Stop washing towels with clothes: laundry experts reveal the simple swap that makes them fluffy again

Ryan Collins • December 10, 2025 16:39

The towels were technically clean: scented, bright enough, folded in a stack that looked fine from the doorway. But they felt like cardboard. They skimmed over skin instead of soaking anything up, and after a few washes they started to smell vaguely… damp, even straight from the cupboard. I threw in more detergent, more softener, hotter cycles, colder cycles. Nothing.

Then a laundry nerd friend looked at one of my sad, ex‑fluffy bath sheets and asked a question I’d never considered: “Why are you washing these like T‑shirts?” She told me to stop putting towels in with clothes for a month, make one tiny swap in the way I ran those loads – and promised they’d bounce back. I rolled my eyes, tried it anyway, and pulled out towels that felt shockingly close to the ones I’d bought years ago. Same machine, same detergent. Different rules.

What changed wasn’t a magic product. It was treating towels as what they really are: thick, thirsty fabric that needs space, water and its own routine, not a supporting role in an overstuffed mixed wash.

Why washing towels with clothes ruins them

Towels are dense loops of cotton designed to drink water and hold on to it. That’s brilliant in a bathroom and terrible in an overloaded drum. When you pack towels in with jeans, hoodies and school uniforms, those loops hoard detergent, softener and minerals from hard water. Over time, the fibres get coated and clogged, so they feel stiff and stop absorbing properly.

Mixed loads also mean your machine has to work harder. Heavy towels press against lighter fabrics, the drum can’t turn as freely, and the rinse struggles to flush all the soap out. Zips, hooks and rough seams rub against towel loops, lifting fibres, causing pulls and making that worn, matted look arrive much faster than it should.

Fabric softener – the thing many people add to “fix” crunchy towels – quietly makes the problem worse. Softeners work by leaving a thin, waxy film on fabric. On a shirt, that can feel smooth. On a towel, it smothers the loops so they lie flat, smell perfumed and absorb almost nothing. You get something that looks fluffy, behaves like a shower curtain and develops that gym‑bag smell far too quickly.

The simple swap that makes towels fluffy again

The core change laundry experts agree on sounds almost insultingly simple:

Stop washing towels with clothes. Wash towels on their own, with more water, no softener, and a proper rinse.

Separating loads lets you set the cycle for what towels need, not what a random mix of fabrics can tolerate. You can choose a hotter wash (40–60°C for most cotton towels), a higher water level and an extra rinse, without worrying about shrinking a favourite jumper or fading dark leggings.

The “simple swap” most people feel straight away is this:

Old habit: One big mixed load (clothes + towels + whatever’s on the floor).
New habit: Clothes in one load, towels in their own dedicated load – plus a rinse‑friendly helper such as a small measure of distilled white vinegar instead of fabric softener.

The separation does the heavy lifting. The vinegar (optional but powerful) just finishes the job by stripping off old residue so those cotton loops can spring back up instead of lying flat and slimy.

How to wash towels so they stay soft – step by step

You don’t need a new machine or fancy products. You just need to give towels their own “spa appointment”.

1. Run towel‑only loads

Pile bath towels, hand towels and flannels together. Skip clothes, microfibre cloths and anything with zips or hooks.

Aim to fill the drum to about two‑thirds full, so towels can move and rinse.
Keep new colourful towels separate from whites for the first few washes; they can bleed.

2. Use the right cycle and temperature

Cotton towels like steady, thorough heat.

Temperature:
- Everyday use: 40–60°C.
- If someone’s ill or towels are very musty: up to 60°C, following the care label.
Cycle: Cotton or “towels” setting with a longer wash and at least one extra rinse if your machine offers it.
Spin: Medium–high (around 1200–1400 rpm) to remove water without beating the life out of the fibres.

3. Go lighter on detergent, skip the softener

More detergent doesn’t mean cleaner towels; it usually means more residue.

Use slightly less than the manufacturer recommends for a full load, especially in soft‑water areas.
Avoid pods if you consistently overfill the drum – they struggle to dissolve properly in crowded loads.
Do not add fabric softener to towel loads if you want them absorbent again.

4. Optional but powerful: swap softener for vinegar

If your towels already feel flat or smell stale, make this extra swap:

Add ¼–½ cup (60–120 ml) of distilled white vinegar to the fabric softener compartment so it releases in the rinse.
The mild acidity helps dissolve built‑up detergent and hard‑water minerals, so fibres feel naturally softer without a waxy coating.
The vinegar smell disappears as the towels dry; what’s left is just “neutral clean”.

Never pour vinegar directly onto towels, and never mix it with bleach.

5. Dry for loft, not punishment

How you dry towels changes their feel as much as how you wash them.

Tumble dryer:
- Use a medium heat, not max.
- Add a couple of dryer balls (or clean tennis balls) to separate layers and fluff fibres.
- Take towels out while they’re just dry, not baked – over‑drying makes them stiff.
Air drying:
- Shake each towel well before hanging to lift the pile.
- Dry them in good airflow; radiators alone can make them board‑stiff.
- A quick 10–15 minutes in the dryer at the end, if you have one, transforms line‑dried crunch into softness.

Old habits vs new: what really changes

A few small switches add up. Look at what most of us do by default, and what happens when you change the rules for a month:

Habit	Swap	What you’ll notice
Mixed loads (towels + clothes)	Towel‑only loads	Less lint on clothes, better rinsing, fewer pulled loops
Fabric softener in every wash	No softener on towels; optional vinegar in rinse	Towels absorb again, smell clean not perfumed‑damp
Overfilled drum	Drum ½–⅔ full	Softer feel, fewer creases, less mustiness

The first few times, it feels like extra effort. Then you feel the difference stepping out of the shower – and it quietly becomes the new normal.

Extra tips from laundry pros

Once you’ve separated towel loads and ditched softener, these tweaks keep that “hotel towel” feeling going.

Break in new towels properly. Wash them twice before first use to remove factory coatings that repel water.
Rescue really crunchy towels. Run one hot towel‑only wash with just detergent, then again with just vinegar in the rinse. Dry with dryer balls. Many “dead” towels come back from that.
Watch out for microfibre. Microfibre cloths cling to lint; wash them separately from cotton towels or they end up grey and sad.
Don’t share heat with delicates. High‑heat towel cycles are too harsh for elastic leggings, bras and fine knits. Keeping them in separate loads extends everyone’s life expectancy.
Give the machine a fresh start. Once a month, run an empty hot cycle with no detergent (or a machine cleaner if you like). A cleaner drum means fresher towels.

What changed in my bathroom

A month after I stopped throwing towels in with whatever else needed washing, the whole bathroom felt different. The stack on the shelf looked fuller without buying anything new. Towels wrapped properly around skin instead of skating off, hair dried faster, and that faint sour smell that used to live in the airing cupboard simply… went.

Friends asked if I’d splashed out on posh hotel‑grade towels. The answer was quietly satisfying: not at all. I’d just stopped treating them as an afterthought in mixed loads and started giving them their own cycle, their own space and a rinse that actually finished the job.

Let’s be honest: nobody is going to become a full‑time laundry engineer. But splitting towels from clothes, skipping softener and letting water do more of the work is a tiny change with a big, very soft payoff every single morning.

FAQ:

Do I really need to stop washing towels with clothes every time?
For the best fluff and absorbency, yes – especially for bath and hand towels. If you occasionally sneak a T‑shirt into a towel load it won’t ruin everything, but making towel‑only washes your default is what brings the big difference.

Will my towels smell of vinegar if I use it in the rinse?
No. The smell is strong in the bottle but disappears in the rinse and as towels dry. What you’re left with is a neutral, “nothing” scent – which reads as properly clean.

Isn’t fabric softener designed for this? Why avoid it?
Softener coats fibres to make them feel smooth, but that coating blocks the loops on towels that are meant to absorb water. Over time, they feel limp, stop drying you properly and hold on to odours more.

Can I do this with coloured towels and whites together?
It’s safest to wash them separately, especially when towels are new, as darker colours can bleed. Once colours are stable, many people happily mix them, but keep it all towels – no jeans, no hoodies.

What if I don’t have a tumble dryer?
You can still get softer towels by washing them separately, spinning well and giving each one a good shake before hanging. If you occasionally have access to a dryer, even a short finish on low heat with dryer balls makes a noticeable difference.