How to wash towels and bed sheets

Towels and bedding are the laundry that gets washed most and thought about least. They're also the loads where temperature, drying and detergent residue make the most visible difference — a towel that's gone stiff and stopped absorbing, a sheet that smells musty a day after washing — and all of it is fixable.

How often

The common guidance is towels every three or four uses and sheets weekly, with pillowcases more often if you have oily skin or acne. A towel that dries fully between uses lasts longer between washes; one that stays damp in a bathroom is growing things. See how often to wash your clothes for the rest of the wardrobe.

Temperature

Warm water, around 40 °C, cleans towels and sheets well in an ordinary week. Go to 60 °C when hygiene matters — after illness, for dish towels, for bedding used by someone with allergies — provided the label allows it; most cotton towels and sheets do. Cold works for lightly used items but doesn't dissolve body oils as well, and body oil is what builds up in sheets.

Towels: the rules that actually matter

• Wash them as their own load. They shed lint onto clothes, they're heavy enough to abrade lighter fabric, and they want a hotter, longer cycle than most clothes can take.
• Skip the fabric softener. Towel manufacturers commonly advise against it: softener coats the fibers with a water-repellent film, which is exactly what stops a towel absorbing. Dryer balls soften just as well without the coating.
• Don't overdose detergent. Residue is the other cause of stiff, scratchy towels. Use the pack's dose for the load size, and add an extra rinse now and then.
• Wash new towels before use. They arrive with finishing agents that reduce absorbency, and dark towels shed dye for their first few washes — keep them with darks until they stop.
• Shake them out before drying. It opens the loops, which is what makes a towel fluffy.

Sheets: the rules that actually matter

• Don't overload. Sheets need room to move; a drum stuffed with a duvet cover and two sheets washes the outside and wets the inside.
• Keep them with like items. Sheets and pillowcases together; no zips, hooks or towels tangling into the corners.
• Take them out promptly. Sheets left in the drum after the cycle are where the musty smell starts.
• Dry on medium, not high, and remove while just dry — over-drying weakens cotton and sets creases.

Drying

Towels need to be dried completely; a towel folded slightly damp smells within a day. A medium dryer setting is safest for both towels and sheets, and line drying works well for sheets in particular. Don't dry towels on high just to speed things up — high heat stiffens the loops.

The musty smell

A towel or sheet that smells sour after washing was either dried too slowly, left wet too long, or washed in a machine that itself needs cleaning. Rewash it hot with detergent and no softener, dry it fully and quickly, and run the machine's drum-clean cycle or an empty hot wash if the problem keeps returning. Leave the door open between washes so the drum dries.

Colors

Dark and brightly colored towels bleed generously for their first few washes; wash them alone or with darks until a bleed test comes back clean. White towels and sheets can be kept white with the methods in our whites and bleach guide.

LaundryMax keeps towels and bedding in their own loads with their own temperature and cycle, alongside your clothes. See how it works.