Are Bamboo Towels Actually Worth Buying? What You Need To Know

When buying towels, you don't necessarily need to invest in top-of-the-line brands. At minimum, though, you need ones made with soft, yet absorbent materials to help dry effectively yet comfortably. Many of the towels you'll come across on the market are made with cotton blends. Other options may include linen, rayon, microfiber, and polyester blends. Bamboo is yet another alternative to the typical cotton towel. 

Both bamboo and cotton towels can be absorbent, soft, and sturdy. But when comparing the two types, you're most likely to experience sticker shock with bamboo versus cotton-derived towels. Rather than assuming the more expensive towel is superior to the average cotton-blended version, it's important to consider the other benefits versus downsides of bamboo blends before making this household investment.

Bamboo is not a novel material, but in recent years, it has increased in popularity for both its purported sustainability and durability, from bamboo flooring to kitchen products to linens and towels. It is often touted as an eco-friendly material because of the ability of the bamboo plant to grow rapidly. However, bamboo towels aren't necessarily the best thing to buy for a more sustainable home due to the toxic, energy-intensive manufacturing processes many companies use.

Bamboo towels are known for being soft, gentle on the skin, quick-drying, and absorbent. Some people prefer the texture and overall feel of these towels against their skin, making them a highly-rated bathroom towel option. But, aside from the higher price tag, one con of bamboo towels is that they aren't necessarily that sustainable — in fact, once manufactured, some brands' towels are not technically bamboo at all. 

Here's the problem: In order to make bamboo into a soft towel form, companies use harmful chemicals to break down the plant fibers into a rayon or viscose fabric. Some towel brands falsely advertise their products as "100% bamboo," even if the chemical processing no longer makes this true. How can you tell whether a set of bamboo towels are imposters? One clue is if the bamboo towel is soft, as this cannot be possible without chemically processing the plant; natural bamboo fabric has a rough texture. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also recommends contacting the company directly to ask them about their manufacturing processes. If you've found a true bamboo towel set free of chemical processing, you can feel good knowing that your towels are more sustainable than other varieties.

Manufacturers also need to use more energy to create and ship towels from bamboo compared to cotton. With these points in mind, bamboo towels are often not truly as eco-friendly or sustainable as they seem. If you do invest in bamboo towels, you can help reduce their environmental footprint by properly cleaning your bathroom towels so they last as long as possible. Ultimately, whether bamboo towels are worth the price depends on your priorities and preferences.