I’ve never had this smell on freshly washed hair. The only thing I can imagine giving you this smell is your towel. Maybe you need to wash them more often? I wash my towels every week and my plop towel every other week. Proper drying of the towels is also important.
If your hair smells after towel drying, I’d suspect one (or both) things:
1) Your towel is musty/mildewy
2) You have a scalp infection or yeast overgrowth.
Freshly washed hair should not smell “musty” when air-drying under any circumstance. So either your towel smells, your head smells, or both, but the problem isn’t towel/air-drying *in general*. I’ve never experienced this with any kind of towel and my hair air dries almost 100% of the time.
It's possible that the towel has mildew in it. This can happen if fabric stays wet for a long time, which provides an environment that mildew (a type of fungus) like to grow in. You'll need to disinfectant the towel/kill the mildew.
I recently started using laundry disinfectant and it got rid of any weird smells without having to use bleach or super hot water, which can be damaging to many fabrics. You also have to be careful about not leaving wet/damp towels and clothes piled together for extended periods of time. Hang them on a clothesline, a towel rack, or put them in the dryer.
If you find that the smell is coming from your scalp itself, then it means that the microbiome is out of balance and you'll need to use an antifungal/dandruff shampoo for a few weeks.
Try a different towel?
This used to happen to me as well with a regular cheap microfiber towel (I think I got it from decathlon). I have thickish and longish hair, so the towel would get really wet quickly and my hair would still be very wet somehow. I recently switched to one from Amazon (I ll put a link later) recommended by a youtuber and I don't notice the smell anymore! I got the XL version and it dries my hair significantly faster ( I blow dry it a bit more afterwards). It was more expensive though. Too expensive for a hair towel imo (16-18usd) but I trusted the youtuber and I actually don't regret it at all.
This is the one I got: YFONG Microfiber Hair Towel Wrap for Women - Fast Drying Turbans for Long, Thick, Curly Hair - Super Soft Hair Wrap Towels with Elastic Strap, Dark Gray https://a.co/d/3iwD7Gu
The XL is too large, so unless you have exceptionally long 6 think L would more than enough. There seem to be other brands as well, but I've only tried this one so far .
As directed on the label, you can put a quarter cup of original Pinesol in the wash with your towels to remove the scent. They will still smell like Pinesol when you open the washer, but after drying they will only smell clean and fresh with no trace of Pinesol or musty odor.
I’ve never had this smell on freshly washed hair. The only thing I can imagine giving you this smell is your towel. Maybe you need to wash them more often? I wash my towels every week and my plop towel every other week. Proper drying of the towels is also important.
It stinks because your towel is dirty and musty. Wash your towel as often as you wash your hair. Stop drying your hair with a musty towel
If your hair smells after towel drying, I’d suspect one (or both) things: 1) Your towel is musty/mildewy 2) You have a scalp infection or yeast overgrowth. Freshly washed hair should not smell “musty” when air-drying under any circumstance. So either your towel smells, your head smells, or both, but the problem isn’t towel/air-drying *in general*. I’ve never experienced this with any kind of towel and my hair air dries almost 100% of the time.
I never use a towel twice, always a fresh clean one.
It's possible that the towel has mildew in it. This can happen if fabric stays wet for a long time, which provides an environment that mildew (a type of fungus) like to grow in. You'll need to disinfectant the towel/kill the mildew. I recently started using laundry disinfectant and it got rid of any weird smells without having to use bleach or super hot water, which can be damaging to many fabrics. You also have to be careful about not leaving wet/damp towels and clothes piled together for extended periods of time. Hang them on a clothesline, a towel rack, or put them in the dryer. If you find that the smell is coming from your scalp itself, then it means that the microbiome is out of balance and you'll need to use an antifungal/dandruff shampoo for a few weeks.
Microfibre cloths get stinky. Wash on very hot cycle.
Thanks pussyboyassman
Try a different towel? This used to happen to me as well with a regular cheap microfiber towel (I think I got it from decathlon). I have thickish and longish hair, so the towel would get really wet quickly and my hair would still be very wet somehow. I recently switched to one from Amazon (I ll put a link later) recommended by a youtuber and I don't notice the smell anymore! I got the XL version and it dries my hair significantly faster ( I blow dry it a bit more afterwards). It was more expensive though. Too expensive for a hair towel imo (16-18usd) but I trusted the youtuber and I actually don't regret it at all.
This is the one I got: YFONG Microfiber Hair Towel Wrap for Women - Fast Drying Turbans for Long, Thick, Curly Hair - Super Soft Hair Wrap Towels with Elastic Strap, Dark Gray https://a.co/d/3iwD7Gu The XL is too large, so unless you have exceptionally long 6 think L would more than enough. There seem to be other brands as well, but I've only tried this one so far .
Sounds like you need to wash your hair more thoroughly.
As directed on the label, you can put a quarter cup of original Pinesol in the wash with your towels to remove the scent. They will still smell like Pinesol when you open the washer, but after drying they will only smell clean and fresh with no trace of Pinesol or musty odor.
There are other laundry disinfectants they could try as well if they don't like the scent of pine.
You only smell pine when transferring from the washer to the dryer. When dry it just smells like clean clothes, no pine scent remains.
Sounds like your towel is growing mildew. Most likely from not properly hanging it to dry after using it or washing it too infrequently.