Wrapping up in a fluffy towel after a shower or bath is one of the simple pleasures in life, but maintaining their softness can be tricky, and they often require a bit of extra care. Making sure you don’t overload your washing machine to ensure towels are properly rinsed can help prevent them from going crispy, and even baking soda can be used to restore fluffiness. 

There’s one thing worse than a crispy towel, however, and that’s a musty-smelling one and while there’s a few obvious reasons for why this could happen, there’s one simple thing you can do that will make a world of difference. Making sure your towels are properly rinsed and left to dry after washing can stop any nasty smells from lingering, but there’s one important thing you should be doing before you even wash them. 

Bathrooms are a naturally humid part of the house, with frequent showers and baths creating an environment that’s ideal for mould and mildew growth. Poor ventilation and condensation can also lead to dampness. 

While this can be unsightly, leading to mould and mildew growth in areas of your bathroom that are hard to remove, it can also leave your towels worse for wear.

Hanging your towel up to dry in your bathroom might seem like the obvious thing to do after a shower or bath, but it could actually be damaging them as humid and moist environments make it hard for them to actually dry. 

This can then cause problems when it comes to washing them, and simply throwing towels that haven’t properly dried into your laundry basket could encourage bacteria growth, according to laundry expert Zachary Pozniak. 

Speaking to The Spruce, Zachary explained that simply grabbing a towel you’ve just used, or is still damp from hanging in a humid bathroom, and throwing it into your laundry basket gives “mould, mildew and bacteria a wonderful environment to thrive in”. 

While it’s often advised to wash towels separately from other laundry items to maintain their fluffiness, Zachary also encourages keeping them out of laundry baskets until they’re ready to go into the machine. 

If you can, simply wash them straight away after they’ve been used a few times, or if they are in need of a wash but you can’t do them immediately, leave them to hang in a dry area before adding them to your laundry basket.