How To Care For Your Bamboo Towels and Bamboo Washcloths
Bamboo towels are very easy to care for, just like any cotton towel. You just need to be a little more gentle if you want your towels to last longer. The following guide is our recommendation on how to care for your bamboo towel, but if you follow it for all your cotton towels it will help make them last a lot longer too.
How do I wash my towel?
You can machine wash your towels separately at a maximum temperature of 30 degrees. It is best to use a gentle cycle and a mild detergent. Avoid any detergent with added whiteners or fabric softeners.
How do I dry my towel?
The best way to dry your towel is to let them air dry. As soon as they dry, you should take them in straight away. Over exposure to heat from the sun will damage the bamboo fibres. You can also put your bamboo towels in the dryer but on the lowest heat setting. We recommend you take them out immediately when they are dry, otherwise they will overheat in the dryer and become stiff.
Can I beach the towels?
Do not use bleach or use any form of whiteners as this would damage the bamboo fibres.
Can I use fabric softeners?
Fabric softeners are not needed or recommended. If you want to make your towels extra soft and plush, a trick is to let them air dry until about 80% and then put them in the dryer (on the lowest heat setting) for a little while. The tumbling action has the effect of fluffing up and softening your towels.
What happens when a loop as pulled and the threads become loose?
This is very common in all towels as the loops can easily catch onto something. You probably wouldn't have noticed this has happened until you see a long loose thread. This can easily be fixed by snipping off the loose threads with a pair of scissors at the level of the pile to prevent further snagging and unravelling of the threads. Snipping off the threads won’t do any damage to your towel.
Why have my towels become hard and stiff?
This is common in all towels including Egyptian cotton towels and can easily be fixed as well. There are two main causes of this:
Build-up of residue from detergent or fabric softeners
Fabric softeners make your towels stiff and is completely unnecessary. You need to ensure you are using a mild detergent that does not have any additional whiteners or softeners. If you are only using a mild detergent and you still notice your towels becoming more stiff after every wash, you may be using too much detergent. Towels only require half as much detergent as a regular load. You should wash your towels separately using less detergent. You may even try to do an additional rinse cycle at the end to rinse away any soap residue.
Over-drying your towels
Leaving your towels on the hanger too long exposes your towel to excessive heat from the sun which makes them stiff. In the long term this is damaging to the bamboo fibres. You should try to take your towels in as soon as they dry. You can tumble dry your towels on the lowest heat setting but you need to ensure that you take them out of the dryer immediately when it is done, otherwise they will overheat in the dryer and become stiff.
How do I store my towels?
The best place to store towels is in a cool, dry place such as the linen closet. The bathroom is probably the most obvious place to store towels but it turns out that it is the worst place to store them. The bathroom is a humid place and the moisture can cause mould to grow on your towel. Constant exposure to heat such as the heat from the shower or from the heater/heated lights in the bathroom will cause damage to your towels in the long term.