Why You Should Never Wash Towels with Your Regular Laundry Throwing towels in with your regular laundry might seem efficient, but it’s a habit that can damage both your clothes and your towels. While combining loads may save time, it often leads to hygiene issues, fabric wear, and subpar cleaning.  Towels are thick and highly absorbent, requiring a longer, hotter wash to get properly clean. Clothes—especially delicates and synthetics—need gentler cycles. When washed together, you either under-clean your towels or risk damaging your clothes, depending on the settings you choose. Then there’s the lint problem. Towels, particularly new ones, shed a lot of it. Mixed with clothes—especially dark or synthetic fabrics—this lint sticks, creating a fuzzy mess that often requires rewashing. That’s more time, more wear, and more frustration.

Physical damage is also a concern. Towels’ rough texture can cause pilling or stretching in lighter fabrics, while zippers and buttons from clothing can snag or wear down towels. And don’t forget the hygiene factor: towels carry bacteria, sweat, and dead skin cells, which can transfer to your clothes during a shared wash.

Drying poses another problem. Towels take longer to dry, so mixing them with lighter garments often results in soggy towels or overdried, shrunken clothes. Either way, your laundry suffers.

Bottom line: Wash towels separately using hot water, a full rinse cycle, and appropriate detergent. Your clothes—and your towels—will last longer, stay cleaner, and look better.