Keep Your Towels Soft & Fluffy With This Easy, Free Laundry Hack

Towels matter. Well, unless you're some gruff, sandpaper-skinned person who dries themselves with sticks and leaves. It's simply more pleasant to spend a few minutes drying off with a soft, absorbent towel than with one that resembles a scratchy, stiff doormat. We push the limits of chemistry and reason in our quest for fluffiness, but there turns out to be a much simpler, non-toxic, free way to get where you want to go.

Hunker spoke exclusively with Tom Ceconi, president of Heritage Park Laundry Essentials, about a towel-taming method we've been hearing a lot about lately: Giving towels a good shake between the washer and the dryer. It works, Ceconi told us, "Shaking out towels as you pull them from the washing machine and before you put them in the dryer helps soften towels in two ways," he said. "First, by helping remove excess water and, more importantly, by separating any clumped towel fibers before drying (clumped fibers will definitely be less soft)."

The actual process couldn't be simpler. Ceconi said it's just a matter of holding each towel by one end and shaking it vigorously for 3-5 seconds as you move them from the washer to the dryer. Of course, all this depends on you having towels that are capable of the luxe feel you're looking for. "This method is more effective on plush towels with heavier weights and longer loops (as opposed to tighter, lower weaves like waffle or twill)," Ceconi said. It's great for softer towels and is essential when cleaning your bedding for soft, unwrinkled sheets. But how do towels get this way in the first place?

Except for happy accidents, you usually need to understand a problem in order to solve it, and scratchy towels are no different. In an exclusive conversation with Hunker, laundry expert Tom Ceconi was delighted to take us back to the causes of stiff, rough, sometimes smelly towels. "Let's take a look at what makes towels stiff, hard, and scratchy to begin with," Ceconi said. "The major culprits are detergent that didn't wash out properly; lotions, creams, and even sweat; and mineral build up from hard water." He added that the same towels can smell moldy or musty, particularly if they've been damp for a while and wadded up in a hamper or a gym bag.

The ideal solution, as you might have guessed, begins before you shake out the towels en route to your dryer. "The fix is really easy," Ceconi said. "First, wash your towels in warm to hot water (no detergent) with a cup of white vinegar. Run the load again (no detergent), also in warm to hot water, with a half-cup of baking soda." All of this should strip the lingering residues from your towels, making "the big shake-out" even more effective. But there's one more big question to resolve first: Is the dryer really the right next stop for your towels?

Heritage Park Laundry Essentials President Tom Ceconi spoke with Hunker exclusively about handling laundry so that you get the softest, fluffiest towels possible, and he was unequivocal on a couple of points. Avoid dryer sheets and fabric softeners, he told us, but the dryer itself is indispensable. "I am a big believer in putting bath towels in the dryer," Ceconi said. "This absolutely improves their softness."

Hang-drying, he said, usually results in stiff towels; the opposite of what you're going for by stripping your laundry and shaking it out before drying. But if you're already dealing with a scratchy towel, resist the urge to soften it up with chemicals. "I want to reinforce that you should never, ever use fabric softener or dryer sheets. These products do not soften towels," Ceconi said. In fact, they deposit a waxy buildup on towels, which Ceconi explained will attract the dirt and residue that make towels feel stiff and scratchy.

You can make ditching dryer sheets on laundry day painless with a simple, natural, non-toxic replacement that's also useful for stopping sheets from balling up in the dryer. "You can naturally soften your towels and speed up drying time with a set of organic wool dryer balls," Ceconi said. "These absorb excess moisture; soften fibers; and allow air to circulate among the towels in the dryer for greater efficiency."