Microfibre towels are picky buggers – wash them with the wrong detergent or add things into the wash cycle that shouldn’t be there and you can ruin them altogether, turning a premium detailing microfibre into a rag that’s only good enough for old engine oil.
Why do microfibre towels need to be washed carefully?
The secret is in the pile itself (and partly in the name). Microfibre towels literally consist of countless microscopic filaments that are 100–200 times thinner than human hair.
That delicate structure is what makes microfibre so reactive to how it’s cleaned. Anything that clogs or compromises those individual fibres will have a profound negative impact on how the whole microfibre towel performs and behaves.
Whether it’s a drying towel like the flagship thirstbase drying towel, a set of microfibre towels for cleaning glass and quick detailing like the dailydriver towels, or just general-purpose cleaning microfibres, they all consist of the same base filaments. Those filaments are simply constructed into different piles and textures to create the finished product: a microfibre towel.
What sets microfibre towels apart from one another is the quality of the polyamide and polyester within the blend, the ratio between them and how those filaments are constructed. I digress, though – that’s for another post.
Science lesson over. Let’s get on to cleaning them, starting with the things you should avoid.
How not to wash your microfibre towels
There are some immediate “hell no” items when it comes to washing your microfibre towels. Use or include any of these in the wash and you’re going to have a bad time:
Fabric softener
Fabric softener has to sit at the top of this list because it wreaks havoc on microfibre. It contains buckets of fragrance and fatty-acid lubricants that clog the microfibre and prevent it from absorbing water or other liquids anywhere near as effectively.
Additionally, microfibres carry a negative charge when they’re being washed, while fabric softener is positively charged. This encourages the fabric softener to work deeper into the microfibre pile.
The result? A microfibre towel that may smell nice, but will leave streaks. This is particularly problematic for drying towels, which won’t be able to absorb anywhere near as much water.
Bleach
Bleach almost has the opposite effect of fabric softener: it cleans far too aggressively. It shortens the lifespan of the microfibre and breaks down those delicate fibres, degrading the towel and increasing the amount of lint it leaves behind.
If you need to sanitise your microfibre, fully dissolve some oxygen powder in warm water. Ideally, use one without fragrance for a thorough clean and to remove harmful bacteria from your microfibre.
Regular laundry detergent
This is the one that trips people up the most. On the surface, a harmless laundry detergent might seem like it would do the trick just fine. Nope – unfortunately not. It’s great for clothes, but not so much for microfibre.
Laundry detergent can contain colour brighteners, fragrance, silicones and occasionally fabric softener – particularly laundry pods.
All of those chemicals and fillers are bad for microfibre. They clog the pile, cause streaks and sharply decrease absorbency.
How to wash your microfibre towels
It’s surprisingly easy to take care of your microfibre towels. Less is definitely more here.
Use a dedicated microfibre wash
A purpose-built microfibre wash such as our fibrewash® detergent uses powerful enzymes to break down dirt, leftover product, oils and deposits without damaging or degrading the microfibre pile.
Most importantly, fibrewash is fragrance-free, which prevents it from coating your microfibre in oily residues.
Hand-wash your towels or place them in the washing machine. A temperature of 30°C is plenty in most cases, but you can wash them at a maximum of 40°C if they’re particularly dirty or heavily contaminated.
If you don’t have a dedicated microfibre wash in your arsenal, here’s the next-best thing you can use in a tight spot.
White vinegar
White vinegar is a natural disinfectant and is great at pulling crap from your microfibre without damaging the fibres.
There are, however, a few downsides:
- Firstly, it stinks.
- Don’t mistake white vinegar for malt vinegar. That’s for your chips and they’re not the same 😆
- White vinegar is highly acidic. Use it with caution, or it could degrade and break down the fibres – particularly if you add too much to the wash.
- Using white vinegar too often in your washing machine can cause premature wear to its rubber components.
Risks aside, it cleans microfibre well.
Add roughly 200ml of white vinegar – assuming a full 6–7kg load of dirty microfibre – to the washing machine once it has begun filling with water. This prevents the vinegar from being immediately drained away at the beginning of the wash cycle.
The perfect approach: use both
Use fibrewash for every microfibre wash and, occasionally, add white vinegar to the fabric softener drawer for a more intensive clean during the rinse cycle.
fibrewash is a great everyday microfibre detergent and is safe enough to use with every load. That said, a microfibre detergent alone may not remove all of the hydrophobic chemicals that have made their way into your towels if they’ve become clogged due to:
- Living in a hard-water area
- Frequently using drying aids
- Using spray sealants, spray waxes or polymer coatings
- Often applying sealants using a foam lance
- Previously washing microfibre with fabric softener or another incompatible detergent
Adding white vinegar to the fabric softener compartment in your washing machine introduces it during the final rinse.
The acidic vinegar then gets to work breaking down any remaining hydrophobic coatings and limescale that may have been distributed throughout the towel.
Personally, I use fibrewash every time I wash my microfibre towels and add white vinegar to the fabric softener compartment roughly once every five washes.
That system ensures my microfibres are clean every time I use them and remain unclogged, so they continue to work at their best.
Check out our tutorial on TikTok
@fibregloss
Job done!