A CLEANING pro has shared the right way to wash your towels – and if you always use detergent and fabric softener, you’re doing it wrong.
In fact, according to Ann Russell – who has built up a huge following on social media after releasing helpful cleaning hacks – sometimes all you need is water.
Ann was recently grilled on how cleaning fans should be washing their towels and what products they.
So the social media influencer, who has 2.5 million TikTok followers on her profile @annrussell03, took it upon herself to clear up some common misconceptions – and lifted the lid on how she’d ensure her towels were fresh and fluffy.
Ann explained: “I have been asked both in my comments and my messages about washing towels.
“So if you want to know how to wash towels properly, keep listening.”
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She went on to say: “First thing, if you are washing any cloth that will be used to absorb water – be that a towel, a tea towel, a dishcloth, a duster – don’t use fabric softener.
“It will prevent it from soaking up water and it will make it a lot less efficient.”
Ann then moved onto the second part of her explanation – when, and more crucially, when not to use detergent.
She revealed: “Towels are absorbent, they hang onto things. So I find that I do use detergent – but not every wash.
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“I use detergent because my daughter uses things like fake tan and sometimes there’s cosmetics that get caught on the towels, and my towels are white.”
Reiterating that you don’t need detergent other than in circumstances where there’s a tough stain, Ann added: “Most of the things that get deposited on a towel will come off with plain water.
“And if you use detergent, you’ve got to be very careful not to use too much.
“Because unless all of it is rinsed out every time, over time you’ll get a build up of detergent – that can make them weird, slightly itchy and slightly stiff.
“So I find that I use detergent if they need it – not a problem if they’ve got visible marks on them or what looks like make-up.
“But if they’re just there because I know the towels have been out for a little while, I just wash them in water and hang them out on the line.”
Over time you’ll get a build up of detergent – that can make them weird, slightly itchy and slightly stiff
This led onto Ann’s next valuable point – the drying process.
She revealed: “Now, I do tumble my towels, but not all the way. Even in Winter what I’ll do is hang them on the line.”
She then shared an extra tip, which is that once they’re hanging on the line she comes out to take the towel off of their pegs and “shake it really, really hard” and then “rotate it and hang it from the other way up.”
On a warm day, that would be every twenty minutes, but in colder weather it could be up to an hour.”
The reason behind this? Ann said that the shake helps the fibers in the fabric to move and therefore “helps keep them soft”.
But there was still one further tip she had up her expert sleeve.
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Ann concluded: “However, when they are very nearly dry, so they’re still slightly damp in the seams – that’s when I take them out and pop them in the tumble dryer for 15 – 20 minutes just to fluff them up.”
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