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Light, airy, and ultra absorbent. Bring that spa feeling home. White Hand Towels
Gentlemen, we really need to step up our textiles game. Only owning one or two towels—I don't care if they're the best bath towels ever or one of these do-everything waffle towels—is bad behavior. No potential S.O. wants to come over and share a towel with you. It feels weird having to say this, but men continue surprise me on this front every day.
To be fair though, this is not a gender-identity issue. There's a lot of people out there who are growing up, ditching the futon, and undertaking a big home refresh. Because wrapping up in a new, clean, soft bath towel is a feeling like no other—up there with falling onto the perfect mattress, taking an alfresco summer nap, or brewing the perfect cup of coffee—we feel it's our duty to help you wade through all the potential options.
Finding the perfect bath towel is tough. Some like plush, some like airy, and everyone likes absorbent. But if your main criteria are airy and absorbent, we'll always recommend waffle towels. They're a lighter, space-saving alternative to your traditional terry cloth towels. Though not as common, they're just as effective and perfect for those that don't want to deal with the heft of terry cloth. As such, we went out and found the 10 best waffle towels money can buy. If you're new to this game, or just need a refresh, these are the brands worth your time.
I've written at length about why I love Brooklinen's waffle towels, so I'll keep it short here. The main reason is that they were the only waffle towels that I would reach for before a plush towel. Every other towel on this list is great, but Brooklinen makes the towel that turned me into a Waffle Towel Guy.
Tangibly, they're incredibly absorbent, ridiculously soft, and they don't shrink or get messed up in my laundromat industrial dryers. They're the perfect waffle towel.
Anyone who has ever explored Bathroom Essentials™ knows about Onsen and its fine, luxurious waffle weave. The brand is named after a Japanese hot spring spa—and rightfully so. Its long-staple towels that look as snug as they’re inviting will make you feel like you’re at one. And their oversized waffle design can substantially accelerates the absorbing and drying process. We recommend getting a whole set of towels, but start individually if you like.
West Elm makes its waffle collection in nine colors, and is available in a big bath towels or smaller hand towels. While its waffles are not indented to the point of no return, they're ridged enough to trap and wick the moisture. They're also light and extra grippy to boot. For only 35 bucks, it's a steal.
Parachute Home kind of reigns supreme in the cosmos of bedding and bathroom fabrics. And its dreamingly soft, lightweight waffle towels meet every demand you'd want in a towel. They're made of 100% long-staple Turkish cotton, minimalist to look at, and can turbo-dry themselves. At with a not-too-unbearable price, it's very enticing.
Cozy Earth makes incredible textiles—all of which feature some amount of bamboo viscose, which is marketed as a more sustainable alternative to cotton. These waffle towels are no different. They're light, soft, and incredibly absorbent. And as far as sets go, Cozy Earth's Deluxe Bundle is the most complete we've found. For $300, you're home is fully outfitted, but you can also grab a smaller set if you're living alone.
Technically, these aren't "waffle" towels. They're actually a jacquard that feels a lot more bespoke than anything else on the list. The intricate three-colored weave is so singular, it looks as though these towels were made specifically for you.
In practice though, these do feel incredibly similar to waffle towels. The jacquard has some natural gaps which give these towels the same airiness that you expect from a waffle set. They're fun, look expensive, and feel as nice as anything on this list.
The Citizenry's Imabari Waffle Towel is loomed in a family-run mill in Japan with over a centennial of craftsmanship in making towels. That pedigree shows in the towel's long-staple Pima cotton, sleek flat-edge hem, and oversized waffle weave. If you do choose to splurge on a whole set, even simply wiping some sweat off yourself with a face towel can feel rather decadent.
Few people can shut up about Boll & Branch's beddings, but its bathroom products deserve just as much hype. Like the light hybrid towel that has waffle indentation in the front and velvety terrycloth in the back. Both sides are a pleasure to wrap around your skin and can wick moisture as they do so.
If you like stay on the statistical side of things, Gilden Tree's waffle towel dries 40 percent faster than the terry ones, per its product description. And it's made to be extra large, so it will shrink about 15 percent after washing, but it'll be stretched out once put back to use. Its texture feels rougher than most other waffles, which beckons the exfoliating-inclined. Oh, and you can get it on Amazon.
The first waffle towel I ever tried was the Ettitude. I chose it as my starter because one, I knew Ettitude was a thing, and two, its waffles are not dramatically large or ridged. The towel is on the thin side, but has thus far withstood my daily stretching and weekly wash-and-drys. And since it's made in almost see-through bamboo lyocell, it'll feel incredibly cool and gentle on your skin.
Rough textures when drying off isn't exactly what we want post-shower. Hence, to make roughing-it a bit comfier, many tent to opt for plush terrycloth towels with soft woven loops that feel great against skin. But once their sweater-like plushness meets the water—and the washer and dryer thereafter—things start to get uglier: they’ll become barely absorbent, take a long time dry, and turn into a piece of gritty cloth that simply isn’t conducive for a full water cleanup.
Waffle towels one-up these plushy terrycloth ones in many ways, thanks to its raised threads that form a series of small rectangular pocket loops on the surface—a design resembling a waffle or honeycomb. This clever pattern allows waffle towels to better absorb water and rid the dampness much faster.
To add, a good waffle towel often has a thin, lightweight, springy quality to its feel, to say nothing of breathability—meaning it’ll stay fresh, even after the 50th spin-around in the laundry. When you towel off with it, no matter how roughing-it you go, a waffle towel will always feel like a soft blanket, and not exfoliating like a beaten terrycloth.
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