How do you Keep Beach Towels Soft?

If you are a frequent beach-goer, you’ll definitely want to know how can you keep your beach towels soft.

After washing and drying, you find your beach towels often feel hard because of soapy residue build-up, excessive dryer heat, or over-drying.

Here, you’ll get an easy beach towel therapy for keeping them soft and fluffy.

Best Practices to Keep Beach Towels Soft

On a splashy and sweaty beach day, all you want is a warm and soak hug from a soft beach towel. But, sometimes you’ll end up getting a hard touch from a stiffed beach towel.

For solving this issue, scroll down for knowing a tried and tested beach towel therapy to keep your beach towels velvety soft and gives you a feathery feel.

Why do Towels go Hard after Washing and Drying?

First, it’s good to know the following causes that harden your beach towels, so that we can avoid these products and practices to keep the beach towels feathery and soft.

• Hard water: The hard water comes with minerals i.e. calcium and magnesium that not only make your beach towels rough and hard but it can also leave stains and make them look dingy and dull.
• Using and overloading harsh detergents: This can strip away the fabric’s natural softness and these harsh detergents stick to the towel even after the wash.
• Fabric softeners: The fabric softeners used during washing comes with silicon that makes your towels a little water-repellent. Thus don’t let them get a good wash.
• Fabric softener sheets: They are often utilized while drying and can end up hardening and reducing the absorbency towel by leaving a waxy coating on it.
• Cold rinse: make sure to use lukewarm to room temperature water for rinsing, otherwise freezy water results in fabric stiffing.
• Dryer or tumble drying: Excessive heat from a dryer and overdrying can damage the fiber, shrink it, and also harden the beach towels.
• Dry-cleaning or ironing: This may reduce the natural absorbency of the towels and leads to stiffing.

Washing:

Now, it’s time to call for action. Whenever you need to wash your beachy dirty towel, follow the below tips to keep them soft and fluffy:

Tip 1 – Use Little and Mild Detergent: Avoid using a harsh and excessive detergent that leaves a soapy residue on the fiber and makes your beach towel feel stiff. Instead, use less and soft detergent so that your washer’s rinse cycle will get an easier time rinsing out those last bits of detergent thoroughly and easily. This will help in keeping your beach towel soft after washing.

Tip 2 – Use Warm Water: While washing, try to use lukewarm water, as it can absorb the detergent well and results in less soapy build-ups that stiffen the towels. It’s good to add detergent to the water and start the wash cycle for a few minutes to let the detergent completely dissolves in the water before popping the dirty towels.

Tip 3 – Use Vinegar instead of Fabric Softeners: Silicon in fabric softeners make your towels water repellent and don’t let them have a good wash. Replace fabric softener with white synthetic vinegar. Use one cup of vinegar after a regular wash cycle, every one and a half months. This will get rid of any soapy residue that makes towels feel hard and rough. It will also restore its natural softness and absorbency.

Tip 4 – Use Baking Soda: Using baking soda while washing the beach towels loosens up their fibers and thoroughly cleans off any chemicals or pesky grime that is hard to clean. For making your towels softer with baking soda magic, follow the below steps:

1. Mix 1/2 cup of baking soda in your detergent.
2. Use it in your washer.
3. Start a normal wash cycle.
4. Rinse thoroughly.

Baking soda not only keeps beach towels soft but also naturally removes mildewy odors from damp towels.

Tip 5 – Lighten the Washing Load: Don’t over-stuff multiple towels in a washing machine at once. It will not only put undue pressure on the washer but also don’t let enough space to rinse out properly. They will end up getting some hiding dirt and bits of detergent, thus, causing them to become stiff and hard.

Drying:

Air drying is best recommended for making your beach towels soft and in good shape. Otherwise, follow the below tips to keep them velvety.

Tip 1 – Don’t Overload the Dryer: If you are using a dryer to dry the beach towel, make sure to lighten the load. Overloading doesn’t allow enough space for the air to properly fluff the fabric of the towel. You’ll end up getting stiff and hard towels.

Tip 2 – Pop in a Tennis Ball or Dryer Ball: If you have any extra unused tennis balls in your cupboard or have a dryer ball, popping a couple of balls in the dryer will help make the towels soft. The bonus advantage is that the tennis ball or dryer ball is also used to get rid of developing any lumps.

Tip 3 – Low Setting Tumble Drying: Excessive heat from tumble drying damages the fiber and results in matted towels. Try to set the dryer at a lower setting. Or you can choose partially line dry the towels and then use a dryer for a finish. For line drying, give the towels a gentle shake to fluff up their fibers and pop them for tumble drying at a low setting for extra softness and fluffiness.