How to Prevent Your Towels from Pilling

When you get new towels, you need to know how best to maintain them for a very long time. Most towels that have been used for a while tend to start pilling. It's more associated with lower-quality towels that have little fibre balls attached to them. The longer the fibre is, the lesser the probability of it pilling. Towels pill when shorter fibres rub against longer fibres. When buying towels, you should go for combed cotton ones.

Combed cotton is made with durable and very long fibres. Combed cotton towels may be slightly more expensive but you can be rest assured that they won't pill. While washing your towels, you should not use so much fabric softener because it reduces the ability to absorb water. You should also make sure that you do not over-dry towels. There are a few techniques to help you prevent as well as also stop towel pilling. Now, let's learn how you can prevent towel pilling and how you can stop pilling.

How to Avoid Towel Pilling

It's important that you understand how to prevent towel pilling. Whether you buy high-quality or less-quality towels, there's a probability that they will pill sometime later. Here are some tips that will help you avoid towel pilling.

Don't wash with other clothes

You should not wash your towels with other fabrics. Even when using the tumble dryer, you should not load them with other clothes because they can get pills from there. Using the dryer for too long can weaken the towel and cause pilling. So you have to wash and dry towels alone. Besides, other clothes could have buttons or zippers that can hook the loops of towels and damage them.

 Use baking soda and vinegar

 You should wash towels with baking soda and rinse with baking soda. You can also include your detergent with the baking soda solution before pouring it into the washing machine.

Wash with warm or cold water

You can either use warm or cold water to wash your towels. Wash them alone and dry alone for a couple of minutes with some dryer sheets or dryer balls. The dryer can remove lint from the towels and the dryer sheets aid this process too.

Remove before fully dry

You can dry your towels using a dryer but be sure to remove it before it’s fully dry. Then, hang to dry. When you dry your towels outside, the wind helps to loosen lint on towels.

 Don't overuse

 Overusing towels can cause pilling. The fibres will begin to shed once you use too much. This is why you should have more than one towel and rotate altogether. Overusing, over washing and over-drying is one of the biggest causes of pilling.

 Dry on a low heat

 

If you are using a tumble dryer, dry on a low heat for some time before hanging outside. A low heat setting will help preserve the thickness and maintain the strength of the towels. However, it's best to hang outside immediately after washing.

Shake them out

Another way to prevent pilling is by shaking the towels out just after they are dried. Shake them out before you fold and organize them into the closet or towel rack. This procedure works when trying to avoid shedding.

Soak new towels in cold water

 When you purchase new towels, you can soak them in cold water for some hours. Then, wash and dry them to prevent pilling. If you like, you can also make use of some ice. This will help prolong the lifespan of the towel.

How to stop towel pilling

What can you do to stop towel pilling? Sometimes, you may try to prevent your towels from pilling but it still happens. You may even invest in high-quality towels and feel surprised when pilling occurs after some time. Here are a few methods to follow in order to stop towel pilling.

Use an upholstery brush or any kind of brush to scrub the towel.

 You need to brush off all the lint on the towel. This may require some effort depending on how thick the material is. Then, you proceed to wash your towels. Add a little quantity of fabric softener while washing. Rinse and tumble dry before using a lint roller to remove any remaining lint.

To get rid of pills using a dryer, dry the towels for some cycles.

Make sure you clean the lint filter so it can remove as much lint as possible. This is much better than using a blade or shaving stick to remove pills. Sharp objects tend to damage the towel loops and worsen the situation.

Wash with Fabric Softener

You start by adding half a cup of fabric softener to the towels in the machine before the washing cycle begins. Clean the lint filter in the dryer and add some nylon netting to the load. The nylon netting helps to remove loose pills. When you tumble dry, use a warm setting. After drying, use a lint roller to get rid of any loose pills left. If you don't have a lint roller, you can substitute by wrapping masking tape around your hand with the sticky side up and use it to remove lint by pressing on the towel continuously until satisfied.

You should be careful about what your towels get hooked on. Nails, furniture, metals, and jewellery can latch on to your towels and as you try to remove it, it starts to pill. Opt for hangers with protected hooks so they don’t damage your towels.

If you notice pulled loops, use scissors to cut it off. This process is meant to stop pills from increasing and it won't affect the longevity of the towels.