wash with no detergent, to strip out all the residue.You will be surprised at the state of the water might need to do it twice. I live in a very hard water area use Lidl no bio liquid on all towels and bedding then every couple of months I repeat the no detergent wash. If you can get a dryer and only use for towels it will help

Give them a good shake before hanging them out then a shake and a rub when dry and they become soft enough for everyone.

I quite like crispy bath towels ! You get an exfoliation as you dry!
I live in a very hard water area - I have found that using some soda crystals in with the washing powder helps and if line drying outside, just don't leave them out so long ! Todays washing machines spin them a lot dryer , so they are usually only a bit damp when they go outside. Sometimes just an hour on the line is enough !

I love to dry washing outside With towels, if the weather is fine and breezy (i.e. really good "drying" weather) I peg them out "pushed along" somewhat, in something of a concertina fashion, that is to say, not pulled "flat" along the line. This seems to help. And as V3ra says, a short time in the tumble dryer (after line drying) can help, too.

Go green and use eco friendly laundry nuts or an Eco Egg.

White vinegar softens them and also breaks down the build up of soap in face clothes. No chip shop smell either.

V3ra???

When my children were babies and towelling nappies were the only option, I found that running an iron over them, preferably steam, softened them up no end. I know an awful lot of gransnetters hate ironing, so may not be an option!

I wouldn't want to be without my tumble dryer. All my washing goes straight from the washing machine to the tumble dryer. I pop in a tumble dryer sheet and I have lovely soft washing. Nothing shrinks, everything smells nice and if you take it out soon after the cycle ends you can lay it on the bed or hang it up straight away and it reduces ironing. In fact I hardly ever iron anything. What it might cost to use the tumble dryer you save on not ironing. Both time and money.

I have had a water softener for years, but it’s only in the last couple of years that my towels have gone hard. Could the washing powder be different now? There’s clearly something afoot if so many people are having the same problem. We need answers!!

A friend told me she irons on top of towels. That softens them up a bit. Always give them a good shake before line drying and also half way through drying. Otherwise just get used to hard towels.

The upside of drying towels outside and then resembling emery cloth is they are brilliant exfoliators.

There’s something about soaking them in bicarbonate first. Google it!

Megs36 my Dad went to stay with my brother and was told if he wanted a soft towel he should bring his own!
I dry mine on a big clothes horse but then give them half an hour in the tumble dryer to soften them up, that compromise seems to work.

We have very hard water and my towels are fine - not what you would call fluffy but not hard.

I never use fabric conditioner on anything - it coats the clothes making it difficult to remove stains and smells, and to me most seem to have a very strong chemical scent.

I've reduced the amount of washing liquid I use and add in two spoons of soda crystals instead - softens the water. For rinsing I fill the fabric conditioner bit with distilled white vinegar. Any smell of vinegar disappears within minutes - my OH hates the smell of it and he never even noticed when I started using it. Soda crystals and vinegar are also cheap, especially in bulk from the internet.

Much kinder to the environment too, rather than chucking all that other stuff into the water system.

We have a water softener but the towels are still hard

Do what Mrs Hinch does