Not fabric softener, not tumble dryer sheets: the cheap pantry item that stops towels going hard, say hotel laundries

Charlotte Reed • December 10, 2025 16:28

You pull a towel from the airing cupboard after a wash day that felt very smug and organised. It looks clean, smells vaguely floral… and feels like it could sand down a skirting board.
You do the little towel “snap”, hoping it will magically fluff up. It doesn’t. Ten minutes later you’re towelling off with what might as well be slightly damp cardboard.

Then you stay in a mid-range hotel, use their bath sheet and wonder how on earth they get them so soft when they wash them at high heat, day in, day out, without drowning them in perfume.
Ask someone in the laundry room and they’ll often point to the same, very un-glamorous thing – not fabric softener, not tumble dryer sheets, but a big drum of the same cheap liquid sitting under most kitchen sinks: plain white vinegar.

Once you understand what it’s actually doing to the fibres, it’s hard to go back to softener alone.

Why towels go stiff in the first place

Laundry managers will tell you: hard towels aren’t usually “old towels”. They’re coated towels.

Each wash leaves behind microscopic layers of:

Detergent residue – too much liquid or powder that never quite rinses out.
Minerals from hard water – calcium and magnesium that cling to cotton loops.
Fabric softener film – that silky feel is often just a coating sitting on top, not true softness.

Over time these layers build up, flattening the pile and making towels feel rough, even when they’re technically clean. Add over-drying in a hot tumble dryer or line-drying in fierce heat, and those stiff mineral-and-detergent plates set like armour.

Your skin feels that build-up as scratchiness. Your towels stop absorbing well because water has to fight past the coating before it reaches the cotton.

“Most ‘dead’ towels aren’t worn out, they’re clogged,” says one UK hotel laundry manager. “Strip the build-up and they bounce back.”

The pantry staple hotel laundries actually reach for

Distilled white vinegar – the clear, cheap stuff sold for cooking and pickling – is quietly doing the heavy lifting in a lot of professional laundries.

It’s not there to “perfume” the wash. It’s there because:

Its mild acidity dissolves mineral deposits left by hard water.
It helps break up detergent and softener residue so it rinses away.
It softens the feel of fibres without leaving any waxy film behind.

Think of it less as a softener and more as a descaler for your towels. The same way you’d descale a kettle or shower head, you’re descaling the cotton loops so they can move and fluff again.

And no, the hotel corridors do not smell like a chip shop. Used in the right amount, the scent disappears as towels dry.

How to use vinegar to rescue stiff towels

You don’t need commercial barrels to copy the method. You just need to swap one thing and tweak a couple of habits.

For a deep “reset” wash (once a month or on very crunchy towels)

Wash towels on hot
- Use the hottest programme your care label allows (often 60°C for colour, 90°C for white cotton).
- Skip fabric softener completely.
Add vinegar to the rinse compartment
- Pour in 150–250 ml of distilled white vinegar (about 1 small glass).
- Put no bleach in this load – mixing bleach and vinegar produces dangerous fumes.
Use a sensible amount of detergent
- Use your usual detergent, but err on the lower end of the dose. The vinegar will help clear old residue; you don’t want to add more than necessary.
Dry with movement, not scorching heat
- Tumble-dry on medium with dryer balls or clean tennis balls, or line-dry on a breezy day and give each towel a good shake before hanging and once half-dry.
- Avoid baking them to a crisp; that “overdone” feeling is exactly what makes them hard.

For regular softening (every few washes)

Replace your usual fabric softener with 75–150 ml of white vinegar in the softener drawer.
Keep it for towels and bedlinen, not every single load of clothing.
Alternate: one wash with vinegar, one wash with nothing in the softener slot, to avoid over-doing the acidity on your machine’s rubber parts.

“We’d rather use a clear rinse like vinegar once or twice a week than thick, scented softeners every day,” one housekeeping supervisor told me. “Sheets and towels simply last longer.”

Why this works better than classic softener

Fabric softener feels lovely at first use, but hotel laundries are blunt about its downside: it coats.

That coating:

Flattens fibres so towels look droopy rather than plump.
Reduces absorbency, so water sits on top instead of soaking in.
Traps odours in the long term because sweat and oils cling to the film.

Vinegar, used correctly, does almost the opposite. It helps remove what shouldn’t be there rather than adding more. The result is a towel that feels softer because the cotton itself is clean and free to move, not because there’s a layer of lotion sitting on top.

Here’s the difference in simple terms:

Issue	Typical softener	White vinegar
How it works	Adds a perfumed, waxy coating	Dissolves residue and minerals
Effect on absorbency	Often reduces over time	Usually improves
Long-term towel feel	Can turn flat and greasy	Stays “cottony” and light

Extra habits hotels use to keep towels soft

The vinegar trick is the headline, but it’s backed up by daily, almost boring habits in commercial laundries.

They measure detergent. More soap does not mean cleaner towels; it just means more residue to rinse.
They avoid mixed loads. Towels aren’t washed with jeans and heavy synthetics that bash the loops flat.
They don’t overfill drums. Towels need room to move so water can flush through them.
They stop the dryer while towels are still slightly damp, then stack or fold. Over-drying is one of the fastest ways to “age” a towel.

At home, that might simply mean:

Filling the machine no more than three-quarters full with towels.
Dropping liquid detergent to the “medium” line if your water is hard.
Letting towels finish drying on an airer after a short tumble, not leaving them roasting in the drum.

Small changes; big difference to touch.

Safety notes and common worries

Used with common sense, white vinegar is gentler than a lot of things already in your cleaning cupboard. But there are a few caveats hotel laundries know by heart:

Never mix with bleach – in the same cycle, the same compartment, or the same sink. The chemical reaction produces chlorine gas.
Stick to distilled white vinegar, not brown malt or fancy infused options. You want clear, plain and cheap.
Don’t pour it directly on rubber seals or metal parts. Always dilute via the dispenser drawer or drum water.
Check your machine manual. A few manufacturers advise against regular acidic additives. If so, use vinegar as an occasional “strip wash” helper, not every week.

As for the smell: in a normal dose, it disappears completely once towels are dry. If you can still smell vinegar strongly, you probably used too much for the size of the load or the room wasn’t ventilated.

Turning hotel tricks into a home ritual

The goal isn’t to turn your airing cupboard into a commercial laundry. It’s to steal the two or three habits that make the biggest difference.

In practice, that might look like:

Doing a vinegar reset wash on all your towels every month or two.
Skipping fabric softener for towels altogether, or saving it for non-absorbent items like jumpers and leggings.
Keeping one bottle of cheap white vinegar in the laundry area, not just the kitchen.

The result isn’t “hotel perfection” every day. It’s simply that quiet, very nice moment when you wrap up after a shower and the towel feels cloud-soft instead of crunchy – and you remember you didn’t have to buy a single new one to get there.

FAQ:

Will my towels smell like vinegar after washing? No, not in normal amounts. The sharp scent you notice in the machine disappears as towels dry. If any smell lingers, reduce the dose next time or dry in a better‑ventilated space.

Can I use vinegar in every towel wash? Many people do without issue, but most laundry pros suggest using it regularly rather than constantly. Try every second or third wash, plus an occasional hot “reset” cycle for very stiff towels.

Does this work with coloured towels? Yes, distilled white vinegar is generally safe for colours and can even help reduce dulling by clearing residue. Always follow the care label and test on an older item if you’re nervous.

Is baking soda better than vinegar for hard towels? Bicarbonate of soda can help with odours, but for mineral and softener build-up, vinegar’s mild acidity is usually more effective. Some laundries use both in separate cycles, never mixed together.

Can I replace all fabric softener with vinegar? For towels and bedlinen, many hotel laundries effectively do. For delicate fabrics or technical sportswear, follow the garment instructions and your machine manual – some items prefer no softening agent at all.