Kana Okada
Maintenance tips from textile experts to help your dish towels keep sucking it up.
Always wash towels before their first use
to remove excess dye and natural oils that
can hinder absorption,
says Sharon Norville
of the John Rizenthaler Company, a kitchen-textile manufacturer
in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
Hang damp towels
to dry (wring them out first if they’re wet) before placing them in a drawer or a hamper, where they could otherwise grow mold and bacteria, says Sarah Smock of Merry Maids, in Memphis.
Wash dish towels as often as you do bath towels: once or twice a week. If you’ve wiped up a raw egg or some other bacteria-rich mess, the cloth should go straight into the washing machine.
Don’t wash dish towels with items that have zippers, hooks,
or buttons, which can catch on the fabric
and damage the weave. Enough snags will decrease the soaking power of your towel.
Don’t use fabric softener — it leaves behind a waxy film that inhibits absorbency, says Dana Poor, a home-trends forecaster at
the trade association Cotton Incorporated.
