The last thing you want to do is put a nasty smelling towel on your body after you have spent 10-20 glorious, uninterrupted minutes cleaning it. It just ruins everything. At least it does for me.
I’ve never really had a problem with mildew smell in my towels in the past. That is until my boys got old enough and started getting showers on their own. They are now responsible for picking up their towels. Well, we all know how that turned out.
I can only assume that my boys leaving their sopping wet towels on the floor only for me to find hours later is the main culprit for the smelly towel problem that is now plaguing me. The other is the fault of my own – using fabric softener in hopes of keeping my towels soft despite hard water problems. In essence, I have created the perfect storm for ruining my towels. I’m not ready to toss them out or make them dog towels. I like them.
I went on a bit of an internet adventure scouring website after website trying to find how to get mildew smell out of towels. I didn’t come up empty-handed and found a couple of seemingly promising methods to get rid of the musty smell. I also tried a few things on my own since I had the products to test out.
So now, I’ve decided to experiment with all the methods I found and share with you what worked best for me.
A quick story since it is super relevant; Feel free to skip down to the experiment if you don’t want to read my little rant.
I have a memory from a few years ago that has stuck with me and has changed the way I travel. My husband and I went on a romantic winter getaway and rented a cabin with a hot tub. The cabin was nestled high in the hills surrounded by forest and nature. There was no internet or TV, and it was just us. The first night in, we relaxed in the hot tub and chatted the night away. We loved it. Until…we got out of the hot tub and reached for the towels to dry off…
I brought the towel up to dry my arms, and I about died from the overwhelming mildew smell it was emitting. Goodness…I gagged and threw the towel to the ground. Then it hit me; the hot tub towels were also to be used as our bath towels as well. I went into the bathroom, grabbed all of the towels out of the cabinet, and took a good whiff of each one. Mildew. Every. Dang. One. I attempted to call the rental office, but no one would answer. In fact, no one answered the entire two days we were there…I digress. We had to use those towels or nothing at all. We opted for nothing and decided to air dry instead. Not super romantic or comfortable. It wasn’t an ideal situation in the least.
Needless to say, I pack my own towels when I travel now. I pack one towel for each of the members of my family. Friends, if you have a place that you rent out on Airbnb or VRBO or have your own rental company, please pleeeease be sure the towels are clean and sanitary.
Causes of Musty Smelling Towels
After a ton of research, I discovered that there are a lot more variables at play as to why my towels smell rank than I initially thought.
Things Causing my Towels to Reek:
Hard Water – We have really hard water in our house. The minerals are building up in our towels and not allowing the detergent to do its job. It is also likely the cause of the stiff and crunchy feel my towels have, but I’ll address that later.
Liquid Fabric Softener – In order to battle my hard water problems, I used a fabric softener to try to soften the towels. Apparently, liquid fabric softener is notorious for causing a residue that traps odors in fabrics and keeps things from rinsing clean.
Detergent Build-Up – As with fabric softener, detergent can also lead to a build-up of residue if the amount is not correct or if the wrong type of laundry detergent is used. I’m not sure how much of this particular variable is causing my problems, but I suspect that it is a contributor in one way or another.
High Humidity – It gets humid around here at certain times of the year. We do have a dehumidifier in the laundry room, but I did overlook one thing. Our towel storage. We store our towels in the bathroom where lots of moisture can get to them from showering. I will probably have to find a new place to store them.
Washing Machine Harboring Mold and Mildew – We have a HE front loading washer, and it does get a mildew smell from time to time. I run some washing machine cleaner through it once per month, but sometimes it needs a more thorough cleaning, especially under the rubber gasket.
Overloading the Washing Machine – I’m totally guilty of this one, especially with my towels. I like to get things done and off my plate quickly. Throwing huge loads in the washing machine to get everything done at once is probably one of the biggest contributors to my smelly towel problem.
Front-loading washer – Since the front loading washing machine is designed to be more efficient and uses less water, it probably isn’t able to rinse the detergent from my overstuffed loads.
Children leaving wet towels on the floor – This was definitely the first and most obvious cause of my towels smelling like mildew. The kids are getting much better about this, but I have a feeling that we will be using these methods more than once.
The Experiment:
Prepare the Washing Machine
You will want to ensure that your washing machine is sanitary and doesn’t have mold and mildew or dog hair, in my case, that is adding to the odors in your towels.
First, vacuum out any dog hair from the rubber seal in the washer. I have a front loading machine, and the rubber seal collects dog hair and other debris like nobody’s business. Underneath the rubber seal is a space that breeds mold, bacteria, and mildew. If your front-loader smells like mildew, you will need to sanitize it before you even begin to work on your smelly towel situation.
When I went to investigate the washer odor, I did get a slight hint of mildew – coming from under that blasted rubber seal – so I had to sanitize and clean up my washer a bit before I began the towel experiment. I love using BioKleen Bac-Out in my house. I peeled back the rubber seal and took a bit of Bac-Out on a paper towel and attempted to clean under there as much as possible. Then to clean the inside tub, I filled the detergent compartment with the Bac-Out and ran a normal wash cycle on cold.
How To Get Mildew Smell Out of Towels:
Control group: I’m using clean towels that I washed as I would during my normal washing routine. A regular wash with detergent and bleach. I did not strip the towels first. If you have especially funky and smelly mildew towels, you may want to strip your towels first.
Note* I only used two towels per method for testing.
Method 1:
According to LifeHacker, we can use only vinegar to wash without any other products to get the smell out. Can it really be this easy?
You’ll Need:
Amounts:
- 2 cups vinegar
Washing instructions:
Step 1: Put towels in the machine. Add 1-2 cups of vinegar to the washer and run on the hottest water setting. I added 2 cups of vinegar – 1 cup directly in the tub and the other cup in the detergent dispenser.
Step 2: Wash for a second time with laundry detergent as normal.
Step 3: Dry in the dryer on the hottest heat setting until completely dry.
Method 1 Results:
Dry sniff test: Mild odor
Damp sniff test: Mild odor
Method 2:
One Good Thing says to use vinegar and baking soda back to back in separate washes.
You’ll Need:
Amounts:
- 1 cup vinegar
- ½ cup baking soda
Washing instructions:
Step 1: Put towels in the machine. Add 1 cup of vinegar to the washer and run on the hottest water setting. I added 1 cup in the detergent dispenser.
Step 2: Leave towels inside the machine. Wash for a second time with only ½ cup of baking soda on the hottest water setting. I added it as directed and sprinkled it over the wet towels.
Step 3: Dry in the dryer on the hottest heat setting until completely dry.
Results:
Dry sniff test: No odor
Damp sniff test: Mild odor
Method 3:
I had some borax on hand, so I decided to do a borax soak to see what happened.
Product: 20-Mule Team Borax
Amounts:
- ½ cup borax
Washing instructions:
Step 1: Fill a tub with hot water and add in ½ cup of borax. Mix well. Add towels. Soak for 2 hours. I used a 5-6 gallon rubber household tub.
Step 2: Drain the water from the tub. Put towels in the washing machine. Run a rinse cycle with warm water.
Step 3: Dry in the dryer on the hottest heat setting until completely dry.
Results:
Dry sniff test: No odor
Damp sniff test: No odor
Method 4:
I love BioKleen Bac-Out, so I wanted to see if it would work its magic on my musty towels.
Product: BioKleen Bac-Out
Amounts:
½ cup Bac-Out solution
Washing instructions:
Step 1: Fill a tub with cool water and add in ½ cup of Bac-Out solution. Mix well. Add towels. Soak for 2 hours. I used a 5-6 gallon rubber household tub.
Step 2: Drain the water from the tub. Put towels in the washing machine. Run a rinse cycle with warm water.
Step 3: Dry in the dryer on the hottest heat setting until completely dry.
Results:
Dry sniff test: No odor
Damp sniff test: No odor
Method 5:
I had a giant box of regular OxiClean from Costco hanging out in the laundry room, so I figured I might as well give it a shot.
Product: OxiClean
Amounts:
½ cup OxiClean
Washing instructions:
Step 1: Fill a tub with hot water and add in ½ cup of OxiClean. Mix well. Add towels. Soak for 2 hours. I used a 5-6 gallon rubber household tub.
Step 2: Drain the water from the tub. Put towels in the washing machine. Run a rinse cycle with warm water.
Step 3: Dry in the dryer on the hottest heat setting until completely dry.
Results:
Dry sniff test: No odor
Damp sniff test: No odor
The Verdict
All of the pre-soaking methods worked best for my situation overall. The OxiClean had the added bonus of making my towels bright white again. I think I’ll be using the OxiClean soak for all the initial washing of my towels. Hopefully, I can get my washing routine more under control and prevent the detergent and hard water buildup that causes the odors in my laundry in the first place.
My towels were not overly funky, but enough to gross me out and want to fix it. I actually think the first two methods would work well for laundry left in the washer for too long when they are just starting to get that musty smell. My situation was different. These towels had been washed and dried, and the musty smelling funk was deep in the fibers. I’m curious if a vinegar soak would also do the trick? I should have tried that…I guess I’ll give that a go another time.
I think all of these methods have their own merit and are definitely easy enough to try out. I know there are many more odor removers on the market that could work as well. I used what I had on hand to do my little experiment on how to get mildew smell out of towels.
I hope that you found this information helpful. Let me know in the comments your favorite methods and products for removing odors in your laundry!
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