Public Service Announcement
This morning, after I had washed my hands, I dried them on a random towel hanging in my bathroom. A few minutes later, I reached up to brush something off my face and *sniff sniff* What's this? Ew! Stinky towel smell!
You know what I'm talking about. It's sour, it's musty, it gets on your skin, and it's probably in your home. Maybe you have poor ventilation in the bathroom. Maybe, like me, your housemate likes to take your towels to the gym and let them rot in a smelly gym bag for a week. It doesn't matter how it starts, really, because once it sets in, regular washing will not get rid of it, and it just comes back and back. In fact, I have noticed it in many homes, because no one seems to know what to do about it. WELL NO MORE!!
A number of years ago, frustrated by the towels in my own apartment, I stumbled across an answer so simple that there is no reason anyone should have to suffer from stinky towels anymore.
Here's the thing. Your towels are getting stinky because at some point in their career, they didn't dry out properly, and in that moist environment, bacteria or mildew took hold and started to grow, providing that smell we all know and fail to love. Regular washing got rid of some of the nasties, but not all of them, so every time afterwards that you used that towel, the stinkies came back. Maybe not at the first use, but at the second or third. Then forevermore you seemed to be stuck with a towel that would never really come out clean.
The solution: You need to disinfect your towels. But my towels are colored, you might say. I can't use bleach! No problem. All you really need is Hydrogen Peroxide. (Which will not bleach your towels! Promise!)
Here's a fun test, which you should repeat often. Take a capful or so of hydrogen peroxide, and pour it onto a spot in the middle of your towel. (I use a spray bottle for this because it's easier, but the method is not important.) If your towel is reasonably sanitary, nothing will happen. But if you have nasties growing, it will start to fizz. If your towel is borderline, you won't see any fizzing, but if you put it next to your ear, you'll hear it. All that fizzing is bacteria dying. Bacteria that you were rubbing all over your skin. MMM.
So your towels are fizzing and you're starting to freak out. What do you do? Simple. Go to the grocery store and buy more hydrogen peroxide. Buy lots of it. Big bottles. At least one big bottle per load of towels you have to wash. Or two of the regular medium sized bottles. Also go to the laundry aisle and look for powdered oxygen bleach. It's color safe.
Next, laundry. Fill the washer up with towels and pour in a whole bottle (or two!) of hydrogen peroxide. Then wash and dry as usual. When they're done, repeat the fizz test to see how clean they actually got. If they're still fizzing (even only when you listen very closely), keep adding a bottle or two of peroxide every time you wash them. Pretty soon, they'll come out clean.
Afterwards, whenever you wash towels, it will help to use a couple tablespoons of oxygen bleach in the wash. Follow whatever directions are on the container. And it's a good idea to keep doing the fizz test every so often, just to make sure the nasties aren't sneaking back in. (Especially if you have a housemate who brings your towels to the gym, like poo-head. I mean, like Randy. Or if you have poor ventilation in the bathroom.) If they ever start fizzing again, just repeat the peroxide in the wash routine. Works like a charm.
You know what I'm talking about. It's sour, it's musty, it gets on your skin, and it's probably in your home. Maybe you have poor ventilation in the bathroom. Maybe, like me, your housemate likes to take your towels to the gym and let them rot in a smelly gym bag for a week. It doesn't matter how it starts, really, because once it sets in, regular washing will not get rid of it, and it just comes back and back. In fact, I have noticed it in many homes, because no one seems to know what to do about it. WELL NO MORE!!
A number of years ago, frustrated by the towels in my own apartment, I stumbled across an answer so simple that there is no reason anyone should have to suffer from stinky towels anymore.
Here's the thing. Your towels are getting stinky because at some point in their career, they didn't dry out properly, and in that moist environment, bacteria or mildew took hold and started to grow, providing that smell we all know and fail to love. Regular washing got rid of some of the nasties, but not all of them, so every time afterwards that you used that towel, the stinkies came back. Maybe not at the first use, but at the second or third. Then forevermore you seemed to be stuck with a towel that would never really come out clean.
The solution: You need to disinfect your towels. But my towels are colored, you might say. I can't use bleach! No problem. All you really need is Hydrogen Peroxide. (Which will not bleach your towels! Promise!)
Here's a fun test, which you should repeat often. Take a capful or so of hydrogen peroxide, and pour it onto a spot in the middle of your towel. (I use a spray bottle for this because it's easier, but the method is not important.) If your towel is reasonably sanitary, nothing will happen. But if you have nasties growing, it will start to fizz. If your towel is borderline, you won't see any fizzing, but if you put it next to your ear, you'll hear it. All that fizzing is bacteria dying. Bacteria that you were rubbing all over your skin. MMM.
So your towels are fizzing and you're starting to freak out. What do you do? Simple. Go to the grocery store and buy more hydrogen peroxide. Buy lots of it. Big bottles. At least one big bottle per load of towels you have to wash. Or two of the regular medium sized bottles. Also go to the laundry aisle and look for powdered oxygen bleach. It's color safe.
Next, laundry. Fill the washer up with towels and pour in a whole bottle (or two!) of hydrogen peroxide. Then wash and dry as usual. When they're done, repeat the fizz test to see how clean they actually got. If they're still fizzing (even only when you listen very closely), keep adding a bottle or two of peroxide every time you wash them. Pretty soon, they'll come out clean.
Afterwards, whenever you wash towels, it will help to use a couple tablespoons of oxygen bleach in the wash. Follow whatever directions are on the container. And it's a good idea to keep doing the fizz test every so often, just to make sure the nasties aren't sneaking back in. (Especially if you have a housemate who brings your towels to the gym, like poo-head. I mean, like Randy. Or if you have poor ventilation in the bathroom.) If they ever start fizzing again, just repeat the peroxide in the wash routine. Works like a charm.