How-to guide
Wash the towels on their own at the hottest temperature the care label allows, with one cup of white vinegar and no detergent, then run a second hot wash with detergent and dry them fully in sunlight or on high heat. The smell is bacteria in trapped damp — heat and complete drying remove it.
Reviewed July 2026 · By the Xtra Kleen team
Load only towels — no clothes, no bedding — and fill the drum to about three quarters. Overloading stops water moving through the pile, which is why crowded washes never fix the smell.
Add one cup of white vinegar to the drum and run the hottest cycle the care label allows. Skip detergent and fabric softener entirely for this pass — the vinegar strips built-up residue that holds the odour.
Add half a cup of bicarbonate of soda and your usual dose of laundry powder, then run a second hot cycle. This neutralises what the vinegar loosened and washes the residue out of the fibres.
Line dry in direct sun or tumble dry on high until bone dry. Any residual damp restarts the bacteria within a day, so slow indoor drying will undo the whole process.
Hang towels spread out rather than folded, wash them every three to four uses, cut back on fabric softener, and leave the washing machine door open between loads.
That damp, sour smell is odour-producing bacteria living in moisture that never fully leaves the towel. Thick terry pile holds water for hours, and a towel rehung damp on a crowded rail in a humid Australian bathroom stays wet long enough for bacteria to multiply.
Two habits make it worse. Fabric softener leaves a waxy coating that repels water, so towels dry slower and hold residue that bacteria feed on. And a washing machine that is left closed and damp between loads transfers its own smell straight into the next wash.
Once the towels are stripped, keep the routine simple: wash every three to four uses on a warm-to-hot cycle, use the correct dose of laundry powder rather than a heaped scoop, and dry fully every time.
If you want lasting fragrance without the softener coating, add in-wash scent beads to the empty drum before loading. They are a fragrance product, so they sit alongside your detergent rather than replacing it.
If several loads smell musty, the machine is the source. Run an empty hot maintenance wash monthly, wipe the rubber door seal dry, pull out and rinse the detergent drawer, and clean the lint or pump filter. Leave the door and the drawer open between washes so the drum can dry out.
Yes. White vinegar is acidic, so it dissolves the alkaline detergent and softener residue that traps odour in the pile. Use about one cup in a hot wash with no detergent, then follow with a second hot wash so nothing is left behind.
On white cotton towels a small dose of bleach is effective, but never combine it with vinegar in the same load and always check the care label. For coloured towels use the vinegar and bicarb method instead to avoid fading.
Every three to four uses for bath towels, and after every use for gym or beach towels that get packed away damp. Hand towels in a busy household should be changed every couple of days.
The bacteria and residue are still in the fibres — they just become noticeable once water reactivates them. A dry towel can smell fine and still need stripping, so run the two-wash method rather than judging by the linen cupboard.
More answers on the Xtra Kleen FAQ page.
