Removing fabric softener?
I discovered that a couple of my towels apparently got treated with fabric softener at one point: they have lost all absorbency (I never use softener but apparently someone in the household did). It is impossible to dry anything with them, they just push the water around.
What's the best/easiest way to remove the vile stuff without damaging the towels?
I've heard citric acid is a good way but I've used vinegar with decent results. Only need like a splash and no you won't smell it afterwards
Thanks, I'll try vinegar first, since I have some.
people use vinegar for everything. I can't image a world without vinegar.
My partner has a vinegar allergy (among other very common items), and yeah, that's not super far off lol. They love knitting and had a reaction from the vinegar used to set the dye...
Think again, Jimmy. You see, the pickles that you like so much are made with - yep, vinegar.
I would say washing them. Maybe a simple rinse with water would do it, but might depend on your water hardness.
I have never heard of this problem before and use fabric softener every time. What am I missing?
Absorbent towels. I guess if you'd always used fabric softener, you'd never know how much more effective towels are when they haven't been abused by fabric softener or drier sheets.
Well this is something I will try next time I buy new towels then.
Source: https://www.towelsupercenter.com/blog/should-you-wash-towels-with-fabric-softener/
Anything acidic. Citric acid powder is cheap, effective, and doesn't smell.
Fabric softener isn't going to kill your towels' absorbancy with a single wash. You'd have to use fabric softener every wash for an extended period of time to achieve that
but what if they used a lot, like an idiot.
Washing soda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_carbonate