I discovered that a couple of my towels apparently got treated with fabric softener at one point: they have lost all absorbency (I never use softener but apparently someone in the household did). It is impossible to dry anything with them, they just push the water around.
What’s the best/easiest way to remove the vile stuff without damaging the towels?
Absorbent towels. I guess if you’d always used fabric softener, you’d never know how much more effective towels are when they haven’t been abused by fabric softener or drier sheets.
Well this is something I will try next time I buy new towels then.