Towel care

Don’t you have an image of towels as consumable goods whose quality deteriorates as time passes after purchase, with the fluffiness disappearing and the towels becoming stiff and rough? However, since you have chosen towels that you like, you want to use them comfortably for a long time, don’t you?

In fact, depending on how you take care of your towels, such as washing, drying, and drying, their condition will improve the more you use them. We call this “growing towels. Here we introduce IKEUCHI ORGANIC’s tips for towel care.

The basics of towel care that you should keep in mind

1. Wet the towels in water before washing them in a washing machine.

It is the pile of the towel fabric that gives towels their fluffy feel and elasticity. To maintain this pile, the towel must be allowed to swim in water in the washing machine.

On the other hand, towels absorb water. When a dry towel is placed in the washing machine and injected with water, the towel absorbs the water and there is not enough water in the machine. In this condition, the towel cannot swim and may adversely affect the washing of other clothes. Therefore, only wet the towels with water first and put them in the washing machine while they are still wet.

2. After dehydration, flap the towel with it.

After dehydration is complete, take out the towel and let it flap in the wind. By letting the towel blow in the wind, you can make the pile stand up. Please refer to the following video for the motion of doing so.

The key is to do it vigorously with a snap of the wrist like this. Whether you are using a face towel or a bath towel, it is necessary to let it flap in the wind about 3 or 4 times.

3. Be careful not to over-dry.

Take out the towels as soon as the drying process is completed in a dryer or washer with dryer. In many cases, the temperature inside the machine remains high even after the drying process is finished, and if the towels are left in the machine, the moisture contained in them will be lost. Even in the case of sun-dried towels, if they are left to dry all the time, they will become too dry, so it is recommended to bring them inside as soon as possible. Even if the towel is a little damp, it will dry quickly.

Also, if you find that the towel has become too dry, it is important to give it some moisture. For example, you can apply steam from a steamer in your home to the towel.

Tips for growing better towels

1. Avoid using fabric softener.

Fabric softener expresses a soft texture after washing by coating the fibers smoothly, but on the other hand, it can make the fibers more water-repellent, leading to a decrease in water absorbency. It is recommended that towels and underwear, which require water absorbency, be washed separately from other garments and avoid using fabric softeners.

2. Increase rinsing frequency

One of the main causes of texture deterioration in towels is the accumulation of detergent and other residues due to insufficient rinsing. Many of today’s household detergents claim to “whiten more,” “remove stains,” “have antibacterial effects,” or “have a long-lasting fragrance,” etc. Some of these detergents are effective by leaving some kind of residue on the fibers.

Naturally, those residues are left on the fiber, which reacts with sebum and other substances, causing the texture to become hard, smelly, or darkened.

Therefore, it is recommended to increase the frequency of rinsing if possible.

3. If possible, wash in hot water and use detergent sparingly.

As mentioned above, the cause of towel texture deterioration is leftover rinsing, but as residue builds up, it becomes harder to feel the effects of washing with the amount of detergent originally used, so there is a tendency to increase the amount of detergent used. This will only lead to residue accumulation, so it is better to use a smaller amount of detergent.

Also, if you have access to hot water, we recommend using hot water for laundry. As the weather gets colder, many of you may have experienced that it is difficult to remove oil from dishes and other items using detergent alone. Since sebum and other oils also adhere to towels, using hot water will to some extent remove them without relying on detergent, so the amount of detergent used can be reduced.

When washing with hot water, the best detergent is laundry soap. Laundry soap replenishes the oil needed by the fibers and leaves the clothes more moist than synthetic detergents. If washing in hot water is difficult, it may be practical to use a small amount of synthetic detergent “for washing fashionable clothes” that is neutral in liquid quality.

4. Do not use leftover bath water

Although it is a good ecological practice, it is not recommended when it comes to washing towels. This is because sebum, bath salts, bath oil, etc. left in the bath water react with the detergent and may damage the texture of the towels or cause discoloration.

5. Fold towels softly after washing and store them.

After washing and drying, fold towels softly and store them. When doing so, it is important not to crush the pile by applying pressure. Also, please remove towels you have just bought from plastic or cardboard as soon as possible. This will prevent discoloration caused by certain substances in the plastic bag or cardboard reacting with airborne components.

Video showing how to take care of towels at home

IKEUCHI ORGANIC’s official Youtube channel features videos of our in-house towel doctor explaining towel care.

Towel Maintenance by IKEUCHI ORGANIC

We are not able to spend that much time and effort on towel care. Also, after using towels for a long time, their absorbency has decreased, and the smell cannot be removed. If you have such problems, try IKEUCHI ORGANIC towel maintenance.

We will take your IKEUCHI ORGANIC towels and terrycloths and perform towel maintenance at our Imabari headquarters factory to return them to their original condition as close as possible.

IKEUCHI ORGANIC customers have been using our towels for nearly 20 years, so if you take good care of your towels, they will last for a long time with good texture.

We hope you will experience towel maintenance by a towel manufacturer.