The other day I noticed our clean towels were smelling kinda funky after they had just been washed. Our detergent and dryer sheets are fragrance free because of allergies, but our laundry doesn't usually smell bad after being washed. I turned to Pinterest for a solution. I found a good link to better smelling towels that was very helpful. The process seemed a little tedious, but it isn't something you have to do often. I have had the towels in question for three years and am just now having an issue.
All the solution requires is baking soda and the trusted white vinegar I seem to rely on most of the time. The process requires two wash cycles. Both cycles require hot water so make sure your washing machine is set to the hottest water setting. Also, your towels have to be clean before you start the process. After reading a couple of blog posts regarding whether you can include detergent with one of the cycles, they all advised not to because the soap would cancel out the other ingredients. Whatever that means, I decided to follow the instructions.
Starting with clean towels, I first washed the towels in hot water with one cup of white vinegar. When that cycle was complete then I started a new cycle, this time with half a cup of baking soda. Once those two cylces were complete I dried the towels. And voila, the smell was gone.
