One of the nuggets of home ec wisdom my mom told me when I was a kid and which I've been burning to tell to every person I knew ever since, is “Don’t use fabric softener when you wash the towels. It may make them soft, but it also makes them not absorb any water.” I’ve been to people’s houses where they did use fabric softener (lots of it, it seemed) on the towels, and those towels were just useless. Trying to dry off with a towel that has been fabric-softened is like trying to dry off with a cat. So here’s me being bossy: Don’t use fabric softener* on towels!
If you want fluffy, yet still absorbent towels, and feel you absolutely must use fabric softener, maybe just try using it every other time, or every third time. It seems to build up each time you use it until it’s a whole thick layer of non-absorbency. For lots of user-generated discussion on the towel-and-fabric-softener issue, as well as alternatives to using fabric softener, go here (it’s not in the easiest format to read, but has lots of info).
I should also mention that it’s a good idea to wash and dry towels separately from other stuff, and to use hot water to kill germs and microbes. The best way to dry towels, if you can, is to air-dry them.
*When I say fabric softener, I mean liquid fabric softener and dryer sheets both. It’s all the same.
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