Where can I find a towel like this?

March 6, 2022 11:25 AM

My parents used to have an old bath towel, maybe from the 1960s, that was made from a very thin terry with a raised paisley pattern. At the point I was using it, decades later, it was very worn, so it was even thinner. It was perfect for drying my hair. Are there any similar towels made now?

Not looking for Turkish towels, etc, but for very thin terry with a flocked pattern. I'm also looking on Etsy to try to find a vintage version, but wondered if any new towels like this exist. Looking for the opposite of plush.

posted by pinochiette to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

Beach towel? They’re often thin.
posted by Comet Bug at 12:33 PM on March 6, 2022

I’d go with a microfiber towel. They’re significantly thinner than traditional ones, in my experience. Here’s the one I’ve used.
posted by Pretty Good Talker at 12:47 PM on March 6, 2022

Best answer: I have these towels from World Market that sound like what you're describing - thin, paisley, dries quickly.
posted by marypoppins at 12:47 PM on March 6, 2022 [9 favorites]

I've found versions at Home Goods, though they weren't super thin. Also bought them because they reminded me of my grandmother's towels.
posted by sepviva at 12:51 PM on March 6, 2022

IKEA Narsen towels. (I would just like to make a plug for thin towels as the environmental choice. You can pack many more of them into a laundry load and if you are machine drying, they dry much faster.)
posted by HotToddy at 1:11 PM on March 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

I would say Turkish bath towels are what you’d like. They are also great for curly hair (so is a t-shirt if you want something that would be near free to test out)
posted by raccoon409 at 1:32 PM on March 6, 2022

Response by poster: As I mentioned, I'm not looking for Turkish towels (or other alternatives like microfiber), thanks, just thin cotton terry!
posted by pinochiette at 1:44 PM on March 6, 2022

Quick Dri towels from JC Penney aren’t paisley pattern, but their waffle pattern seems like the same concept. They’re my second favorite towels (I prefer Turkish towels personally). They are 100% cotton with the raised part of the waffle being more terry-ish. I would not go with microfiber - yes, they’re thin, but they tend to frizz hair in my experience.
posted by Kriesa at 1:47 PM on March 6, 2022

I suspect that what you are looking for are jacquard weave towels. Maybe that term will help with your etsy/ebay search.
posted by momochan at 2:20 PM on March 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

The very best towel I have ever had for drying my long hair is a thin pure linen honeycomb weave. Alas, the only supplier I know of is in the UK, and doesn't have them in stock anyway, but someone else may have them. I've found synthetic fibres, especially microfibre, to be pretty useless.
posted by Fuchsoid at 3:43 PM on March 6, 2022

Like this guy? floral hand towel
They pop up on Etsy so you could get a vintage one.
posted by PussKillian at 4:28 PM on March 6, 2022

Argh, sorry - I’m on a phone and can’t get the link to work properly. But a search for 60s towel pops up several that look right.
posted by PussKillian at 4:31 PM on March 6, 2022

Thin linen towels, no pattern. They're excellent. I use them every day.
posted by dobbs at 6:03 PM on March 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Those IKEA towels are the bomb, like Florida cheap roadside hotel towels. They rip moisture from your surfaces and they dry fast too. If you bleach them every couple washes they keep getting thinner and the fibers get more open and faster drying.
posted by toodleydoodley at 8:24 PM on March 6, 2022