New Towels!

If you think I'm a geek about my existing towels, I shouldn't admit that I get giddy about new ones. Only because I don't buy them often, I splurge and buy good ones and I love colour.

If you want those new towels to be beautiful for longer, treat them right! Always launder towels before using them for the first time. Here are a few great things I have learned with new towels:

• For new, coloured towels, soak and then wash them in a vinegar/ water solution to help 'set' the colours. Salt (regular table salt) also helps set colours, so if you wanted to do a second 'soak' you could do this as well with about 1/3 cup of salt. With bold, saturated or deep colours, this is particularly important;
• Deep colours may bleed for a few washes even when treated, so be careful what you wash them with for the first 10 washes!
• Fabric softeners reduce the absorption of your towels. They also reduce the 'loft' of your towels. This is because they coat the cotton. If you are starting with new towels, never use softeners on them. If you have used softeners on them in the past, wash them with a 1/2 cup of baking soda to help minimize the silicone build-up. If you use dryer sheets, these too add build-up. Use a 1/2 sheet or old sheets (ones used already) if you must use them at all;
• Always wash sets of towels together to keep them the same colour and 'fading' at the same pace;
• Use less detergent than a normal laundry load to avoid build-up... about 1/2 to 3/4 is sufficient;
• Only use bleach on white towels. A colour-safe bleach might be used on coloured towels but it won't have the same disinfecting effect. Either sunlight or regular vinegar washes will help disinfect your coloured towels;
• Wash coloured towels in warm water. Cool water keeps colours fresh but hot water gets rid of body oils, dirt or staleness;
• Using lower heat to dry towels will increase softness/ reduce shrinking. A gas dryer is more gentle on all fabrics, if you have a choice; 
• Towels do create more lint at first and it might continue for a few washes.This is normal for good towels - just clean out the lint traps and don't stress it;
• Lint from cotton towels is perfect nesting material for birds... plush and natural and biodegradable. Won't hurt baby birds. I put some out in a suet cage and let the birds take it from there. Oh - and won't they have pretty coloured nests??
• Avoid using towels on sink areas or directly on toothpastes etc; some face creams, toothpastes, and cleaner residues have lightening agents which will discolour your towels permanently. Watch for terms like 'whitening', 'brightening' or 'peroxide'.

What kind of towels do you like? Did my tips help you?