Here’s how to wash microfiber towels so they keep working: sort them by job, wash them on their own in warm water with a microfiber detergent, skip the fabric softener, and dry them on low heat or no heat. Get one of those wrong and you end up with towels that streak glass, smear paint and stop soaking up water.
Below is how we wash ours, step by step, and the mistakes that ruin them.
What you need
- A microfiber detergent. We use P&S Rags to Riches.
- A washer and dryer. Any home machine works, including HE.
- A bucket for pre-soaking the really dirty towels.
Why we use P&S Rags to Riches
We use Rags to Riches on our own towels. It’s made for microfiber and rated for HE (high-efficiency) washers, which a lot of home machines are now. P&S lists it as low-sudsing and safe in any machine type. It’s also built to strip out the wax, sealant and coating residue that builds up in towels and stops them absorbing.
It’s concentrated. A quart was about $21 at the time of writing. At 1 oz per small load, that’s roughly 65 cents a load (example math from the listed price; large loads take 2 oz).
Buyer reviews are mostly positive. The main complaint is price.
How to wash microfiber towels in 5 steps
Every washing machine is different, so for temperature and dose we go by the Rags to Riches label. It is worth matching your machine’s settings to it as closely as you can.
- Sort by job. Keep glass, paint and interior towels in separate loads. Wash microfiber on its own, never with cotton or other fabrics, which shed lint into the fibers.
- Pre-soak the worst ones. Heavily soiled towels, or ones that have gone hydrophobic (water beads on them instead of soaking in), go in a bucket of water with 1 to 2 oz of Rags to Riches before they hit the washer. Retailer listings put that at 1 to 2 oz per 2 to 3 gallons of water.
- Wash warm with the right dose. Use 1 oz for a small or lightly soiled load and 2 oz for a large load. Warm water, not hot.
- Skip the fabric softener. No softener, no dryer sheets, no bleach.
- Dry on low or no heat. We run ours on the dryer’s air-only setting. Low heat or hanging them to dry also works. High heat can melt the fibers.
Why we keep glass, paint and interior towels apart
Interior towels pick up dressing, and dressings carry silicones. Wash those towels with your glass towels and the silicone spreads onto them. Then every time you wipe a window you’re laying down a thin film, and streak-free glass gets very hard.
The same goes for paint. We would keep paint towels away from anything that touched dressing so you’re not wiping silicone back onto the car.
Can you use fabric softener on microfiber towels?
No. Fabric softener coats and clogs the fibers, so the towel stops grabbing dirt and stops absorbing. Dryer sheets do the same thing in the dryer. P&S says Rags to Riches softens towels on its own, so you don’t need either.
Can you put microfiber towels in the dryer?
Yes, as long as the heat is low or off. Microfiber is a polyester and nylon blend, and high heat melts it. A dryer that’s still hot from the last load can do it too. It is worth cleaning the lint trap first, since loose lint sticks to the towels.
Should you wash new microfiber towels before using them?
Yes. P&S recommends washing new microfiber before its first use. We would wash new towels the same way as used ones.
When to throw a microfiber towel out
We throw a towel out as soon as it’s black and we know it’s not going to wash clean. We would not keep fighting with it.
Overall
Overall, to wash microfiber towels the right way, we would sort them by job, pre-soak the worst ones, and wash them on their own in warm water with a microfiber detergent. We use P&S Rags to Riches and follow its label for the dose. No fabric softener or dryer sheets, and low heat or no heat in the dryer. Keeping glass, paint and interior towels apart stops the silicone from dressings ending up on your windows and paint. When a towel is black and won’t wash clean, we throw it out.