Washing towels: how to keep terry cloth beautiful for longer

Properly washing towels

With the right care, your towels will keep their colour, shape, and appearance for a long time. Depending on whether you have white or coloured towels, and whether they are made of cotton or a blended fabric, the washing recommendations may vary slightly. Always follow the care instructions provided by the manufacturer and separate white towels from coloured terry items.

The ideal temperature for washing towels

If you are wondering at what temperature towels can be washed, high-quality terry towels are usually best washed at 60 °C. This ensures that especially white towels come out clean and fresh. Coloured towels can often be hygienically cleaned at 40 °C, but to combat bacteria and odours, it is advisable to wash them at 60 °C from time to time.

Use the following detergent:

• White towels: heavy-duty detergent, preferably in powder form
• Coloured towels: colour or mild detergent

Heavy-duty detergents contain bleach, which makes white laundry shine. However, they are not suitable for darker colours. For those, it is better to use a colour detergent. Whether you choose powder or liquid detergent is up to you, although powder is usually easier to dose, more affordable, and more environmentally friendly.

You can safely skip using fabric softener when washing towels. While it provides a pleasant feel, it reduces the absorbency of the fibres and therefore affects the towel’s functionality.

Which washing programme is suitable for towels?

For cotton towels or blended fabrics, you can use the cotton programme on your washing machine, if available, or select a 60 °C cotton or mixed wash cycle. A delicate cycle is only necessary for sensitive materials.

To ensure towels dry well afterwards, you can spin them at high speeds if they are of high quality. 1,400–1,600 revolutions per minute is ideal. Again, a gentle spin is not required, as good-quality towels can easily withstand this process.

Drying towels: tumble dryer or air drying?

Towels become especially soft and quick to dry in a tumble dryer, although this process requires additional energy. If you do not urgently need to dry them, you can hang towels on a clothesline instead. They will feel a bit firmer, but you benefit from the gentle massaging effect of the terry loops. Especially in summer, you can easily skip the tumble dryer and let your laundry dry in the fresh air.

How many towels fit in a washing machine?

Towels are designed to absorb a lot of water, which is also noticeable in the washing machine. As a general rule, you should load the machine fully for the best washing results. This means there should still be about a hand’s width of space left in the drum. Depending on the size and capacity of your washing machine, the number of towels per load will vary.

Typically, you can fit:

• 2 bath towels
• 4 hand towels
• 4 small towels

You can also wash towels together with bed linen or tea towels at 60 °C. This helps you fill the machine even when you do not have enough terry items for a full load.