Are Hair Towels Worth It? Here's Our Hot Take
If you’ve scrolled on Insta at all recently, we bet you’ve seen ads for microfiber hair towels. They’re usually small and wrap up turban-style, designed for use right after you wash your hair.
They come in bright colors, are pretty affordable, and promise to make life easier for long-haired gals. These towels are also popping up everywhere at the moment—social media, infomercials, and reviews by beauty bloggers. We all know drying long hair can become the bane of your existence, but are microfiber towels the solution?
Here’s our hot take on hair towels to help you decide if they’re right for you.
Do microfiber hair towels work?
First, what actually is microfiber? The word is used to describe the combination of two types of synthetic materials, polyester and polyamide. A single microfiber strand is crazy tiny—it has a diameter of fewer than ten micrometers.
Microfiber towels are much denser and finer than the old-school cotton bath towels you’re probably using at the moment to dry your hair. This makes them more absorbent.
For babes with long hair, it’s suggested that you wrap your hair in a microfiber towel after getting out of the shower. Then, leave it on for at least 10–15 minutes before taking it off. The towel will have absorbed much of the moisture, making it faster to blow dry or style your hair.
So, yes, many womxn find that hair towels do work—they can help you dry your hair faster than it would on its own. Just about any hair type can use a hair towel, but they’re especially useful for those with long hair, curly hair, or anyone with fine, delicate hair that tends to frizz or damage easily. (If you’re prone to frizz, you might want to try a DIY hair mask!)
If you have short hair or find that your hair is pretty resilient, though, the extra effort of using a hair towel might not be worth your time.
Image by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels: Hair towels can definitely help your hair dry faster, which many womxn love.
I’m intrigued—Why should I use a hair towel?
Do I need a hair towel? Of course, it’s not like you can’t live without them, but many gals find them to have a few advantages compared to regular bath towels.
Here are a few reasons why they’re so popular.
Prevent breakage
A news flash about cotton bath towels: you’re probably not using them correctly to dry your hair. Cotton towels are rough and coarse, so if you’re vigorously rubbing your scalp and hair, this is actually going to cause hair breakage. Your hair is weakest when it’s soaking wet, so rubbing it back and forth with a cotton towel is going to cause your hair to split and break.
Microfiber is much softer and more absorbent. This means when you wrap your lovely locks in a hair towel, it will soak up the water without any rubbing or tussling needed.
Are hair towels good for your hair? While we wouldn’t say they give your hair any special advantages, they can help protect it, if used correctly. If you’re set in your ways with the cotton bath towel, you can still use it to gently blot your hair dry, but don’t rub your scalp or hair. Wrap your hair in it turban-style, but try not to apply any stress or pressure.
Save time
The verdict seems clear on this one—hair towels can definitely save you time. Walking around in a hair towel while you apply makeup or punishing your hair for ages with a blow dryer? We know which one we’d pick!
Hair towels soak up heaps of water from your hair, so once you take them off, you should be able to style or dry your hair much faster.
Image by Armin Rimoldi on Pexels: Do I need a hair towel? If you have long locks, you might find them useful.
Long-lasting
Microfiber towels tend to last longer than cotton towels—most brands guarantee their towels for around 500 washes. So, if you do get sucked into a social media ad and find yourself ordering a towel online, it’s good to know that it will last for a long time.
Oh, and as a side note, many people also use microfiber towels when camping, swimming, or playing sports outside, since they tend to dry quickly. So you might find some extra uses for your new towel.
What else do I need to know?
There’s certainly a lot to like about hair towels, but there’s another major consideration to think about before purchasing.
Microfiber is a synthetic material, which means it’s not going to dissolve or break down as easily as organic materials. If part of your towel gets out into the environment, there’s a risk that microfibers could end up getting into our waterways or oceans.
To reduce the risk, try to minimize how often you wash your towel, as that will stop it from breaking down. If you ever decide you no longer want to use the towel, be sure to dispose of it safely, give it to someone else, or repurpose it in some way.
Another risk to consider is that microfiber melts very easily at high temperatures, just as plastic does. Probably not an issue to worry about for most people, but definitely always keep microfiber away from candles or flames.
So, are hair towels worth it?
What’s the verdict on hair towels? For some, they can be useful and save plenty of time—but before you jump on the microfiber bandwagon, research it for yourself and make sure you know how to care for your towel with minimal impact on the environment. They’re not a necessity and there's a lot of other ways to dry your hair; however, for some time-poor babes, these towels can be a big time-saver.
Are hair towels right for you? Only you can make that call—but here at RBL, we believe information is power, so hopefully this guide will help you out!
