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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Let's talk towels.


I know, I know.  How lame does that sound?  I've been off-line for a week and this is the best I can do?  Well, yes it is.

My definition of the 'perfect' bath towel was always a vision of large fluffiness.  No pastels, please.  For it to be extra perfect, it should be straight out of the dryer, a warm, soft wrap that would make you want to cocoon on the tile floor and curl up in bliss.

My definition has changed.  As I have traveled along on my journey to simplify my life, one of the luxuries jettisoned was my dryer.  I had a perfectly serviceable dryer that I picked up on Freecycle, and it served me well for a good eight years.  Heaven knows how old it was to begin with.  I vowed, however, that once it died, I would not replace it.  From then on, drying clothes - towels included - was done on the laundry line, weather permitting, or on the drying rack.  This brought the state of my bath towels to...sandpapery-ness.  I did all the suggested things - white vinegar in the rinse water, snapping them pre-and après drying.  They were still crispy.  I don't have many overnight guests but the ones I've had have issued deep, long-suffering sighs upon seeing their clean-but-crispy bath towels attractively arranged in the guest room.  I've saved more water that way....snort.

What to do?  Turkish towels! 


I heard about them through a blog post I stumbled upon and decided to give one a try.  Once I got over the tassel-thing (I am not a fan of tassels), plus the fact that they don't instantly blot up moisture, I decided they were the towels for me.  They are cotton, dry quickly, tend away from crunchiness, and come in a vast array of jazzy patterns (although the one I purchased was decidedly not jazzy).  No more crunchy towels.  Of course, they are a little on the Spartan side, but what do you expect from someone who's best childhood memory was cannonballing her nekkid little butt off a big, flat rock into the icy cold waters of a Northern Ontario lake at o'dark thirty?  BGPs, people!  BGPs!

Have any of you tried Turkish towels?  Opinions?




10 comments:

jaz@octoberfarm said...

i love drying my towels outside and like it when they are sandpaperish! sort of like a loofah towel. it's all in how you view these things!

Susan said...

That is exactly my viewpoint! Reminds me of those Finnish saunas I took with my college roommate in the UP - heat up and roll in the snow. Very invigorating!

Sue said...

I've been without a dryer for 2 years. I hate dryers--you're a slave to the bell. If you don't get the stuff out--wrinkly ugliness.
I love line drying. I don't mind the towels one bit. Hubby , on the other hand........well, let's just say he's NOT pleased, but he humors me. He's a keeper!

Charade said...

Ix-nay on line-dried towels for me. Sheets, absolutely! Can't you give up something else instead, i.e. electric can opener, microwave oven, dehumidifier (those hanging Damp-Rid gizmos work amazingly well!), crock pot, curling iron, etc? Do you really like the faux-loofah feeling? I don't think I could convince myself.

Buttons Thoughts said...

Well they sound lovely and no I have not. "cold waters of a Northern Ontario lake at o'dark thirty" grabbed my attention :) HUGS B

Debra She Who Seeks said...

The Turkish towels sound great. You could always cut off the tassels? (I'm not a fan either).

Mama Pea said...

I wouldn't know a Turkish towel if it came up and bit me. (Yes, I've probably lived in the woods too long.) And I'll just admit to this . . . even though I love, love, love hanging clothes out on a line (oh, the wonderful smells they emit when brought inside), each week I dry my load of towels in my gas fueled dryer. Just don't like drying off with a sheet of limp sandpaper. (I realize you now think much less of me. Sigh.) ;o}

Susan said...

I love my rough towels. I could not go for slow blotting-I need that moisture off before it freezes on my bare bod. My bathroom is an ice box in the winter.

CountryCityCindy said...

Turkish towels. Aren't they just normal bath towels but made with cotton from turkey? What makes them different? And my dryer is a must-have. and microwave, dish washer.... Take care!

Nancy In Boise said...

I use a dryer and bought some Ikea bath "sheets" that are sort of dimpled, soft and don't shed a lot. No fade in one year! They're a little stiff if they dry naturally but not "crunchy" Here's a link- http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00295403/