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You pull a clean towel out of the cabinet, bury your face in it, and get a lungful of damp basement. Washing it again the same way won’t fix that, so how to get rid of musty smell from towels comes down to changing the routine, not repeating it.
The smell is mildew and bacteria living in the towel, usually fed by detergent and softener buildup, and they survive a normal wash. So there are two jobs. Strip the towels you have, then stop the smell coming back. The second job depends on where it’s coming from, and when you notice the smell tells you that.
What causes the musty smell in towels
There are three usual causes, and the timing gives each one away.
It smells straight out of the wash. That’s buildup in the fibers (too much detergent, fabric softener, body oils) or a washing machine that’s moldy itself and puts the smell back into every load.
It’s fine after washing but musty a day or two later. The wash is fine. The towel isn’t drying between uses. As one r/CleaningTips commenter put it, “it’s not the wash process, it’s what’s happening after.”
It’s fine out of the dryer but musty after sitting in the cabinet. That’s storage. Towels kept in a steamy bathroom take up moisture from every shower, and a stack holds it between the layers.
Often it’s more than one. Strip first (methods 1 to 4), then fix whichever else fits.
1. How to get rid of musty smell from towels: strip them
This is the reset that works when a normal hot wash didn’t. Two hot washes, back to back, with no detergent and no softener in either.
First wash: the hottest water the care label allows, with 1 cup (240 ml) of distilled white vinegar poured into the drum. Second wash: hot again, with half a cup (120 ml) of baking soda and nothing else. Never put them in the same load. Vinegar’s an acid and baking soda’s alkaline, so together they cancel each other out.
One Reddit user ran this on camping towels that were 10 years old, and they came out “almost like new.” For a worse case, pause the vinegar wash once the drum has filled and agitated, and let the towels sit in it for an hour or more before the cycle finishes.
Check your washer manual first, though. Some makers advise against vinegar in the machine because the acid can wear on the seals and hoses. If yours says no, go straight to the soak below.
2. Soak the stubborn ones in oxygen bleach
Still musty after a strip? Soak them. Dissolve powdered oxygen bleach (sodium percarbonate) in the warmest water the care label allows, at the dose on the package, then push the towels under. Leave them for 1 to 6 hours, then wash as normal.
Check the care label, and test a hidden corner first. Keep it out of any load with vinegar in it. On white cotton towels, people also use chlorine bleach in the wash. Never mix chlorine bleach with vinegar or ammonia. The fumes are toxic.
3. Use less detergent than you think
More soap doesn’t mean cleaner towels. They’re thick and absorbent, so they hold on to detergent, and the residue traps the bacteria that make the smell. If your towels come out stiff or scratchy, too much detergent (or softener) is the likely reason.
Measure the dose on the label for your load size instead of free-pouring, and use HE detergent in an HE machine. One r/CleaningTips commenter caps it at 2 tablespoons for an HE washer and adds an extra rinse. Don’t pack the drum, either. Towels need room to move through the water.
4. Stop using fabric softener on towels
Softener works by coating the fibers. On a towel, that coating makes it less absorbent and gives the smell something to cling to. The top answer in one r/CleaningTips thread (210 upvotes) calls it a waxy substance that “laminates bacteria and bad smells to your fabrics.” Drop dryer sheets too. Plenty of people who finally fixed musty towels say that was part of it. Skip both on towels for good, not just until the smell clears.
5. Dry them all the way, right away
Get towels out of the washer the moment the cycle ends. A wet load sitting in a closed drum starts to smell musty within hours, which is the smell you just paid to wash out.
Then dry them completely. A thick towel can feel dry on the surface while the hems and folded edges are still damp, so check those before you fold. Let a warm load cool spread out, then fold and put it away.
If you have outdoor space, use the sun. The top answer in a thread on musty towels (167 upvotes) was one hot wash, then a day on the line in sun and moving air. Indoors, hang them where air moves, with a fan on them if the room is humid.
6. Hang towels spread open between uses
If yours smell fine after a wash and go musty a day later, start here. After every shower, hang the towel spread open on a bar, one towel per bar, so air gets to both sides.
Hooks bunch the towel and the folds stay wet. Folding it in thirds over the bar is almost as bad, because the middle third gets hardly any air. One r/CleaningTips commenter’s in-laws do exactly that, and all their towels stink. Never drop a damp towel in the hamper, either. Musty odors start forming within a couple of hours in a warm, dark place.
Hang towels a few feet from the shower, or outside the bathroom if you can. In a humid summer, one Reddit user points a small fan at the towels after every shower so they’re dry before the next one.
7. Clean the washer’s door seal
If clean towels smell musty straight out of the machine, the machine may be the source. On a front loader, the rubber door seal is the usual suspect. Water, lint and detergent collect in its folds, and mold grows there.
Pull the seal back and look. Wipe out the folds with a cloth dipped in hot water and baking soda, using an old toothbrush for the tight spots. For mold that won’t wipe off, Whirlpool’s instructions use 3/4 cup (177 ml) of chlorine bleach in 1 gallon (3.8 L) of warm water, wiped on with gloves and left for 5 minutes, but check your own manual first. Then dry the seal with a cloth and leave the door open so it airs out.
After every load, wipe the seal dry. Whirlpool suggests a deep clean about once a month or every 30 cycles.
8. Run a cleaning cycle on the drum
Run the machine empty on its tub-clean or self-clean cycle with a washing machine cleaner, exactly as the packet says. Your manual names the cleaners it approves. Then rewash the musty towels in the clean machine. One Reddit user found their front loader was the problem all along: an empty hot cleaning cycle, then a rewash of the musty loads, fixed it. Our guide to washing machine smell covers the filter and detergent drawer too.
9. Store towels in a closed cabinet, away from the shower
This is where most advice stops at “don’t store towels in the bathroom.” Great, if you have a hall closet. If you don’t, here’s the setup that works.
Use a closed cabinet, not an open shelf, and pick the one farthest from the shower. Steam settles on an open stack every time someone showers. Put towels away only when they’re completely dry, stack them loosely so air can move, and rotate them so the bottom ones don’t sit there for months. Skip plastic bags and sealed bins. Plastic keeps moisture in.
Does the cabinet itself smell? People in the r/CleaningTips thread that started this article suggested sealing the inside with a stain-blocking primer (once any mold is cleaned off and the wood is dry) and swapping solid doors for vented ones. The original poster’s plan was to keep non-linen items in there for a while first, to see whether it still smelled.
10. Run the bathroom fan longer
Turn the exhaust fan on when you start the shower and leave it running for at least 20 minutes after you’re done. That’s the Home Ventilating Institute’s figure, as quoted by fan maker Broan-NuTone. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s building guide goes further and recommends a full hour, and a timer switch so nobody has to remember.
Most people switch it off as they leave, and that leftover moisture ends up in the towels. Leave the bathroom door open after showering, too.
11. Put a hygrometer in the cabinet
You can’t tell how damp a cabinet is by sniffing it. A hygrometer can. It’s a small humidity meter, about $10 to $50 at hardware stores, and the EPA’s target is below 60% relative humidity, ideally 30% to 50%.
Put one inside the towel cabinet and check it after showers. If it sits above 60%, the fan and the absorber below aren’t keeping up. Add a dehumidifier or move the towels.
12. Keep a moisture absorber in the cabinet
A tub of moisture-absorbing crystals sits on the cabinet shelf, with no power and no noise. Over a few weeks it fills with water you can see. That’s water your towels would otherwise have soaked up. Empty the liquid down the drain and refill the crystals when the tub fills. Several people in the bathroom-storage thread recommended exactly this. One commenter also uses silica gel packs.
For the rest of the house, see musty smell in house.
When to call a professional
A washer that still smells after you’ve cleaned the seal, the drum and the filter needs the manufacturer or an appliance technician. Whirlpool notes that a drain problem, such as a clogged P-trap or vent pipe, can cause the smell too, and that’s a job for a professional. If you find mold in the bathroom covering more than about 10 sq ft (roughly 3 ft by 3 ft), you’re past the EPA’s do-it-yourself line. Follow its remediation guidance or hire a contractor with mold experience. A bathroom with no exhaust fan, or one that vents into the attic instead of outside, needs a contractor to fix the venting.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get towels smelling fresh? Strip them with the vinegar wash and then the baking soda wash, skip the softener, and dry them completely. Fresh means no smell, not perfume over the musty one.
Does laundry sanitizer get rid of mildew smell? Lots of people on Reddit say a laundry sanitizer in the rinse got the musty smell out of towels when other fixes didn’t. Use it as the label says, and it still won’t help a towel that never dries between uses.
Can moldy towels be saved? A musty towel usually can, with a strip or an oxygen bleach soak. If it still smells after a clean washer and two rounds, the fibers may be done. The EPA notes that porous materials that get moldy sometimes can’t be fully cleaned. Microfiber towels hold smells far more stubbornly than cotton.
How can I use vinegar to wash my towels? One cup (240 ml) in a hot wash with no detergent, then a separate hot wash with half a cup (120 ml) of baking soda. Check your washer manual first.
How often should I wash bath towels? Every 3 to 5 uses, or at least once a week if you use them every day.
