How to unstink towels?
My towels smell fine right after they are cleaned. However, once they get wet they immediately smell musty, like body odor. How do I get rid of the smell!
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If they are not white, you can’t use bleach. Vinegar can help with this problem. In a regular large wash add ½ cup of vinegar. If you have an HE washer put the vinegar in the bleach compartment.
Half a cup of Twenty Mule Team Borax. Then put them in the dryer asap!
Bleach works best, but I only use it on color-fast towels. I only have to do it a few times a year. Vinegar works OK for the rest. Gotta use it every time. Vinegar will, in fact, make colors more durable, so is a good idea.
I second the vinegar motion.
Hmm, if you use bleach it can seriously weaken natural fibres, making them wear out much faster. Are you able to dry them in fresh air? That does make a difference. But, rather than vinegar (which itself can leave an odour), you could try a dessertspoon of washing soda in the rinse. This will take out any oily or organic residues from the wash, making the towels smell fresh, but also cleaning your washing machine thoroughly. It might help to run a very hot wash (95 degrees) once in a while, just to make sure you don’t have anything growing in the hidden depths of the machine – it does happen!
@JLeslie – Sodium carbonate, it can be bought (here in the UK anyway), in packets of crystals, very cheaply. A good description of the substance can be found here. It is really useful, particularly for anything either smelly, or greasy – it has a particular action on grease – so for hard to clean roasting pans or whatever. Wiping the fridge out with a weak solution kills germs and gets rid of smells. It can support or replace many expensive cleaning materials… Great stuff!
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