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TERRY & TUB

Terry & Tub

Turkish Towels

Two completely different things share the name. Knowing which one you are buying is most of the decision.

Cacala Peshtemal Turkish Hammam Towel

"Turkish towel" means two entirely different things, and the confusion costs people money. A peshtemal is a flat-woven cotton cloth with no pile at all -- thin, fast-drying, traditionally used in a hammam. A Turkish cotton towel is an ordinary looped terry towel that happens to be woven from Turkish long-staple cotton. They behave nothing alike.

Most of the disappointment in this category comes from buying the first while expecting the second. A peshtemal bought as a plush bath towel is a bad plush bath towel. Bought as what it is -- a towel that packs to nothing, dries in an hour and gets better every year -- it is one of the best things in a linen cupboard.

If you are not sure which one you want, the comparison is the place to start. If you want the short answer on whether the category is worth your time at all, we wrote that too.

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Turkish Towels: our picks

Every guide below carries the products we would actually buy, with the retailer link attached.

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Guides and comparisons

The background that makes the picks make sense.

Why a new peshtemal feels like it does not work

A new flat-woven Turkish towel is stiff, slightly waxy, and barely absorbent. This is normal and it is temporary. Cotton is coated in natural waxes and, in most manufacturing, sizing agents that hold the yarn together during weaving. Terry towels hide this because their enormous surface area absorbs anyway. A flat weave has no such margin, so the coating is obvious.

Two or three warm washes strips it. From then on the towel improves for years: the flat weave has no pile to crush, so instead of the slow flattening that ends a terry towel, a peshtemal just gets softer. That is the entire argument for the category, and it is a good one.

What a peshtemal is genuinely better at

  • Storage. A peshtemal folds to roughly a third of the bulk of a terry towel of the same coverage. In a small bathroom this is not a small thing.
  • Drying itself. No pile means no water trapped deep in the cloth. It is dry in an hour or two on a rail, which is why peshtemals almost never develop the musty smell that plagues terry.
  • Travel and the gym. It packs flat, weighs a few hundred grams, and does not go sour in a bag.
  • Longevity. There is very little structure to fail. The failure point is the tasseled fringe, not the cloth.

And what it is worse at

It will not absorb like terry. A flat weave holds a fraction of the water a looped pile does, so drying off is a wiping motion rather than a patting one, and if you have long hair you will want a second towel. It is also thin, which reads as cheap to some people no matter how good the cotton is. Neither of those is a defect; they are the trade you are making.

If that trade does not appeal, buy Turkish cotton terry instead -- the fiber is the same, and the towels are in our main bath towel picks.

Frequently asked questions

Are Turkish towels actually absorbent?

A flat-woven peshtemal absorbs noticeably less than terry, and needs two or three washes before it absorbs properly at all. Turkish cotton terry towels are as absorbent as any other good terry. The word covers both.

Why is my new Turkish towel stiff and water-repellent?

Natural cotton waxes and manufacturing sizing agents coat the yarn. Two or three warm washes with a normal dose of detergent and no fabric softener removes them, and the towel then improves for years.

Can a peshtemal be used as a bath towel?

Yes, and many people prefer it. Expect to wipe rather than pat, and expect to want a second towel for long hair. See are Turkish towels worth it.

How do you wash a Turkish towel?

Warm water, normal detergent, no fabric softener, and line dry or tumble low. Full detail in how to wash Turkish towels.