5 Little-Known Fun Facts About Towels

Have you ever stopped to wonder how useful towels are in our daily lives? There are over twenty varieties of towels, including bath towels, beach towels, kitchen towels, dog towels, and fishing towels. A study on bath towel production forecasts that the industry will globally be worth $15,900 million by 2025. 

Here we share five fun facts about towels that will surprise you.

Originated in 17th century Turkey

You can trace the history of towels back to the 17th century, and ancient Turks were the first to use them. Flat-woven, hand-tied, and made of Turkish cotton, silk, or linen, they were called "petsamel" back then. Though petsamel was absorbent like modern towels, it remained light even when wet. 

First used for ceremonial baths

Long before microfiber towels became popular to dry wet hair, Turks used them as ceremonial items. Ancient Turks had bath sheets for every part of the bride's body to dry her after a pre-nuptial bath. Soon, the towel's use spread to other rituals such as purification of the body and spirit. In Turkey, it was known as the 'Hammam.’

Hammams, the Middle Eastern version of a steam bath, use constant heat and high humidity, similar to a Scandinavian sauna. Thus, absorbent and light towels made it convenient to scrub and clean the body. 

Exclusive to the rich

Handwoven towels were expensive, and only the rich could afford them. During the 1800s, machines started to mass-produce linens and towels, making them an everyday household item used by everyone. 

National Towel Day

Fans of Douglas Adams, the author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," observe May 25 as the "National Towel Day" to show their love for books and him. Adams passed away on May 11, 2001. The first National Towel Day was observed two weeks later and is celebrated every year since then. 

In “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,” Adams describes the importance of towels: “A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value…you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course, dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”

What's in a dirty towel?

Humans have 19 million skin cells, 650 sweat glands, and the top twenty layers of skin are dead skin cells. A shower can scrub off most of the dead skin cells. Despite that, a lot of them wind up in our bath towels. 

The Cleaning Institute recommends washing a towel after three or five uses. Besides washing, the towel must be dry between each use. Wet towels act as germ magnets because damp cloth promotes yeast growth, bacteria, molds, and viruses. Dirty towels can hold and spread bacteria and viruses if used by people with skin conditions. 

About Everplush