Comments on: How to remove mildew and musty odor from towels

By: G.L.

G.L. — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:00:39 +0000

My husband is a university science student and mentioned something to me that I haven't seen anywhere on this post board or a few others: they use UV light kills bacteria in the lab. Hang your towels outside to dry on a sunny day, flip them for full sunshine exposure and see if that helps!

By: exponent

exponent — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:03:42 +0000

This is how to get mold and mildew out of clothes and how to get the smell of mildew out of clothes SmellyWasher Cleaner is a completely organic powder that is used to clear fungus from any clothes washer. The cleaner is used by adding a small amount (1 tablespoon normally suffices) to a hot setting in your washer and allowing it to complete the cycle.
In order to remove fungus from towels and clothing use just one teaspoon of cleaner instead of detergent. Rinse and dry as normal. This product is super simple and works great! I found it at http://www.smellytowel.com

By: Swedish Mama

Swedish Mama — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:13:03 +0000

It’s the Tide–period. Tide is bad on many accounts. It is bad for people with allergies and sensitive skin. It bad for your clothes, it builds up and dulls them. AND it is horrid for sewer lines and septic systems. There are alot of other choices that work great. Just throw out the Tide, liquid or powder.

By: Stacy R.

Stacy R. — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 04:25:14 +0000

I have a LG front loading HE washer. After reading many websites, I swithced from liquid HE Tide soap to a powder soap for my front load washer. This was 8 months ago, approxiametly. We live in a brand new house, w/ a brand new washer, so I was assured that I was doing the right thing by switching from liquid to powder to reduce the smell in our towels. Now, 9 months later, and $900 later after having to dig up our sewer system becaue the powder tide stuck to it, I’m not so sure. Any suggestions? I guess I’m back to the liquid for now, although I’m afraid of burning up my new washer!

By: Rona

Rona — Thu, 03 May 2007 22:16:19 +0000

We don’t use fabric softners. I use Borax. I found not only were the clothes and towels much more softer but they smelled just clean. And it’s less expensive then fabric softners.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:55:30 +0000

I did not know about fabric softeners reducing the absorbency of towels. I’ll have to tell my parents that – I never feel dry after a shower at their house, and now I know why!

By: JayMonster

JayMonster — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:36:52 +0000

I will add one more to the cause list, that you sort of mention at a glance, but don’t really go into. The bathroom itself where the towel is hung.

In a poorly ventilated bathroom (especially one that has outside facing walls which will often keep the room cooler than the rest of the house), that steamy air helps keep the towel moist longer, and thus allowing that musty smell to embed itself. This of course is exacerbated by bathrooms with outside facing walls, where the coolness help breed those little suckers into the towels.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:59:44 +0000

I thought of two more possible causes:

Are the towels being folded and put away without being 100% dry? Residual moisture will cause a musty odor.

Is the bathroom closet itself a source of musty odor? We had a slight plumbing leak in the shared wall between shower and bathroom closet. I couldn’t detect moisture by sniffing, but the towels, which were stored there for days, clued us in. Opening a can of Damp-Rid can remove the remaining moisture.

By: Manila Mom

Manila Mom — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:43:20 +0000

I have also discovered towels with fabric that is antibacterial and odor-repellent. They have made such a big difference especially during the rainy season when it’s very difficul to dry clothes without a dryer.

Unfortunately, the Philippine manufacturer, Bench, seems to have stopped producing these towels and I wasn’t able to stock up much. Your tips will come in handy for my next batch of towels,and for my old non-antibacterialones.

Thanks for sharing.