To wash towels with baking soda and vinegar, use them in separate steps: baking soda in the wash, then white vinegar in a separate rinse or second cycle. That is usually the safest order for smelly or stiff bath towels, because it avoids mixing the two in the drum and gives each one a chance to do its job. If the towel care label or your washer manual says something different, follow that instead.
What to check before you start
Before you load the washer, gather these items and check the towel care label and washer manual:
- Baking soda
- White vinegar
- Laundry detergent
- Your washer type: top-load or front-load
- A normal towel load size, not an overpacked drum
Check the towel label first. If it says only cold water, hand wash only, no additives, or gives any special restriction, follow the label instead of this method. The label should override a generic laundry tip.
Also check the washer manual if you are not sure where a product should go. Front-load and top-load machines do not always handle additives the same way, and some dispensers are designed for one type of product only. If your manual limits powders, liquids, or dispenser use, follow the manual.
Use this method only on towels that can handle normal machine washing. Skip it on delicate trims, heavily dyed towels that bleed, or items with coatings, rubber backing, or other restricted finishes. A bath mat or specialty textile is not the same thing as a plain cotton towel.
Why baking soda and vinegar should usually be separate
Use baking soda and vinegar in separate steps, not mixed together in the same wash water. If you combine them at once, they fizz and mostly cancel each other out before they can help much with odor or residue.
In practice, I treat baking soda as the wash-step helper and vinegar as the rinse-step helper. That keeps the order simple and avoids the common mistake of dumping both into the drum together and expecting a stronger clean. If the towels are only lightly musty, this two-step approach is often enough. If they are heavily coated or very old, you may need a second cycle or a washer-cleaning cycle too.
Step 1: wash the towels with baking soda
- Sort the towels and load the washer loosely.
Put in a normal towel load, not a packed one. Towels need room to move so water and detergent can reach the fibers and rinse back out. If the drum is stuffed, the towels can come out still smelling off or feeling coated.
- Add your regular laundry detergent.
Use the amount you normally would for the load size and soil level, following the detergent label and your washer manual. Detergent still does the actual cleaning work.
- Add baking soda to the wash stage.
For a normal towel load, use about 1/2 cup of baking soda.
In a top-load washer, add it to the drum before the towels, or into the wash water as the tub fills if your machine allows that.
In a front-load washer, add it to the drum with the towels unless your manual says to use a different method. If your washer has a detergent drawer and the manual allows powders there, that is another option; if it does not, do not force it.
- Choose the water temperature the label allows.
Warm water is a good default for many bath towels. Hot water can help with very musty or heavily used towels if the label allows it. Cold water is the fallback when the label calls for it, but it may not lift residue as well.
- Run a full wash cycle.
When the cycle ends, check the towels before you dry them. If they already smell cleaner and feel less greasy or stiff, the first step did some real work. If they still smell strongly musty, the issue may be the load size, detergent buildup, or the washer itself.
Step 2: rinse with vinegar
- Add white vinegar for the rinse stage, not the wash stage.
For a normal towel load, use about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of white vinegar.
In a top-load washer, pour it into the rinse water or into the fabric softener dispenser if your machine uses that compartment for liquids released during the rinse. If your washer has a built-in softener dispenser, that is often the simplest place to put it.
In a front-load washer, use the fabric softener compartment only if the manual says that compartment releases during the rinse. If it does not, use a rinse-only cycle and add the vinegar to the dispenser drawer or directly as your manual allows.
- Run a separate rinse cycle or a short second cycle.
If your washer has a rinse-and-spin option, that is usually enough. If not, run a short cycle with just the vinegar rinse and no extra detergent.
Do not put vinegar and detergent in the same wash stage. That can reduce the usefulness of both and may leave the towels feeling just as coated as before.
- If the towels were badly musty, check the washer too.
If the towels smell fine right out of the washer but the odor keeps coming back, the washer may be holding residue or odor in the drum, gasket, or dispenser area. That is a common failure mode with front-loaders and HE washers. A separate washer-cleaning cycle may be needed before the towels fully improve.
Step 3: dry them so they do not turn stiff again
- Shake the towels out before drying.
That helps the loops open up instead of drying in a tight wad.
- Dry on medium heat, or according to the towel label.
Most bath towels do well in the dryer on medium heat. If the label allows higher heat, you can use it, but overdrying can make towels feel harsh again and can wear the fibers faster.
- Take them out as soon as they are dry.
Do not leave towels sitting in the dryer or damp in the drum. Either habit can make them feel stiff again or pick up a stale smell before you fold them.
If you air-dry towels, hang them where air can move through them and turn them once so both sides dry evenly. Towels that stay even slightly damp for too long can lose the softer result you got from the wash.
How to tell it worked
Look for four things after the towels dry:
- Smell: the musty odor should be much lighter or gone.
- Feel: the towel should feel less coated and less board-stiff.
- Absorbency: water should soak in faster instead of beading on the surface.
- Appearance: the fabric should look cleaner and less gray from residue.
The best quick test is absorbency. If the towel smells better but still pushes water around instead of soaking it up, the smell improved but residue may still be on the fibers. That usually points to too much detergent, too large a load, or years of fabric softener buildup.
If the towels still smell musty or feel coated after one cycle
Do not just add more baking soda or vinegar and hope for the best. First check the likely causes:
- The load may have been too large, so the towels never rinsed cleanly.
- The detergent dose may have been too high.
- The washer may need cleaning.
- The towels may have old residue from repeated detergent overuse or fabric softener.
Try this next:
- Wash the towels again with less detergent, the same baking soda step, and a smaller load.
- Run a washer-cleaning cycle if your manual recommends one.
- Make sure the towels dry fully and quickly after the wash.
If they still feel coated after that, the problem is usually not that you need more vinegar. It is more often buildup that needs a cleaner washer, a smaller load, or a few careful plain washes to clear out gradually.
If the towels are very smelly, one round of baking soda and vinegar can soften the odor without fully removing it when the washer itself is part of the problem.
When not to use this method
Skip this method when the care instructions or fabric type make it a bad fit:
- The towel label says cold only, hand wash only, or no additives.
- The towel is heavily dyed and tends to bleed.
- The fabric has delicate trims, coatings, or decorative parts that could be affected by repeated washing.
- The washer manual warns against vinegar, powders, or nonstandard additives in a specific compartment.
- The item is not a plain towel, such as a bath mat with rubber backing or another specialty textile.
For restricted items, follow the manufacturer’s guidance instead. That matters most when the item has a coating, backing, or finish that can be damaged by acid, agitation, or heat.