7 Mistakes To Avoid When Washing Microfiber Towels
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It was a long time ago when I first started using MF towels, and it wasn’t for my car. Back at that time, I thought microfiber cloth washing was easy and that I should treat it just like any other fabric. Guess what? I was wrong. Today I’m going to show you the 7 most common mistakes you should avoid when washing and drying microfiber towels.
Microfiber cloths (check the best towels on the market) are a great product for almost every purpose when it comes to cleaning. It’s just an awesome cleaning tool. The best thing about MF is how soft it is and how well it soaks water and cleans dust and other dirt.
Since microfiber towels are soft and very sensitive, washing them the wrong way will severely damage and shorten the microfiber cloth’s life.
That was a quick overview of what I’m going to talk about in today’s post. Let’s see how to fix those mistakes. 🙂
Avoid These 7 Mistakes When Washing The Microfiber Towels
Here is a detailed list of the 7 most common mistakes people do when washing microfiber cloths. Be sure to follow the guidelines and keep your MF towels in good condition as long as possible.
1. Washing Microfiber Towels With Other Fabrics
One of the worst things you can do when washing MF towels is to put them in your washing machine together with the other fabrics.
The problem here is that other fabrics (shirts, jeans, towels, etc.) aren’t the best material and will often leave lint. The kind of fabric that you shall never mix with microfiber cloth or towels is cotton.
However, if you have to mix them with the other fabrics, mix them only with non-linting synthetic materials.
Microfiber is probably the best product out there for cleaning but it is also one of the most sensitive when it comes to washing.
High-quality microfiber cloths and towels aren’t very cheap, so be sure to wash them correctly and expand their lifetime.
2. Washing All Microfiber Towels at Once
When you first buy new microfiber towels, they are all clean and in perfect condition.
However, after using them for different purposes:
- cleaning car interior,
- cleaning exterior,
- washing the car,
- cleaning the wheels,
- cleaning windows,
- cleaning engine bay, etc.
Some of them will become dirtier, and washing them all together is a very bad idea.
You always need to sort your microfiber towels or cloths regarding what you use them for.
You don’t want oil from cleaning the engine bay to go to your microfiber towel for drying the car or, even worse – polishing the car, etc.
Furthermore, when using microfiber towels on very dirty areas of your vehicles, there are more likely to damage a bit and start listing. That lint can end up on your new and untouched microfiber towels.
Always sort your microfiber towels; color coding is one of the best options to sort MF. There are many different colors, so it’s easier for you to sort them.
3. Using Powder Detergent
Powder detergents are usually too “strong” for your microfiber towels. Yes, they will remove stains but will also damage microfiber properties such as softness, etc.
Actually, the recommendation is not to use any of the detergents, even the liquid ones.
However, you can use soft and sensitive liquid detergents such as this Tide Soft and Gentle Liquid Detergent (check the price now).
Sensitive detergents won’t make any damage to your microfiber towels and will give them long life for many usages before you throw them in the trash or start using them for another (dirtier) purpose.
The best detergents for washing microfiber towels are the ones that are made for that exact purpose. Those detergents are very sensitive but will still remove all the stains and bring back the softness to your microfiber towels and cloths.
One of the best microfiber purpose detergents out there is Chemical Guy’s Microfiber Wash (check price now).
4. Using Fabric Softeners
Using a fabric softener when washing microfiber towels is a very bad idea. Fabric softeners will cause microfibers to clog up and destroy their cleaning properties.
When the microfibers on your towel clog up, it won’t clean as it used to. It will soak less water and won’t pick the dust and dirt from surfaces.
However, if you already did this mistake. There might be a way to fix the microfiber towels a bit. Check out this article: Fix microfibers washed with fabric softeners.
Following the steps in the article mentioned above probably won’t fix all the microfibers, but they should be good enough for some dirtier cleaning purposes such as wheels, undercarriage, engine cleaning, etc.
5. Selecting Hot Temperature on the Washing Machine
No doubt, this is the worst thing you can do when washing microfiber towels. Heat is the 1st microfiber enemy.
You shall always choose a cold or warm wash, not the hot one. To keep the microfibers safe, the temperature should never exceed around 105°.
High-quality microfiber towels can be washed around 500 times before they lose their cleaning properties. If you’re going to wash them the wrong way, be happy if they last you only 10-20 washes.
With that being said, washing microfiber towels in hot temperatures can be a very expensive sport. Just think about getting a new microfiber towel after only a few usages.
Always be sure to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines when washing the microfiber towels. And yes, maybe you won’t always be able to wash them 100% the right way, but at least try to follow the advice in this article that will help your microfiber towel last much longer.
6. Using Hot Drying Option
Okay, you just washed your microfiber towels the right way, and now it’s time to dry them. Yes, the easiest way is obviously to use your dryer machine.
As I already said, heat is the 1st microfiber’s enemy. It will destroy all the special cleaning properties. The most common way of destroying microfiber is by using hot temperatures on your drying machine.
High heat will cause the melting of the microfibers. The problem here is that it’s hard to tell whether the microfibers are melted. Both the ones in good condition and the melted ones will look the same.
You will only see the difference when cleaning with them.
My recommendation is to always hang dry microfiber towels. That way, they won’t come in touch with any heat.
However, if you don’t have time or just want to dry them in your dryer (they are softer when you dry them in a drying machine), follow this advice.
Never choose any heat option on your dryer. Choose the coldest option possible. Depending on the type of dryer you have, it’s usually permanent press or air fluff.
7. Drying MF Towels Outside
As I said above, I recommend always hang drying microfiber towels.
Now I know that I sound like some perfectionist, but drying the MF towels outside is also not a good idea.
Why?
Let’s just talk about one thing. You just washed your car, and it looks beautiful and shiny AF (I had to say it this way). You leave it only one day in your garden, and what happens? You can find a lot of dust already sticking to your car’s paint.
Of course, it’s not so noticeable, but with a closer look, you will see it. After 10 days, the car might already get very dirty – even though you didn’t drive it or there was any rain.
The same is with microfibers. If you dry them outside in the fresh air, all the dust that the wind brings will stick to them and dirt the microfibers. Next, you go to wash your car, but you have to use dusty microfiber, which obviously won’t wash your car well enough.
It might even leave some scratches on your car – that’s the worst thing that can happen.
What I like to do when drying the MF towels is to take hang them on the rack and dry them inside my house. If you have a garage, even better. Just leave a window a bit open, so the fresh air keeps coming in, and you are good to go.
How To Wash Microfiber Towels?
With so many mistakes mentioned above, you probably think that it’s hard to wash the MF towels. However, it isn’t. Once you do it, you will know how to wash and dry them for the rest of your life.
I will make a separate article on this topic, but now I’m just going to give you a quick guideline.
Follow these guidelines when washing microfiber towels:
That’s it! You now have fresh microfiber towels for the new detailing job.
Conclusion
When it comes to car detailing and even household work, microfiber cloth is one of the best inventions ever made.
They are a perfect cleaning product for so many purposes. But since they are so soft and have so many special properties, it’s easy to destroy them.
Microfiber towels are more durable than typical towels and should serve you for around 500 washes.
However, if washing them the wrong way, you will have to buy new MF towels pretty soon.
So, make sure not to make any of the 7 mistakes mentioned in this article. Keep your microfiber cloths in good condition for as long as possible.
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