So, like twenty/thirty years ago, a bunch of USA brand, union-made textile companies closed up their American plants and have since been hopping all over Asia chasing the best price. Meanwhile, American consumers have gotten used to fast fashion, where even Calvin Klein can be purchased at Herbergers for 90% off. It didn't bode well for the "linens" industry.
Sheets are doing alright right now; having quality bedding is "in" at the moment, and there were always enough people wanting nice bedding for a few companies to hang in there.
But towels? Why do you need nice towels for the five minutes it takes to dry off your naked body once a day?
So, towel companies fall in and out of favor, change names, are appropriated by brands like Martha Stewart Home, move locations to Sri Lanka (then Malaysia less than a year later) and are, essentially, extremely difficult to identify as Buy It For Life (BIFL).
So, look for white, 100% cotton towels big enough to completely wrap around yourself. Look for stitching at the hem ends that's clean, backstitched well and with no exposed or nearly exposed edges to rub free and fray.
So, look for white, 100% cotton towels big enough to completely wrap around yourself. Look for stitching at the hem ends that's clean, backstitched well and with no exposed or nearly exposed edges to rub free and fray.
Edit: it should go without saying, but just in case, inspect the selvage edge of the towels for nicks, frays or tears, too. /Edit Do this and the basics for BIFL are nearly met!
To keep your towels BIFL, you have to take care of them. You don't have to wash your towels as often as you're washing your towels. You're dabbing clean water off a clean body. Washing them after every, or every other, or every third use is ridiculous.
To keep your towels BIFL, you have to take care of them. You don't have to wash your towels as often as you're washing your towels. You're dabbing clean water off a clean body. Washing them after every, or every other, or every third use is ridiculous.
When you wash them, wash them as hot as your washer will go, without any fabric softener EVER, but maybe occasionally a vinegar rinse, with the tiniest bit of laundry detergent and if you can, set the washer to do an extra rinse.
You may occasionally need to soak your towels in a high concentrate bleach solution, but only to get them white again. Bleach will eat away at your towels eventually. Oh! White towels because of the heat of the wash will start to fade any color you chose, and because it's easy to keep white.
Of course, you don't want them smelling musty, but that's a drying problem, not a washing one. As in, they should be completely dry within a few hours of getting wet. So get them dry in between showers. Each person having two to rotate, or tossing them outside or in the dryer for a few minutes.
Of course, you don't want them smelling musty, but that's a drying problem, not a washing one. As in, they should be completely dry within a few hours of getting wet. So get them dry in between showers. Each person having two to rotate, or tossing them outside or in the dryer for a few minutes.
Something to ensure they're dry before it's next shower. There is so much fabric in a towel, any soap or softener remaining in it after washing will affect its absorbency, so don't overdo it.
Dry them completely before folding and putting them away. Dryers are one of the worst things you can do to your textiles, so if you have the ability to sun dry them, that's preferable, even if the dryer gets them mostly dry and you Gerry-rig something on your apartment balcony for the last hour or so.
If you can't sun dry them at all, go ahead and kill it in the machine. Better to have a clean towel that will get damaged a little faster than a dirty musty towel that lingers in your home for forever.
Oh, and if you're one of those cretins who use a bath towel to dry off your bath or shower, STOP IT!
Oh, and if you're one of those cretins who use a bath towel to dry off your bath or shower, STOP IT!
The bath and shower are not clean, unless you are as anal in your housekeeping as I am in my laundry. So, that means you're cleaning your towel after every bath (or you're super-grotty), wearing down its uses. Get a squeegee, for crying out loud! Or a couple of chamois or shop towels made to absorb scads of water and get washed frequently.
And if you dye your hair or do other unspeakable things with towels, get a few specifically for that purpose and in a different color to tell the difference. Obviously, these would not be BIFL, but I think you'd be surprised how long they'll last.
For life-messes: body fluids, juice, etc., you can keep old, retired towels for those uses. All my kitchen towels are my husband pre-me bath towels I cut in half and hemmed against fraying. Only the largest and grossest messes do we need a bath-towel-assist, and then I wash and bleach the crap outta it.
For super-fun laundry-time getting your whites their whitest, try a bluing solution. It's a rinse you add to your laundry that tints the water blue. Blue whites look whiter than yellow whites (which is why so many laundry detergents have a blue dye).
And if you dye your hair or do other unspeakable things with towels, get a few specifically for that purpose and in a different color to tell the difference. Obviously, these would not be BIFL, but I think you'd be surprised how long they'll last.
For life-messes: body fluids, juice, etc., you can keep old, retired towels for those uses. All my kitchen towels are my husband pre-me bath towels I cut in half and hemmed against fraying. Only the largest and grossest messes do we need a bath-towel-assist, and then I wash and bleach the crap outta it.
For super-fun laundry-time getting your whites their whitest, try a bluing solution. It's a rinse you add to your laundry that tints the water blue. Blue whites look whiter than yellow whites (which is why so many laundry detergents have a blue dye).
So if you have iron in your water even with bleach, your whites are never WHITE, try a blue rinse and see how that does. CAUTION: too much will be obviously blue, so experiment first!
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