How to get soft, fluffy towels

With repeated washing, towels can lose their softness and become hard and crispy. 

If trying to dry yourself with a scratchy towel sounds all too familiar, we've spoken with experts to find out what causes towels to become rough and how to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Plus, we've tried the internet's favourite fluffy towels hack – white vinegar – to see whether or not it really can help soften and revive your towels, or is more likely to wreck your washing machine.

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Why do towels lose their fluffiness?

We put this question to Dr Primrose Freestone, associate professor in clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester: 'Most towels are made of cotton, which is a natural fibre composed of many tiny filaments. 

'What happens to these interlocking cotton filament structures during washing determines if your towels stay soft and fluffy, or if they feel hard and scratchy. Detergent and fabric softener can, over time, deposit a waxy residue on the cotton fibres.

'With repeat washing, most towels will lose their softness in the end, although Egyptian cotton towels (often more expensive) tend to stay softer for longer,' Dr Freestone continues. 'This is because the cotton fibre layers are more concentric and ordered. However, there are ways to minimise hardening of all towel types.'

How to wash towels to keep them soft

Wash them at the right temperature

Your default may be to wash towels at 60°C, but this isn't always necessary. Some bacterial spores and viruses are, in any case, resistant to being washed at 60°C. 

You're better off washing them at 40°C with a bleach-based laundry product (we suggest bio washing powder), which will remove bacteria and viruses. Our laundry detergent reviews reveal the best.

For further information on the best temperatures for different laundry loads, head to our washing machine temperature guide.

Don't overdo the detergent

You might think that using more will get your towels extra-clean, but residue builds up, making it harder and harder for the detergent to get into the fibres with every wash. Glugging in loads of detergent also wastes money. 

Dr Freestone recommends reducing your detergent use by up to a third. She also advises following up with a thorough cold-water rinse to reduce detergent build-up and help the cotton fibres regain their normal shape. 

A good washing machine will swill away detergent without needing an extra rinse cycle – check our washing machine reviews and use the 'rinsing efficiency' filter to find the appliances that score well for rinsing in our tests.

Don't use fabric softener

Should you use fabric softener on towels? This is a hotly debated topic, but no, you shouldn't. Fabric softeners work by creating a layer of electrically charged chemical compounds, usually containing silicones and ammonium compounds. 

This coating makes fabrics feel softer in the short term, but the coating builds up, eventually leaving your towels feeling crispy. It will also block detergent from cleaning the fabric properly, and prevent water from penetrating the fibres. This means your towels won't absorb water as well, making them less effective at their key task of drying you off after a bath or shower.

For further advice on nailing the laundry, read how to wash clothes, towels and bedding

How to soften scratchy towels

Don't waste your time if they're too far gone

If your towels are poor quality or you've had them a very long time, there may be nothing you can do to revive them. If that's the case, don't just bin them: repurpose them for DIY or cleaning rags, or donate them to a local textile recycling facility.

Remove any detergent or softener build-up

White vinegar can help dissolve the detergent and hard water deposits left on clothes and towels, but don't put it directly into your washing machine, as it can corrode the rubber and plastic parts. 

Soak your towels in vinegar first, then rinse them before putting them in the washing machine. 

What to do if you live in a hard-water area

Hard water is high in minerals such as magnesium and calcium, which leave behind residues on the towel fibres. But distilled or white vinegar can help.

'These alkaline deposits can be neutralised by the acidic properties of vinegar, which contains acetic acid,' says Jus Rai, scientific advisor at Which?. 'Once they’re broken down and have been rinsed away, the fibres are no longer stuck together, resulting in softer and fluffier towels.'

Adding baking soda to laundry is something we've seen recommended online, but the British Skin Foundation (BSF) has warned that baking soda can irritate the skin and lead to underarm rashes, redness and burning. Many people don't know they're sensitive to baking soda until they start using it in this way. 

Wondering if a water softener is a savvy purchase for your home? Discover the 5 signs you might need a water softener.

Use a tumble dryer if you have one

'Tumble drying your towels on a low temperature setting can help to keep towels soft,' says Dr Freestone. Not too hot though, as high heat can damage the cotton fibres.

If it's warm and breezy outside, you should get similar results by hanging them on the washing line. But we've found that it's hard to beat tumble-dried towels, so if you're conscious of running up your energy bills, hang them out until they're nearly dry, then pop them in the dryer for 10 minutes to help soften up the fibres.

Give your towels a good shake  

Whichever method of drying you adopt, you could try giving your towels a good shake to help fluff them up. 

'When your machine wash is finished, remove the towels immediately, give them a shake to help reshape the cotton fibres and start the drying,' says Dr Freestone.

This won't always work – your towels may be too far gone – but Which? members told us they found this hack to be helpful. In a recent Facebook poll, we asked members how they get their towels soft, and many said vigorously shaking them helps fluff up the pile, making their towels feel fluffier.

Can you get fluffy towels without a tumble dryer?

Yes, although it's not guaranteed. Two of our laundry team members tried the above hacks without using a tumble dryer at the end, and got mixed results. 

Rebecca Jakeman, senior writer/researcher and laundry expert, tried a white vinegar rinse but was disappointed by the results.

'I'm a firm advocate of a quick tumble in the dryer once your towels are mostly dry to keep them at their best. But I wanted to find out if I could achieve perfect fluffiness without taking up vital time in my busy washer-dryer.

'First, I tried the towel shaking hack without adding any white vinegar, but I didn't notice much difference, even when I tried drying one towel indoors and one outdoors.

'Then I tried adding white vinegar to the wash along with my usual detergent. Do be aware that manufacturers advise against adding vinegar directly to washing machines, as it could damage the rubber seals and hoses over time. But I decided to take the risk as a one-off to see if it gets results. 

'I washed two identical towels on the cottons 40°C cycle with my usual washing capsules, adding 250ml of white vinegar to the detergent drawer. I hung one outside on the line and the other indoors on a clothes horse, spreading it out flat across the top rather than draping it over a bar, to help the moisture evaporate quicker. I shook the towel on the airer vigorously at hourly intervals to loosen the fibres. 

'The results? The towel that dried flat on the clothes horse inside was a bit fluffier, but the differences were minimal. For now, I’ll remain a firm advocate of the washer-dryer.'

Thinking of buying a tumble dryer? Discover the best tumble dryers or best washer-dryers, according to our tests. 

Our laundry editor, Victoria Purcell, tried a white vinegar soak and got slightly better results.

'I don't have a tumble dryer, so I was determined to make these home hacks work and decided to try soaking my towels in vinegar.

'I put them into the bath, ran just enough water to cover them and added two litres of white vinegar (you can buy it in big five-litre cartons). I added cupful of baking soda too, to help counteract the effects of hard water, and left it to soak for an hour.

'I rinsed them off and put them on a cottons 40°C wash with no detergent and no fabric softener. Instead, I put a spoonful of baking soda in the detergent compartment (be aware that baking soda can cause skin irritation), plus two spoons of white vinegar in the fabric softener slot.

'When finished, I gave them a vigorous shake (this is really hard work with big bath sheets) and laid them flat on my heated clothes airer so that more of the towel is in contact with the warm bars. I gave them another couple of vigorous shakes during the drying process.

'The results? They did actually feel softer. Not new-towel soft by any stretch of the imagination, but better. Would I do it again? Maybe occasionally, but certainly not as a regular thing – it took me the best part of a day, made my flat smell of vinegar and made my arms ache. 

'Plus, Which? advises against putting white vinegar in your appliances. That bit, I won't be repeating. If I had to choose between fluffy towels and a machine that lasts, I’d go for the latter.'

If there's no outdoor option, here's the best and cheapest way to dry clothes indoors

What to look for when buying towels

When buying new towels, Dr Freestone advises that the quality of cotton in the towel has a major influence on how long it stays soft. Egyptian cotton fibres are more aligned, and so Egyptian cotton towels are more likely to stay fluffy, assuming they're well looked after. 

A towel's GSM (grams per square metre) rating also matters when it comes to fluffiness. Denser cotton towels (with more layers of fibres) are also more likely to retain their structure and stay fluffy. 

A towel with a higher GSM will be denser, thicker and more absorbent. A towel with a lower GSM (300-400 GSM) will dry more quickly, so may be ideal for a towel you take to the gym. A 400-600 GSM towel (medium weight) would be more suitable for a bath towel or guest towel. A 600 GSM+ towel will be feel dense, heavy and luxurious but will take longer to dry. Bamboo towels are also soft and absorbent. 

It's an area where you get what you pay for, and more expensive towels are likely to be softer. But whether or not softness is something you want to pay a lot for depends very much on personal preference.

'I personally would not pay more than £10 for a towel,' said Dr Freestone, 'as I don’t mind losing softness and I like rough towels as they exfoliate dead skin cells more effectively.'

We now test towels for comfort, durability and speed of drying. Discover the best towels in 2025 according to our research.