Does anyone else have trouble with certain types of fabric coming out very, um, crunchy after they''ve been machine-washed them and hung to dry? They don't come off the line stiff, per se, but my towels, t-shirts- and jeans always come out very rough and hard. That's is pretty shocking to one who comes from a land where the towels are oh-so-fluffy! Interestingly, synthetic fabrics like polyester don't seem to be as affected. Likewise, items made of very thin cotton such as bedsheets and boxers don't seem to be affected, either.

I've tried varying the amount of laundry soap and fabric softener we use. We've tried gentler detergents, such as "Baby Mild." We've tried adding vinegar to rinses and extra rinses. But none of this has helped. Ironing does seem to take the hardness out of the jeans and shirts. And I've observed that the towels will soften after being used once or twice.

My guess right now is that the problem is with the muubaan water supply; it comes from an underground well, which I believe is very "hard" - that is, the water has a high mineral content. And I'm guessing that short of buying an electric dryer, there's no way to avoid this.

Thoughts?

It could be cause of hard water. In that case, the best thing to do is have a water softener installed. If you don't have the space or don't want to spend the cash, try baking soda. We've been adding it to the detergent in our wash(about 1 cup). It helps. Think it works along the same ways as the salts in a water softener works. Its not a 100% fix, but better than before.

"My guess right now is that the problem is with the muubaan water supply; it comes from an underground well, which I believe is very "hard" - that is, the water has a high mineral content."

You guessed it.

Towels launder best with about 1/4 to 1/2 of the laundry detergent you'd normally use for a load of that size. Often, I launder our towels without any laundry detergent at all. The OP is right, terry cloth towels become "softer" after they're tossed around in a dryer for a while. When we lived near Washy Mashy on Huey Kaew, we had them launder our terry cloth towels since they used real, gas-heated dryers. We didn't have a clothes washing machine then, but they would have gladly accepted wet, laundered towels for drying at a reduced rate.

Now we have a clothes washer and I finally just decided to use cotten waffle-weave towels and not western-style terry cloth. Not as as comfortable or plush, but much cheaper and they dry quickly without become stiff.

Edit - unfortunately, it's a bad idea to use fabric softener on towels. It drastically reduces their absorbancy.