While new bath towels can be a simple luxury, they can shed and leave lint all over you, the bathroom and your laundry facilities. Unfortunately, part of what makes new towels soft--the excess fibres--is also what makes them shed. Eventually the towels will stop shedding, simply through washing them repeatedly, but that process can often take months. There are a few ways, however, to help stop the lint quickly, by treating your towels at home with common household products.
- While new bath towels can be a simple luxury, they can shed and leave lint all over you, the bathroom and your laundry facilities.
Wash your towels with vinegar. Put the towels in the washer alone, with no other clothing. Use hot water and add 1 cup of white vinegar along with your washing powder. New towels are often coated with chemicals to make them less absorbent while they are in the store, and vinegar helps break this down. Breaking down the chemical can help speed up the delinting process.
Add baking soda to the wash. On a load when you are not using vinegar, try adding 1/2 cup of baking soda to a full load of towels. The soda can help make your towels fluffy, and may aid in removing lint. To ensure that it does not clump, mix it into the water prior to adding the towels.
Use the dryer with dryer sheets. Dryer sheets will help remove lint from the towels. Again, do not place any other items in the dryer with the towels, as they may become covered in the lint the towels are releasing. Run the dryer through a full cycle on high heat.
Hang your towels outside to dry. Wash your towels normally and hang them on a clothesline in the sun. The wind can help remove some of the lint. In addition, drying towels outside does not produce static--which can keep lint on the towels--making them shed more.