7 Tips for Picking the Best Bath Towels

Towels are an everyday essential that can be easily overlooked. However, choosing the right bath towels makes a much bigger difference than you’d hope. I know, it may sound farfetched right now, but once you wrap a soft, high-quality towel around your body, just after coming out of a fresh shower, you’ll never settle for anything less.  

In this clothing care guide, we will share 7 expert tips for elevating your bath experience with the best bath towels for your needs. Let’s get started!  

How do I choose high-quality towels?

While picking high-quality towels ultimately depends on personal preferences, there are some common factors to consider that are helpful when buying. For example, how soft a towel is? How much water can it absorb? Is it thick or thin? And is it feasible to maintain it according to the given care label instructions for longer?

Traditionally, housekeepers used to prefer bath and hand towels that can withstand hot washing and drying temperatures, heavy-duty detergents, and in some cases- chlorine bleach as well. This is mainly because you should be able to sanitize your towels if necessary and be able to remove any stains or soiling wiped off the skin.

1. Prefer white towels over colored ones

While coloured towels surely seem lovely, it’s a good idea to stock some plain old white towels in your bathroom as well. Whites can generally withstand most vigorous laundering with hot water, strong detergents, and bleaches. This is why they are not very hard to maintain for longer.  

White towels not only look aesthetic in the bath, but you will find many uses for them outside the bath as well. For example, I often lay wet clothing or roll wet clothing in them to dry faster, and for hot and cold compresses as well. Everyone can find these uses according to the needs of their home. This makes white towels much more versatile than coloured ones.  

2. Pick colourfast garments

If you are buying coloured towels (e.g. black, pink, red), make sure that they are colourfast. Otherwise, you will have to keep washing them separately every time you do laundry, and truly, no one wants that.  

The care label instructions saying “wash separately for first 2-3 washes” are not something to worry about as they indicate that the garment is colourfast but may hold some excessive dye that will wash out in initial laundering sessions.  

3. Ditch thinner towels

Who doesn’t love the softness and absorbency of thick towels? Not only do they feel “gentler” against your skin but are also more durable in the longer run. While reaching the tricky areas like behind the ears or between toes can be challenging with a thick towel at your hands, they are still much better than getting the inexpensive, thin towels.  

4. Select high-quality towels

Almost all towels will shrink a little over their lifetime. But, towels of lower quality can shrink significantly, often becoming misshapen in the process. If you don’t want to get stuck with an ugly-looking and deshaped towel in your bathroom, it’s best to select only the highest quality fabrics that keep looking and feeling their best for years to come.  

5. Keep an eye out for cotton towels

Cotton terry-cloth towels or “Turkish towels” were introduced in the late 19^th century and are wonderfully soft and absorbent, making them a perfect fit for your bathroom. And when it comes to comfort, nothing beats or even comes close to terry-cloth washcloths, which mildly remove all excessive soiling, oils, and dead cells from your skin without causing any irritation or itching.  

6. Check absorbency

Although cotton is slightly less absorbent than linen, and when dries, initially resists moisture, the loops on the facing side of terry towels help them in picking up more and more moisture and to hold more than any other towel, including the ones made of linen. So, the more loops are on a towel, the more absorbent it will be.  

When the loops are cropped to form “velour terry”, the towel feels velvety and shows prints as well, but it can be much less absorbent. Terry towels with cotton pile and polyester back will still absorb decent amounts of moisture as most of the drying that your towels do is with the pile. In these kinds of towels, the polyester in the back gives strength and durability, while the cotton pile absorbs water.

7. Pick the right weave and thread count

When it comes to towels, weaves matter a lot. A tight, balanced weave (ideally a twill) is the best choice for a bath towel. If you are worried about the thread count of the towel, don’t worry, it’s still much less important in determining absorbency as compared to the weight of the towel. Generally, heavier and thicker towels are more absorbent.  

What is the best way to take care of cotton towels?

Towels are generally considered “pilling-prone articles” as they are at a greater risk of forming those little pesky balls (or “pills”) ruining the overall texture and aesthetic of your beautiful towels that match your bathroom Instead of opting for traditional lint remover rollers and fabric shavers (that do more harm than good), consider using a lint remover powder like BIORESTORE cotton to address these challenges.  

We recommend washing your bath towels with BIORESTORE after some months or so, to restore their vibrancy and handfeel. When the fuzz, lint, bobbles, and fabric pilling is removed from your bath towel, it will start appearing just as good as the day you first bought it.  

What kind of towel is best for skin?

Look for a dense, thick, firm towel with high pile, even edges, and small, even hem stitches for best fabric care. One of the best ways to check the quality of terry-cloth towels is to hold them up to the light and see the underlying weave. Also, feel the towel against your skin for softness and resilience.  

Some high-end towels lack that “dry”, “cottony” feeling and instead have a more (seductively pleasant) silky feel. While you may be tempted to indulge in these (and who won’t be?), in our experience, the latter are not very absorbent, at least till they receive excessive wear and grow more “cottony”.   The Egyptian and Pima cotton towels with extra long staple are also highly praised as they grow softer and softer with time. If you really want to go all out and get only the best towels for your bath, these are the best options.