Where can I find a 36-40" long towel?
July 29, 2010 5:59 PM Subscribe
Where can I find a 36-40" long towel?
As every hitchhiker knows (see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), a towel is your most important piece of equipment. I'm going travelling and am being very picky about what I am bringing. I want a towel that is dark-colored (dries fast in the sun; doesn't show stains), doesn't pill or fluff and is about 36-40" long so that I can wrap it around my waist apres-shower in shared bathroom situations. Most hand towels are shorter and most bath towels are larger. I don't want a larger towel since I need to pack small and light. Where can I find a towel that is small enough to pack well but large enough to maintain some modicum of modesty? Bonus points for environmentally-friendly fibers (ie bamboo).
Also: have travel towels improved? I've tried them in the past and find that they leave me damp, not dry.
As every hitchhiker knows (see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), a towel is your most important piece of equipment. I'm going travelling and am being very picky about what I am bringing. I want a towel that is dark-colored (dries fast in the sun; doesn't show stains), doesn't pill or fluff and is about 36-40" long so that I can wrap it around my waist apres-shower in shared bathroom situations. Most hand towels are shorter and most bath towels are larger. I don't want a larger towel since I need to pack small and light. Where can I find a towel that is small enough to pack well but large enough to maintain some modicum of modesty? Bonus points for environmentally-friendly fibers (ie bamboo).
Also: have travel towels improved? I've tried them in the past and find that they leave me damp, not dry.
It's the only travel towel I have ever used, but my REI Multitowel Lite is great-- it's extremely absorbent, and I find that it slurps up moisture and gets me quite dry.
posted by willbaude at 6:12 PM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by willbaude at 6:12 PM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]
Seconding the hemming. A friend with a sewing machine can hem a towel in under 5 minutes.
posted by plinth at 6:22 PM on July 29, 2010
posted by plinth at 6:22 PM on July 29, 2010
If you go the route of having a larger towel cut down and hemmed, a couple of points to think about.
On a normal terrycloth towel, at the hemmed ends, the last inch or half inch or so of fabric is not looped, so that it folds and hems easily without bunching up.
If you are going to be getting a terrycloth towel, you will want one with the lowest pile possible, to minimize the bunching up when cutting and hemming, since the hem will be done on looped fabric, not on un-looped fabric like a regular hem on a regular terry-cloth towel.
This is kind of hard to explain in words, but if you have a terry-cloth towel at home, go look at it, examine the hem, and you'll see what I mean.
posted by marsha56 at 6:35 PM on July 29, 2010
On a normal terrycloth towel, at the hemmed ends, the last inch or half inch or so of fabric is not looped, so that it folds and hems easily without bunching up.
If you are going to be getting a terrycloth towel, you will want one with the lowest pile possible, to minimize the bunching up when cutting and hemming, since the hem will be done on looped fabric, not on un-looped fabric like a regular hem on a regular terry-cloth towel.
This is kind of hard to explain in words, but if you have a terry-cloth towel at home, go look at it, examine the hem, and you'll see what I mean.
posted by marsha56 at 6:35 PM on July 29, 2010
Try a travel towel as suggested by willbaude. The newer ones are pretty nice, and will take up much less space and be lighter than a conventional towel. I've used a MSR PackTowl and been very happy with it.
posted by exogenous at 6:50 PM on July 29, 2010
posted by exogenous at 6:50 PM on July 29, 2010
I have a kids Clone Wars beach towel from Target that I use for travel. It's a bit thinner than a normal bath towel, and is smaller in size. It packs to the size of a little less than two t-shirts in my bag. I'd assume Target and the like have similar kids towels, but without cartoon characters on them.
If you're picky about the fabric, as others have said, trimming would probably be the best option. Save the cut off bits, there's all sorts of uses for narrow strips of absorbent cloth.
posted by gally99 at 6:55 PM on July 29, 2010
If you're picky about the fabric, as others have said, trimming would probably be the best option. Save the cut off bits, there's all sorts of uses for narrow strips of absorbent cloth.
posted by gally99 at 6:55 PM on July 29, 2010
Some of those travel towels end up stinking, even with laundering. Linen doesn't hold odors in the same way, is incredibly lightweight and gets softer with age. I love (love) these linen towels from Deck Towel.
posted by barnone at 9:28 PM on July 29, 2010
posted by barnone at 9:28 PM on July 29, 2010
Best answer: I'm partial to a sarong for lightweight traveling. They're far lighter and pack smaller than a regular towel and can be used for about 5 jillion more things. The interstellar hitchhiker with a savvy sarong is clearly a man to be reckoned with!
Aside from the usefulness, I find the colors and patterns of sarongs to be more easily found to suit my taste.
posted by a_green_man at 1:02 AM on July 30, 2010
Aside from the usefulness, I find the colors and patterns of sarongs to be more easily found to suit my taste.
posted by a_green_man at 1:02 AM on July 30, 2010
I recommend a travel towel because they dry so much quicker than a regular towel. Some people don't like the sham wow texture of many of them. A friend recommended one with more of a terry cloth feel, like this. But I can't vouch for it bc I have a microfiber one, the texture doesn't bother me.
posted by Gor-ella at 6:55 AM on July 30, 2010
posted by Gor-ella at 6:55 AM on July 30, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
If you don't have a friend who can do it, most towns have some sort of tailor shop and I bet it wouldn't cost much more than $10 to get it cut and hemmed.
posted by dolface at 6:01 PM on July 29, 2010