Terry towel nappies - Suggestions please

[Lipsmacker01]

Is there a way of reviving my square terry towel nappies? I would normally wash them in 90 degrees water (no bleach). Then I would hang them on the clothes horse to dry. Lately with winter ive been naughty and used the clothes dryer a couple of times. Now they are really hard and dont feel as soft as they use to. I know I can use them as car rags etc but I paid a fair bit for them as I have heaps and would like some suggestions please!!

[gremily]

How bizarre! Most people would say the dryer fluffs them up!

I'd try washing them at a lower temperature. Washing at such a high temp will eventually damage the fibres. Highest temp you should probably look at is about 60C.

However, if you're hanging them on the line to dry, you could just wash in cold water. I do this; less energy used, plus the sun disinfects and bleaches out remaining stains. Occasionally I'll do a hot wash if they are particularly grubby.

Try adding 1/4 cup of vinegar to the rinse (fine for terry flats, not good for MCN though). Vinegar is a good alternative to fabric softener - it's just minus all the petrochemicals!

[Lipsmacker01]

Thank you Gremily for replying to my question.
Ive googled the issue that I have with my nappies and this is what I came up with. Ill copy and paste it here for us all!

Wash at 60º using non-biological washing powder. You will only need a very small amount of washing powder (a third of the recommended amount) as it is the high temperature of the wash that sanitises the nappies rather than the detergent. Using too much detergent will simply make your nappies stiff and the build up of residues may lead to nappy rash. If you can see soap suds in the machine during the final rinse, then you have used too much powder.
You should avoid fabric conditioner as this can affect the absorbency of the nappies and may lead to skin irritations.


Who would have thought that too much detergent and too high a temperature were the culprit!

Hope this helps anyone that has the same issue I had :)

[gremily]

Yep :thumbsup:

Recommended amount of detergent is about 1/4 the amount your detergent recommends. I use Planet Ark (totally biodegradable, natural ingredients, no fragrance) and all I have to use is about 1 dessertspoon.

Nappies aren't greasy, so the detergent is just needed to help the water penetrate into the fibres. If you're washing in hot though, you could actually get away without using detergent sometimes.