Have you ever noticed how a brand-new towel doesn’t quite dry you… but leaves lint all over your body?

There’s a reason for that.

Many new towels are treated with fabric softeners to make them feel soft and attractive… but that also reduces how well they absorb water.

So yes, wash your towels before first use. A simple trick? Wash without detergent and add about 2 cups of vinegar.

Also… a few things we often overlook:
1) Don’t wash your towels with regular laundry. Zippers and buttons can snag them, and they can also pick up unwanted germs.
2) Always air dry your towels properly. Damp towels are a perfect environment for germs to grow.
3) And when washing, use warm water (not hot) unless you want your full towel to slowly become a face towel 😄 And you don’t want to transfer germs from the towels to your regular clothes.
4) Try not to overuse bleach. It weakens the fibres and makes towels less absorbent over time.
5) And please, don’t share towels. Even with your children. Some infections spread easily this way, including certain skin conditions and public lice or crabs.

Finally, although I have told you to use only warm water, hot water is a good idea for white and heavily soiled towels, and it definitely kills bacteria and germs But using it long term will weaken your towels. Growing up, we had a pot at home that was dedicated to boiling our towels. Imagine how many towels we shrank! 😊 But we were certainly germ-free!