My bath towels haven’t been smelling so fresh lately. I thought I remembered something about washing them with vinegar to help strip off old laundry and fabric softener residue. (I have just realized that I remembered because I did it with some other towels six years ago.)
I put vinegar in the washing machine, and a little dish soap, to make the water wetter. Who did I learn that sentence from? “Soap makes water wetter”. I want to say it was Gil Danzer?

After washing and drying, the towels seemed fresh. We’ll see if they last.
My search through the memory archive reveals the fact that three years after I did this last time, I bought new towels. Did I buy them because the vinegar wash didn’t work, or because I just wanted new towels?
Would you believe…..just yesterday the phrase “soap makes water wetter” came to mind as I was washing dishes?! The late Ted Henn used that with us I science classes often, as I recall. Seems true enough – things get cleaner when water is present in addition to soap alone.
When we owned our needlework shop, we would recommend customers launder their finished pieces in cold water, Dawn dish washing soap, and a cap-full of vinegar to help release any grease or oils from handling the pieces over time. That recipe was quite effective in its day, so adding vinegar to laundry seems logical in comparison – and I doubt the weak acid of the vinegar would have damaged your towels and necessitated purchase of new ones soon after. You have just always been on the cutting edge of fashion! 😉
I throw vinegar in with each load of laundry – for odor and water-softening purposes. I’m also putting some washing soda in with shirts now. Lloyd has three shirts that just smell a little off. I should check the fabric content….