We hadn't bought new towels in 12 years (yeah, not kidding). They washed well and ran them through the dryer for 40 minutes. I had to empty the link screen twice during the 40 minute medium-heat cycle because it was just so crammed full of lint. Very few strings in a few of the towels, but not enough for me to worry about. When put side-by-side, 4 of these bath towels (freshly washed and dried) were much taller than my stack of 7 freshly washed and dried 12 year old towels (poor things!). Really nice and soft, and didn't leave behind any lint on the body after a shower.