When your towels turn sour, it’s time to find out how to get a moldy smell out of towels. Mildew might be to blame if your family’s bath towels smell more like a gym locker room than your laundry detergent. Mildew develops if wet towels are stacked in the hamper or left on the bathroom floor for an extended time.
The musty stench is from mold drawn to damp fibers. It takes a little more than a straightforward wash to figure out how to remove a mold smell from a towel. Mildew smells and bacteria, the culprits of many other odor issues, cause foul odors. Mold develops when bacteria and moisture in your towels produce a lingering stink.
There are several reasons your towels never seem to smell fresh, from using too much fabric softener in the laundry to waiting too long to dry a load. It’s essential to address the sources of the mildew to remove the odor from towels permanently. Explore painless strategies to eliminate the mold smell in towels.
Get Rid of Mold Smell in Towels
Learning how to get a moldy smell out of towels saves you from embarrassment and helps with hygiene. Stepping out of a relaxing shower or bath only to wrap yourself in a smelly towel is miserable. Explore clever ideas on how to remove a mold smell from a towel and keep your bath towels clean and odor-free
Why Your Towels Smell Like Mold
We’ve all noticed a mildew odor or sour smell as we step out of the shower. Nothing is more upsetting than realizing the towel you are drying your clean body on carries a musty odor. Even freshly laundered towels seem to develop a bad smell, but what is the cause?
Unfortunately, a damp towel is an ideal environment for mold and bacteria, whether it holds water from the wash cycle or use. Microorganisms move into a wet towel and release particles that cause towel odor. Fortunately, several strategies prevent and eliminate bacteria to remove mildew smell from your towels.
How to Get a Moldy Smell Out of Towels
You throw your musty towel in a wash cycle with your clothes using regular laundry detergent, and it still carries a musty smell. Washing a smelly towel on a normal cycle is often insufficient to oust the odor. One of the best laundry tips for a moldy towel is distilled white vinegar.
Launder your towels as usual but stop your washing machine on the final rinse and add one cup of distilled white vinegar right into the drum. The white vinegar cleans and sanitizes your towels to leave them smelling fresh.
Removing Moldy Smells from Towels
Use color-safe oxygen bleach powder to remove the mildew smell from your bath towels. Oxygen bleach is safer than traditional chlorine bleach and lacks a potent odor. The oxygen bleach eradicates odor-causing microbes to leave your towels odor-free.
Mix the oxygen bleach powder and water in a bucket or large basin and soak the smelly towels for at least one hour. Remove towels from the bleach soak, squeeze out, and launder per the care instructions to wash stinky towels and eliminate the odor for good.
How to Remove a Mold Smell from a Towel
Baking soda is a powerful odor remover, so it’s the perfect choice to kick the smell of mold out of your bath towel or to get mildew smell out of fabric. While chemical cleaners are expensive, baking soda powder is affordable; find it in almost every grocery store.
Grab an inexpensive box of this white powder and say goodbye to stinky towels. As a natural deodorizer, cleanser, and whitener, baking soda is incredibly effective against unpleasant odors such as mildew.
Wash your towels with a cup of baking soda powder and no detergent on the hot water cycle. Give your towel a second rinse to get rid of baking soda residue. Don’t dry the towels if washing doesn’t eliminate the mildew odor. Rewash the towels to eradicate any lingering odor.
Only dry the towels after you can’t smell mildew any longer. Spare your towels from the dryer if it’s a warm, bright day, and hang them outside to dry. Line drying is kinder to the fabric and also provides some natural disinfecting.
Avoid Getting the Moldy Smell Out of Towels
Take simple steps to keep your bath towel from becoming moldy. Moisture is the leading cause of a stinky towel. Hang used bath towels immediately so they dry. Towels left folded or sitting on the floor harbor water and are more likely to attract mold.
While tumble-drying your towels, dryer balls ensure the fabric dries evenly. Remove towels from the tumble dryer as soon as they finish so humidity from the vent doesn’t create an optimal environment for mold growth.
The way you’re washing towels may also be causing the mold smell. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, avoid fabric softener or a dryer sheet when you dry towels. Fabric softener builds up in towel material and harbors microorganisms.
Soak your bath towels in white vinegar or an oxygen bleach solution once every few months. A regular soak removes residue from the material and kills lingering mold spores before they create a stink.
Mold smell in towels is unpleasant for everyone. Being wet is a towel’s job, yet moisture doesn’t have to spell mold. Keep your towels as dry as possible by laundering them correctly and hanging them after use.
A clean towel is vital to personal hygiene. Use simple techniques to ensure your towels smell their best. When the musty odor strikes, oust it quickly with proven remedies.
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