How Can I Get My Dingy-Looking Towels Clean?

Image Credit: Yaroslav Litun/iStock/GettyImages

It's extremely frustrating to find yourself with dingy-looking towels when you know you've thoroughly washed them, but this is a common issue with white and light-colored towels. Whether they're grayish or yellowish, dingy towels are typically due to residue from detergent and fabric softener that wasn't fully rinsed as well as traces of body oils and sometimes minerals from hard water.

There are two ways to tackle the problem of dingy towels. Laundry stripping, a viral trend that's really an age-old deep-cleaning technique, will whiten, lighten and brighten dingy towels. Stripping laundry is time-consuming and should be done infrequently, so it's a good idea to also adjust your regular washing routine to address ongoing dinginess.

Video of the Day

Laundry Stripping Method for Dingy Towels

Things You'll Need

Protective gloves
Borax
Washing soda (sodium carbonate)
Laundry detergent

Step 1

Allow approximately four to five hours for the laundry stripping method. If you are using the bathtub, prepare to strip your towels at a time when the tub will not be needed. Alternatively, you can use a large bucket, plastic container or top-loading washing machine.

Step 2

Start with freshly laundered towels and keep white and light-colored towels separate from any colored laundry. You can strip colorfast colored towels but should do so separately from whites and light-colored towels since the dye can transfer.

Step 3

Fill the tub, container or top-loading washing machine with enough hot water to fully submerge all your towels.

Step 4

Wear protective gloves and add borax, washing soda and laundry detergent to the water in a ratio of one to one to two. For a tub or washing machine full of water, use approximately 1/4 cup of borax, 1/4 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of laundry detergent.

Step 5

Swish the cleaning products in the water with your gloved hands until they have dissolved.

Step 6

Add the towels and submerge them in the water until they're fully saturated. Swish them around a little with gloved hands and then leave them to soak.

Step 7

Approximately once an hour, swish the towels in the water with gloved hands for a minute or so. You should see the water get murkier and murkier, indicating that the residue is being stripped from the towels.

Step 8

When the water has completely cooled to room temperature, which will take about four to five hours, drain away the murky water.

Step 9

Transfer the wet towels to the washing machine if they're not already there and run them through a rinse-only cycle.

Step 10

Dry the towels in a tumble dryer without dryer sheets, which can reduce their absorption and contribute to the dingy towel issue. Alternatively, dry the towels outside on a washing line. If it's a sunny day, this option will help whiten and brighten the towels even more.

Regular Cleaning to Remedy Dingy Towels

Laundry stripping is effective but time-consuming and is really only suitable as an occasional method for dealing with dingy towels. A more practical approach is to use trial and error while adjusting your regular laundry techniques and cleaning products for towels. Check the labels on your regular laundry detergent to see if you're using the recommended amount. You might need to use more or less than recommended depending on how hard or soft your water is. Also experiment with different detergent brands to see if that helps with dingy towels.

Try a similar trial and error approach with fabric softener if you use it. White vinegar is often recommended by cleaning experts as an alternative to fabric softener. Add about 1/2 cup to the softener dispenser in your machine before running a regular wash load. Also try adding a scoop of borax, washing soda, oxygen bleach or another laundry booster to the load. Another way to tackle dingy towels without resorting to laundry stripping is an hour-plus presoak in a solution of 1 cup of baking soda per gallon of water.