Chamois Towels

I was given a super absorbant Speedo chamois towel for Christmas, which seems to work great at absorbing water, but it's very small, like drying off with a kleenex. Once I'm done I wring it out and hang it on a towel rack at home, and it dries and hardens up like a piece of stiff cardboard. The first time I hung it on my drying rack it dried to a flat sheet, so I couldn't even fit it in my gym bag. It came in a plastic tube container, and was very pliable. Am I using this thing right? There were no directions with it.

One thing I've found is that it works well at sucking water out of my swim shorts when I roll them up in it and squeeze it a bit. I'm just not sure how it's meant to be used and cared for.

Any help would be appreciated.