A towel that has gone stiff and stopped soaking up water has almost always been ruined by something in the laundry. Most of the damage can be undone. Below is what Australia's consumer body and Sydney's water utility actually say, rather than the advice that circulates online.
Fabric softener is the first thing to stop
CHOICE, Australia's independent consumer organisation, is blunt about it: fabric softeners "coat your towels in filmy chemicals which reduce their absorbency". Their testing found softeners are "proven to reduce the moisture absorbency of your washing" — which is a problem when the whole job of a towel is to absorb moisture.
The mechanism is that the softener makes fibres stand on end and coats them with a lubricating film. The towel feels softer and dries you less. As CHOICE puts it, "generally the softer your towels come out, the less useful they'll be for actually drying you".
Their recommended substitute is half a cup of vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser.
Then cut the detergent back
CHOICE again: "using too much detergent will cause more build-up on your towels which can reduce softness". Towels are thick and hard to rinse, so residue that would wash out of a shirt stays in a towel and dries hard.
They also point out that front loaders work against you here — "the clothes are generally tumbling through just a little water rather than floating through lots of it" — and suggest adding an extra rinse cycle, or choosing a gentler cycle that uses more water.
Check your spin speed
This one is less well known. CHOICE found that high spin speeds "flatten the pile on your towels". If your machine defaults to its maximum spin, turning it down for towel loads costs you nothing.
Hard water: check your city before you blame it
Most articles on this subject name hard water as the cause. Whether that applies depends on where you live, and in Sydney it almost certainly does not.
Sydney Water reports the city's supply at about 50 mg/L as calcium carbonate and describes it as soft. For scale, Water Corporation in Western Australia notes that "the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines define elevated hardness as 200 milligrams of calcium and magnesium salts per litre of water" — four times Sydney's figure.
So if your towels have stiffened in Sydney, look at the softener, the detergent and the rinse before you look at the tap. We have not checked the published figures for other capitals, so we are not going to tell you what your water is doing in Perth or Adelaide.
Drying
CHOICE's advice for fluffiness is to tumble dry fully, or to alternate between tumble drying and line drying. If you line dry, they suggest shaking the towels out vigorously first, or putting them through the dryer's cooling cycle for a few minutes before they go on the line.
On dryer balls: CHOICE tested them and found they did not reduce drying time or energy use, and does not recommend buying them.
Bringing a stiff towel back
- Wash with no detergent and half a cup of vinegar in the softener dispenser, to shift the residue.
- Wash again with a reduced dose of detergent and no softener, with an extra rinse.
- Dry as above, with the spin speed turned down.
And the towel itself
Laundry habits explain most stiffness. The yarn explains the rest.
Our own specifications: the Shiawase range is woven from 100-count yarn, which UCHINO describes as about one-fifth the thickness of ordinary towel yarn, and Shiho from 140 count. Finer yarn and a longer pile are what the price difference buys.
No yarn survives a bottle of fabric softener. A better one simply has more to lose before you notice.
Questions
Why have my towels stopped absorbing water?
Fabric softener is the most likely cause — CHOICE's testing found softeners reduce absorbency by coating the fibres. Detergent build-up is the next.
Does hard water make towels stiff in Australia?
It depends where you are. Sydney Water reports Sydney's supply at about 50 mg/L as calcium carbonate and calls it soft, against the 200 mg/L the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines treat as elevated. In Sydney, look elsewhere first.
Can I fix a stiff towel?
Usually. Wash with no detergent and half a cup of vinegar in the softener dispenser, then a second wash with less detergent, no softener and an extra rinse.
Should I use fabric softener on towels?
CHOICE says no, and recommends vinegar in the dispenser instead.
Do dryer balls help?
CHOICE tested them and found no reduction in drying time or energy use, and does not recommend buying them.
Sources. Laundry advice: CHOICE, How to keep your towels soft and fluffy and CHOICE on fabric softener. Sydney water hardness: Sydney Water, Water analysis. Guideline figure for elevated hardness: Water Corporation, Hard water. Yarn counts are from UCHINO's own product specifications.