Microfibre cloths are nice, but get sour and smelly, even after a machine wash. (same goes for or any other plastic cloths)
They usually smell fine directly from the machine, but soon after they get wet they stink again…
This is easily fixed by a microwave oven!
The smell comes from the lactic bacteria that easily survive a 30° or 40° wash, but the plastic in the cloth can not take the 90° that would’ve killed them, some clothes can be washed at 60° though.
Here is a simple inexpensive solution, without any chemicals:
-
- Let the cloth dry out completely
- Place on/in a microwave safe dish/bowl
- Place next to a 2-3dl cup of water, in the microwave
- Give it 1-2min at full power
It is important that the cloth is dry, if it is wet it will locally boil, destroying the material.
When dry it is only the bacteria that are boiled, so we effectively use the oven as an autoclave…
The water beside is important for the oven not to break(!), as it needs somewhere to put all the effect. (The mass of the bacteria is way too small by it self)
But of course if you just use traditional cotton cloths instead you completely avoid the problem as these can easily handle 90° machine wash.