There are few things worse than getting out of a nice hot shower, grabbing a towel, and starting to dry off, only to discover that your towel has a disgusting mildew smell. Mildew is a pervasive if lesser form of mold.
Once mildew gets on your towels it can seem impossible to get the smell out. However, not all is lost. Getting the mildew smell out of your towels takes some work, but it is not impossible. If you want fresh-smelling towels again then here are the things you need to know about how mildew attaches to them, and what you can do to rid them of the smell once and for all.
Identifying the Source of Mildew Smell
If you've already tried washing your towels multiple times and the smell still hasn't gone away, there are still a few other things to consider.
Dirty Washing Machine
Your washing machine is one of the pillars of cleanliness in your home. It is where all of the cloth in your home goes to be cleaned. However, if your washing machine has not been properly cleaned and maintained then there could actually be some mildew build-up.
Using Too Much Fabric Softener
You would think that a chemical that is designed to help when you wash your clothes would not be a mildew problem, but the truth is that using too much fabric softener can cause mildew growth in your washing machine. Too much fabric softener can cause residue build-up. Since mold can feed on fatty content like what is found in detergents, it only makes sense that your towels, and yes your clothes, would start to pick up a mildew smell.
Detergent Build-up
As with using too much fabric softener, mold, and mildew feeds on fatty content. There is plenty of fatty content in your detergent, which makes it a prime target for mildew growth when there is a build-up of detergent. To fix this, run 2 to 4 cups of white vinegar, depending on the machine's capacity.
Removing Mildew Smell from Towels
Once you've determined what the problem is, here's what you can do to help get rid of that mildew smell. Which method you use is up to you and one method may work better than the other depending on what the problem was in the first place. If your washing machine is dirty, no amount of washing your towels in that washer is going to fix the problem until it's cleaned.
Wash With Vinegar and Hot Water
To get the smell out of your towels you need to use something that can take the smell out. There are few things as effective at killing the mildew smell as white vinegar. White vinegar is known for being pungent in its own right, but the smell dissipates after the towels have had time to thoroughly dry out. This method is inexpensive, which means you do not have to worry about breaking the bank for good-smelling towels.
Wash With Hot Water and Baking Soda
Similar to white vinegar, baking soda also has incredible odor-killing qualities. Washing your towels in a combo of baking soda and hot water. This will not only clean up the mold growth, but it will also eradicate the mildew smell.
Use Mold Killing Detergents
There are detergents on the market that can best help get rid of the mildew smell. They are designed specifically to kill the mold and mildew that cause the smells in the first place. Using these types of detergents will have your towels smelling normal again in no time.
Strip Wash Your Towels
If you want to “reset' the smell of your towels then you are going to want to try strip-washing them. This is nothing more complicated than soaking your towels in a hot water bath with a borax solution. This will strip all of the residues from past washes off of your towels, bringing them back to a neutral smell.
How To Prevent Moldy Towels
The big thing here is to prevent your towels from ever becoming moldy smelling in the first place.
Bathe Thoroughly
It may sound a little insulting, but sometimes a moldy towel can be the result of having not bathed thoroughly. If you dry off with a towel when you have not fully finished bathing yourself, you could introduce contaminants to your towels. Even if you use plenty of soap or body wash, not rinsing it off well enough means that the soap just ends up on your towels and contributes to odor.
Don't Reuse Towels More Than Twice
It is okay to reuse a towel after a bath every once in a while, but reusing it more than twice is asking for mildew. When you hang your used towel up there is a little bit of water on it, but not enough to promote mildew. Doing it more than twice, however, is borderline begging for mold growth.
Hang Your Towel Up After Use
Some people just cannot help but throw their towels onto the floor when they are done drying off. This is a big mistake because when your floor is dirty and your towel is damp, you are practically begging for mildew. When you are done bathing, the best thing to do with your towel is to simply hang it up on the towel rack. This will allow the towel to air out, which is not conducive to mold growth.
Dry Immediately After Washing
Instead of allowing your towels to sit in the washing machine for longer than they have to, it is imperative to get them dried off as quickly as possible. Everyone has forgotten a load of laundry in the washing machine before, so as long as you get them in the dryer before they start to smell, they should be fine. But if you smell them before you put them in the dryer and they're stinky, putting them in the dryer isn't going to fix that. Wash them again.
Don't Put Away Damp Towels
It can be tempting, after drying a big load of clothes, to say “close enough” when one of your towels comes out still a little damp. However, if you put away damp towels, they'll mildew and then you'll have to wash them again. Just dry them a little longer.
Wash Towels in Smaller Loads
To ensure that your towels come out clean enough, you should wash them in smaller batches. It is never a good idea to over-fill your dryer to begin with, and smaller batches ensure that your towels actually get completely dry.
Don't Use Too Much Fabric Softener
Fabric softener actually creates a buildup on your fabrics that helps lock in nasty smells. If you discover that you've been using too much, doing a strip wash will help fix that problem.
Clean Your Washing Machine
If a detergent build-up in your washing machine leads to the mildew smell, then it is time to do some good old-fashioned maintenance on your washer. Complete and thoroughly clean your washing machine by running it with no clothes with mold-killing detergents. A freshly cleaned washer will lead to fresh and clean towels.
Conclusion
Mildew smell on your towels can be caused by various problems, but fortunately, none of those problems are difficult to fix. Keep your washing machine clean, don't put away damp towels, use fabric softener sparingly, and
