Which towels are best

Things you buy through our links may earn us a commission. You still deserve so-soft-you-could-sleep-on-them towels, just maybe at a cheap-beach-towel price. Nearly 38, reviewers give this six-piece set from AmazonBasics five stars. No fading or bleeding onto our white dish towels and our lint trap in the dryer has not been full of black lint from these. All towels lose a lot of fuzz the first few times you dry them. They are good sized, soft, and pretty. Did not shed at all.

Waffled cotton is a lightweight, fast-drying, and more mildew-resistant alternative to terry cotton, which is what convinced dozens of reviewers to make a permanent switch to this textured set. They absorb well and are better after each wash!

Hundreds of reviewers love the look and feel of these lattice-woven cotton bath towels, which are plusher than the waffled cotton ones above but still fast-drying. From Egyptian cotton towels to the best bath towels on Amazon , we've tried and tested a whole host of bath sheets to prove it. Tough job, hey? First thing's first: there are a few things to look out for in your quest to find the best bath towels to upgrade your bathroom. Here's the lowdown. GSM, or grams per square metre, is the thread count of your bath towels.

The higher the thread count, the more luxurious they'll feel. You want to be looking at bath towels offerings with a thread count of between gsm. Yes, your towels need to be absorbent to help you dry, and soft to avoid irritation of the skin. But you also want them to look great, right?

We've rounded up the best bath towels that are available in all manner of colours - from pastel hues to muted tones - that'll suit a wide variety of interior styles. If you're more of a minimalist, you might choose something monochrome or neutral, while those who want to add a bit of interest to a small room might opt for pattern.

Anthropologie has an excellent selection if you fall into the latter camp. View on Instagram. Take a look at the design of your bath towels. Ideally, you should buy bath sheets which have double-turned edges and double stitching to avoid fraying over time. This one is kind of obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people get caught out when buying bath towels online.

Most towels by larger brands come in a whole range of sizes, from face towels to bath sheets and hand towels. Make sure you've selected a bath towel or something larger if you're going to be using it to dry yourself after a bath or shower. These are your typical bath towel dimensions:.

This is kind of like asking for the length of a piece of string. These items are there for you when you are getting out of the pool, the shower, the spa, or even the ocean. The primary use of a bath towel is to dry your body after coming in contact with water. The most common size for a bath towel is 27 inches by 54 inches. Hand Towels Hand towels can be utilized in a myriad of ways. They are smaller than bath towels and typically measure in at about 16 inches by 30 inches.

You will generally find hand towels hanging near a sink, where they are easily accessible for the purpose of drying your hands after you wash them, hence their namesake. However, hand towels can also be used as gym towels, rags, in the kitchen, at salons, and in spas.

Like bath towels, hand towels come in a variety of different materials, including both Turkish and Egyptian cotton. Washcloths Washcloths are similar to hand towels but tend to be even smaller. They are generally characterized by a small, square footprint no larger than 15 inches by 15 inches. These handy little towels can be brought into the shower or spa with you and are used to wash the face and body. Alternatively, washcloths can be used as rags in bars, hotels, and kitchens.

While you can find washcloths in a variety of materials, it is less common to see them made with high-quality fabrics such as Turkish or Egyptian cotton. Bath Mats Bath mats are typically about the same size as bath towels, and they are used on the floor just outside of showers, baths, and spas. They are considerably thicker than their towel counterparts and are designed to help prevent people from slipping when they are still wet. Oftentimes, bath mats will feature a non-slip material on the underside of the mat to enhance this purpose.

Choosing a quality material is certainly half the battle, but if the material you choose is not constructed well, it will not be a durable or quality product.

In this section, before getting to the difference between Turkish and Egyptian cotton towels, we will give you all the information you need to know on how to choose the right towel construction method. Combed This self-explanatory method of constructing garments from cotton involves combing the fibers before weaving them into the final product. The problems involved mostly comforters, though, and we have seen a noticeable drop in complaints in The quality of this towel is high enough that we still recommend it, so if you shop a sale, be prepared for potential shipping delays—and as always, let us know if you have any problems.

Like all of our picks, the Onsen is Oeko-Tex certified. Instead of the chemical-softening process terry towels go through, an Onsen rep told us it garment washes its towels at specific temperatures and for multiple cycles to soften them. It comes in eight colors. In testing, terry took anywhere from 15 to 24 hours to dry, depending on the time of year and climate; after a morning shower in our tests, the Onsen felt bone dry by lunchtime, roughly five hours later.

Because waffle is stretchier than terry, it can look misshapen after a while, and lattice towels like the Onsen will eventually snag.

My 9-year-old daughter, a kid with sensory-processing issues who loves a lightweight, textured towel, has been using our sample Onsen since she was 6. Towel labels and descriptions are often full of industry terms that may be unfamiliar, but they can help you figure out how the towel was made and how it may feel to use. A staple is a length of cotton fiber or thread. Basinger said long-staple cotton is also the most flexible, which increases longevity.

You can read more about cotton quality in this blog post. Plush terry towels, frequently advertised as hotel-style towels, still tend to include GSM as a sign of luxury.

Our top , budget , and upgrade picks all have a GSM of either or Oeko-Tex: Oeko-Tex certification ensures that fabric is free from certain substances and processes that are potentially harmful to people and the environment. Read more about this certification and eco-friendly cotton in our guide to the best cotton sheets.

Manufacturers typically treat towels with a variety of finishes, such as fabric softener, to make them feel fluffy and soft in the store. These coatings can leave a waxy buildup that makes the towel less absorbent, so wash new towels before using. We found that all traces of these softeners usually wear off by the fifth wash.

Using fabric softener at home every once in a while if your towels feel scratchy is fine, but try to avoid using softeners regularly. Similarly, using too much detergent can make your towels feel stiff and cause a buildup of residue. While hot water will prevent white towels from getting dingy, it will fade colors more quickly, so wash your bright towels in warm or cold. If the Fieldcrest is unavailable, this is worth a look. We might reconsider it for the next update when we look at more organic cotton options, though.

I tested one in navy blue, and it looked and felt more like a blanket than a bath towel. It also was soft and survived our wash tests with no damage, but in our shower tests it was the only towel that left me covered in lint and bits of blue fiber. It was also very heavy. They were pleasantly scratchy out of the package, and they actually shrank less in the wash than our Frontgate and Fieldcrest picks in our testing.

These are worth a look if you like a more textured terry towel, and we might retest them when inventory stabilizes. Bean Premium Cotton Towel : This was the fastest-drying terry towel in our first timed test—it dried in about 10 hours.

But it was rough and uncomfortable to use. The Utopia GSM Towel from Amazon felt promising out of the package, and it was absorbent in our shower tests. But it was too small to cover my size body adequately, and after five washes there were snags and loose threads everywhere.

Our test towel looked like it was falling apart. The Hammam Linen Bath Towels were too small and rough, and during our testing they left my skin more damp after a shower than other budget-friendly towels. We tried the Amadeus Turkish Bath Towel collection in to see how towels from a real hotel supplier would perform in our tests.

Not great, as it turns out.