system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do bath towels seem to get more absorbent the more they get washed over time?
gpt
Brand new towels (of all kinds) have probably been washed in their factory with some sort of fabric softener, which actually coats the fibers of fabrics and does make them softer, but it also makes them less absorbent. When you wash the new towels at home and don’t use fabric softener, eventually that residue goes away and the towels are at full absorbent capacity. This is also why some towels seem to just push the water around for a while before absorbing it—they’ve probably been washed with fabric softener that keeps them from being super absorbent as a side effect.