Mildew Smelling Bath Towels

Hi D.,
I use Borateem (sp?) the old original "20 mule team" powdered laundry soap, along with my regular liquid laundry detergent. It takes out the smell of just about anything! Follow the directions on the box. I have teen boys and the laundry comes out smelling fresh! I've also found that not putting any form of fabric softener in with towels is helpful for absorbency. Good Luck! S.

I had the same problem with my towels until an appliance repair man told me it was the soap. If you are using any brand of liquid detergent, there is animal fat in it too keep the liquid consistency. Today's appliances (washers and dishwashers) do not use enough hot water to melt the grease away, so it is left behind in the clothes or towels. The appliances are made more "efficient" to use less water and heat, but it doesn't dissolve the grease enough. Since I have switched to powdered detergents, and use a bit less than suggested, my clothes and towels smell fresh and clean again !

Thanks to all for the advice! I actually had the same problem with mildew smelling towels. I tried the white vinegar mixed with detergent...it really works!!!!!

Have you tried adding vinegar to your loads? My husband carries mail and gets quite sweaty in the summers and his clothes were still smelling after being washed a lot too, and his sister suggested adding about a cup of vinegar when we add the soap. (You may not need that much, just experiment.) It works awesome! I've read it's just a nice natural fabric softener too and it helps clothing retain its color. We add vinegar to our loads quite often. Try it! (We've added right along w/the soap or sometimes I put it in the fabric soft. dispenser - either way works.)

Sometimes I get this probelm. In your washing machine, the middle turner, take a screw driver and pop off the cap. Sometimes not all of the water and soap gets spun out of there. That is where I have found my problem to be. Hope that this helps.

Add baking soda to your clothes. Put 1/2 cup in the washer with the clothes.

Also, have you washed a load in your washer with just a few white towels and bleach and hot water to clean the washer out?

Try soaking in oxiclean for half a day, then washing on hot in the washer. That's what works for me! Good luck!

Vinegar, vinegar, vinegar.

Pour 1 cup of vinegar in the washer instead of laundry detergent and run through a regular cycle. As soon as it's done, run a regular cycle with detergent.

I GUARANTEE it will work.

Try putting a scoop of Oxi-clean in your washer the next time you wash the towels. it should do the trick

Have you tried Oxiclean in the load?
You could also try a whole box of baking soda, just be sure to double rinse.

You can add a cup of vinegar to the wash load or a cup of baking soda.I would let them soak for a while either way in hot water then as soon as they are done put them into the dryer.

Soak them in the washer with vinegar and baking soda along with your regular laundry soap. I have soaked them over night and then laundered as normal and they were fine.(the baking soda will fizz and bubble up when coming in contact with the vinegar)That is normal

I have a front load washing machine and if I don't remove the clothes as soon as they are done in the warmer months then they will start smelling within a few hours. With towels especially and have to make sure they get completely dry. If they start smelling sour, I just rewash them and try to get them out as soon as they are done. With my old washer, I didn't have this problem unless they were in there a few days which didn't happen often unless my kids did the laundry and I didn't know they were in there.

I use the arm & hammer detergent which is one of the cheapest brands and it seems to clean better than most of the expensive detergents.

I've had this problem before and when I recently had to have a repairman come fix the lid latch assembly on my washer he told me that my towels smell because I've used too much detergent and it's not getting completely rinsed out since my loads are so big. In addition, I have an older washing machine so it doesn't have a 2nd rinse cycle like the new machines have. He made a good point that today's detergents are 2x-3x concentrated so you really don't need to use as much (not even the recommended amount on the back of the bottle because that's just their way of getting you to consume more so you have to buy more). He also said that he would recommend NEVER using liquid fabric softener in your washing machine because it's made of parts animal fat and it coats the inside barrel of the machine. He said it was best to use a fabric softener sheet in the dryer and even mentioned that if I'd cut them in half I could save even more money. This repairman was an older gentleman who'd been doing this type of repair work for years so I felt comfortable with his opinions.

And, it may be that it's just time to buy a few new towels and make cleaning rags out of the old ones. Hope this helps! :) I'm hoping for a new machine with a 2nd rinse cycle...maybe after our next tax return. I keep telling my husband that with 4 kids who are constantly growing I'm gonna need a bigger/better machine because their clothes take up more space now.

We are on a private well and I have the same problem. You can either put a small amount of bleach in the wash water or I've found Borax to be a good alternative. Be sure they don't sit in the washer for any period of time after they're done washing too. Hope that helps! KS

White vinegar in the wash or oxiclean.
T.

The best way that I've found is to put a little white vinager in the wash with the towels. It makes the smell go away. hope this helps

Have you tried washing them with some vinegar added to the wash? That's my best suggestion!

White vinegar is a time saver in my house. You don't even have to put it in for the whole wash, just the rinse cycle. It can also be used on any of your clothes, not just towels. It is extremely helpful to me when my husband tries to be nice in the middle of the week and do some laundry, then forgets about the load in the washer! I don't rewash the whole load, I just turn the washer back to the rinse cycle and add a little white vinegar to the laundry. Works every time. good luck!

Is there a mildew problem in your actual bathroom?? You may want to start there. I am a firm believer in Tide, even though the new "concentrated" half size bottles tick me off. Tide and Bounce are more expensive, but they work. I am a chef and the only thing that gets the food off and the smell out of my aprons is Tide and Bounce. Good Luck!!

Have you tried using a 1/2 cup baking soda in the washer with your usual detergent. my boyfriend is a heavy equipment mech.and that works for me to get the odor out of his clothes and its harmless

Do not put damp clothes, towels, washcloths, dish cloths, etc., in the hamper. If you're not going to wash that day, hang them on a hook so they dry alone before you put them in the hamper with other dirty clothes.

Wash with plenty of water.

Do not let them sit in the washing machine after it's done.

Dry them completely! before folding them.

Wash towels often. Do not let them get too stinky in the first place.

I change my dish cloths and towels daily... the dirtier they get, the harder it is to get them clean.

All the other product ideas people gave were great. Just try them out and see what is best.

When I do use a softener, I use half the dose or half the sheet (or 1/3 sheet). It does the job and doesn't get as much of that film. Most of the time I don't use any for towels, just clothes that have synthetics and might "cling".

For freshness, you could also put a dryer sheet in the linen closet.

put vinegar in the laundry and put them out in the sun to dry

Use vinegar in your wash...sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't! We've had to throw out so many nice towels...now we just buy cheap ones from Walmart!!! BTW congrats on your new comer, coming in October - our lil guy was born in October! Great month!!!

Hi! My towels used to smell that way & then i read online about distilled white vinegar. I use it for my towels instead of fabric softner & I use 1/2 vinegar & 1/2 fabric softener on my families clothes. You can use it instead of fabric softener. You can put vinegar in a downy ball or in the fabric softener part of your machine (if it has one). It works pretty good for most weird smells!

God Bless!
K.

Hi D., I have had that issue from time to time myself. I know this sounds very strange, but it's usually only with the red/pink/orange towels. I started putting in just a tiny bit of bleach into the water (of course you fill the whole washer up first) Then add your towels in. They came out perfect! Plus honestly they really didn't fade. That I was shocked out. I just figured i wouldn't buy anymore red type towels in the future. I don't know why I have this issue but we do. Anyway i hope that this helps. I've also heard about adding either viniger or baking soda also to the water. I hope it helps.

If you have not tried bleach, I would try that first. You could also try to use soem Fels-Naptha Soap. Cut off about a 2 inch chunk off of a bar, boil it down in some water, add it to your load of laundry with your normal detergent and that should help. Wash them in hot water and let them dry for two dry cycles. The soap is usually available at Dollar General or Wal-Mart, and if you can not find it there go to www.soapsgoneby.com and you can order it online. It is very inexpensive - about 1.50 a bar and works great! Hope that helps, E.

Do you have a front loading washer? We do and our towels had that smell also. I started putting vinegar into the bleach cup when I wash the towels and the smell has dissapeared. It wasn't right away, but after a few washes. I use the vinegar with every wash now and we don't have the smell(they don't smell of vinegar either). I also take them out and put the into the dryer as soon as the wash is done. Good Luck and God Bless.

I had the same problem with some of my daughter's clothes. It was like they got put away damp & the smell was lingering after a few washes. Vinegar is a great idea, but I have also put ammonia in the wash cycle with the soap. It doesn't stick to the clothes but I also use fabric softener in the rinse cycle. This also works on my husbands sweaty clothes. Good luck!

I have had this problem and tried everything under the sun!! What works for me is soaking the towels in amonia and hot water, open windows!! It will open your sinuses! I know it seems drastic but I was almost to the point of throwing towels away. I soaked them for about 15 min in the bath tub, let the water drain, then moved them to the washer and washed as usual.

Some of the advice I was going to offer has already been said, but I will add a lot of this problem is due to Wichita's water. I've lived all over the country and never had the the trouble I had here. I had the water professionally tested and much of the "off" smell in your clothes is due to deposits in the water. You can also try an "oxy clean" type detergent with bleach alternative to try and help remove the smell. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone! Good luck. :)

Add vinegar to your wash water, once the washer has filled stop the cycle for a bit, (about 15 minutes or so)add an extra rinse cycle also. This should fix the problem. Vinegar is also good for removing other "smells" lingering in the air, say someone got sick and you can smell it put a bowl(s) of vinegar out for a hour or so and it will help remove the smell that way as well.

We had this problem when we were washing all the towels together. I started washing them with other clothes and the smell went away. Be sure to get them out of the washer right away too.

Hope that helps.

I wash cloth diapers (talk about smell!), and what always works for me is 1/4-1/2 cup baking soda (it is a deoderizor, and 1/2 cup white vinigar(it acts like a disinfectant) in hot water.

One other thing I use when my kitchen rags get to smelling like that is lysol's concentrated liquid. I get it a walmart, and it comes in a small dark brown bottle. Just pour a cup of that in your wash. And do a second rinse.

If you can't bleach the towels (I had this same problem), put white vinegar in the wash cycle (I put it in my washing machine's bleach dispenser). Washing in hot water will help too. White vinegar also works well in the washer on very smelly clothes.

Try washing them in bleach, or color safe bleach.

Hi, D.,

If you can dry your towels outside in the sunshine the next few times you wash them, the mildewy smell should go away. The towels will have a little rougher texture dried that way than they do in the dryer, but I think they become more absorbent. You don't have to have a clothesline -- hang the wet towels over a deck railing, even shrubs.

Good luck.

there is a product called Perma-Wash. I use it on my kids potty pants :) we are potty training. It is originally marketed for Mold and Mildew contractors but it totally safe to use in your wash. I put about 1 /2 to 1 cup in my wash and it's it GREAT! I happen to buy it in bulk if you need otherwise it's kinda hard to find.

i use oxi clean in addition to detergent for extra tough stains and unholy smells.

try a half cup of white vinegar in the rinse cycle. Then run the rinse cycle again.

I would try adding vinegar to the rinse cycle and making sure to pull them out of the washer right away when they are done washing. Dry them completely... no dampness. Don't let them sit in the laundry, wash them right away.

Easy, right? Just kidding. All that stuff will work but sometimes it is impossible to do!

L. C.

We use white vinegar in the wash water. It works great. I just put a few capfuls in the softener dispenser. The towels don't smell like vinegar but they don't smell like mildew either.

I remember having that problem.....I use to add a little bit of bleach to my load, even if they were colored. Now I buy a detergent with bleach alternative and I have not had that problem anymore. I hope this helps you! Good luck!!

~S.

Try washing them with color safe bleach. Good luck.

D.,
Have you tried bleach in the wash? Just a little in the
towel should help. Or you could use something called odo-
ban. I am not sure where to buy it where you leave.
It may be at a Safeway or Hen House.
My best to you! God Bless you!
K.