Mf towel always get rough

S

sulla

New member
I cant seem to find a way to make my towel stay soft after a wash..



After i wash my towel the first time they always get rougher than brand new unwashed towel of the same type.. I used cold ro water with dawn or cg mf wash.. They always get rougher is there anything i else i missed ?



Also i find that if i wash with cg mf wash and do last vinegar rinse the towel actually gets rougher rather than if i wash only with cg mf wash



dawn wash however gets better with vinegar rinse..



How do you maintain your towel's softness ?
 
sulla- I can sympathize, though I get this more with cotton than MF (less of a problem as a little softener takes care of it with cotton).



-How are you washing with RO water?

-Is the "roughness" functional? I.e., do the "rough" towels still pass a CD-test?

-Are you air-drying or putting them in the dyer?
 
I don't have this problem at all, here is what I do;



1) Wash only MF together in cold - warm water

2) I use Micro-Restore detergent, 1oz to 2oz max

3) no fabric softeners at all

4) dry low to no heat, I usually throw in those dryer balls, to fluff up and separate the light weight mf from each other



My mf are softner then they were new. In my area we have extremely hard city water, they stopped usimg softeners in the water here.
 
Accumulator said:
sulla- I can sympathize, though I get this more with cotton than MF (less of a problem as a little softener takes care of it with cotton).



-How are you washing with RO water?

-Is the "roughness" functional? I.e., do the "rough" towels still pass a CD-test?

-Are you air-drying or putting them in the dyer?
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I handwash in cold water....soak for 5 mins and then agitate for 5 mins

At first I thought hard water is the problem.. But RO water seems to only improve it by a bit...



It does pass a CD test...Could it be static problem ? Accumulator since you seem to have tried all the out of the box methods... Have you used a pet hair brush to remove static from the towels ? Or is it a bad idea ?



I air-dry them with a fan....Will dryer be better ?
 
odd, adding vinegar usually gets them softer for me. I use cold water only.



I air dry. Though if I dry them in sunlight, it does tend to be more rough.



Maybe its different for me since I use a high efficiency washer.
 
sulla said:
I handwash in cold water....soak for 5 mins and then agitate for 5 mins
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Hmmm...I wash mine in hot (and I mean, usually, *HOT* water).

At first I thought hard water is the problem.. But RO water seems to only improve it by a bit...
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I can't help but wonder about the hand-washing. I machine-wash all of mine. Note that with whichever method, you need to rinse rinse rinse and I can't imagine using enough RO water to do that (and I go through a *LOT* of RO water ;) )...IMO proper rinsing takes *gallons*. My HE washer seems quite lousy when it comes to effective rinsing and I bet most hand-washing techniques would be somewhat similar to that.

It does pass a CD test...
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Then *I* would quit thinking about it right there. Period. That's all I'd care about- "is it soft enough? Yes. OK then..."



Could it be static problem ? Accumulator since you seem to have tried all the out of the box methods... Have you used a pet hair brush to remove static from the towels ? Or is it a bad idea
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?



Heh heh, nah..I've never tried one of my pet brushes for that, and to be honest I don't mind static electricity on my MFs. Am I "turning my cars into dus magnets?!?" Beats me...I just don't think about it :nixweiss



I air-dry them with a fan....Will dryer be better ?
Click to expand...



Well, it seems like everything I tumble-dry comes out nicer than anything I air-dry, so yeah...I'd do that. Make sure the dryer's tub/drum/whatever-it's-called isn't contaminated with fabric softeners though.



So, hard water issues aside, I guess my overall advice is to, uhm...quit babying those MFs and machine wash/dry them. I dunno, I just never have problems from "abusing" mine with pretty aggressive maintenance routines.
 
corrswitch said:
..I use a high efficiency washer.
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I wash mine in both my regular/agitator-style washer and my HE. I kinda think that the HE is a little too gentle and water-efficient for optimal performance. That comes up a bit when doing regular/non-detailing laundry too, I see both pros and cons to the HE washer and I'm glad I can choose between it and the old-tech one.
 
just the other day i soaked my microfibers that i use for wax and polish removal in boiling water straight off the stove as well as a little bit of detergent for about a hour. I did this twice.



First time soap



Second time with vinegar



Third & Fourth time was in cold water to rinse and soak



then off to the washer. My microfiber towels came out so soft it was great. I never dry my towels in a dryer. Even though i live in a apartment complex i hang them dry in pairs and these towels i have been using for a good year or so and they are still perfect.
 
mayeb I am against the masses here, but I jus throw them in the washer with either MF restore or ALL with HOT water. Works just fine for me! I throw them in the dryer with NO fabric sheet on warm...
 
when i air dry mine, they get stiff, and 'rougher'.



when i throw them in the dryer (even on 'no heat' cycle) they come out perfect - soft as new
 
I was having the same problem with my towels. I wash them in an HE washer on warm or hot and was air drying them on very low. I read that vinegar will help remove all the soap and oils in any fabric. So I gave it a whirl. The first time it was a little better but not what I was after. The second wash I used the vinegar again but put them through a second rinse. Afterward the softness was renewed quite a bit. They aren't brand new, but much better than they were.



Give it a try, it works.



2 tablespoons is what was I read in somewhere online. The second time through I used a little more. More won't hurt the fabric.
 
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