Let me talk to you about my favorite towel of my entire life, Peshtemals. But I have to let you know, we’re not going to be talking about how plush it is. It isn’t the thickest towel. It isn’t the softest towel, but it’s still my favorite towel. And it’s for a number of reasons that you wouldn’t know unless you had these towels.
- fast-drying
- packable
- durable
- stylish
- more hygienic
- convenient
But what makes these towels most remarkable is how much they can help you save on your home electric costs!
Peshtemals, also known as Turkish towels, or hammam towels, were created during the Ottoman Empire in modern day Turkey. They are thin cotton towels that are the perfect do-it-all towel for home use, beach use, gym/ spa, etc., and have become popular globally because of their functionality and versatility.
Peshtemals are fast drying, packable and durable. The fabric is made using 100% Turkish cotton, regarded for its long fibers and softness, spun from manually operated looms in Turkey. The cotton is tightly woven, making it strong and highly absorbent without taking up too much space. The tightly spun fibers help repel sand and earth easier than other fabrics making it perfect for beach days or picnics. Their stylish designs make them perfect decorative pieces and furniture covers as well.
When you’re visiting someone’s house, the guest towels are sometimes the thickest, plushest towels, too thick to be useful. You wouldn’t take a thick plush towel to the swimming pool or the beach and put it down in the sand because it would pick up a lot of sand and grime in those thick plush fibers.
You’re already aware of a variety of towels and that certain towels serve certain purposes. Towels can be made of a variety of fabrics including cotton, cotton polyester blends, linen, bamboo, and synthetic microfibers. Cotton is common because it is soft and absorbent, linen is known for its durability, bamboo is prized for its sustainable softness, and microfibers are known to be quick drying.
Peshtemals are more hygienic
Doctors recommend that when drying ourselves off we pat ourselves dry rather than rub. With a plush towel, you can rub the thick sock fibers over your skin with some force to it. But you might not do that with a thinner towel because it might scratch your skin. If you’re not wanting to be abrasive, you would pat.
Doctors also recommend that we should be washing our towels after each use because dead skin and bacteria collect on the towel and grow when it’s hanging on the towel rack. We may be reusing the plush towel for days in a row and then try to dry it out between the days and that doesn’t work because it introduces new bacteria colonies to the skin. So instead of going that way and reusing thick towels, use these thin towels and wash them after each use – you can fit 2 to 3 times as many peshtemal towels in the washer!
Peshtemals are so convenient
You can take it anywhere! For example, in your carry on luggage, you can pack for about three or four days of clothes and towel for each day. You wouldn’t be able to fit four traditional bath towels and have any room left for your clothes. But you can take a peshtemal towel with you because it’s very lightweight. In fact, when I travel, I might take a whole week’s worth of peshtemals in my bag because I’m a swimmer. So I might swim two or three times on that three or four day trip. I might take four towels and clothes for three to four days, all in one carry-on bag. And you just can’t do that with any other towel.
Utility Cost Savings
Understanding your energy profile is critically important for being able to take control of your energy independence, so that you don’t have to buy too much solar or too much battery to get to your goal, and your energy profile is affected by usage such as washing your towels.
I’m sure we’ve all experienced over loading the washer with thick, plush towels to the point the spin cycle stops working and the towels are left just sitting in still water. We’re forced to run another wash cycle and sometimes the final spin cycle doesn’t ring out enough water and then we have to leave them in the dryer longer, increasing energy costs even more!
Plush towels increase the electric bill more, especially at times of the year when the solar power isn’t producing as much. If you’re running all this extra power to dry your laundry when it didn’t need to be that wet anyways, there’s an incredible amount of savings in changing your towels.
Instead of three plush towels, you can now wash up to 15 peshtemal towels in one load and the washer will not be overloaded. And when it spins dry, it’ll be much drier. And then the heat pump clothes dryer doesn’t have to go through as long a cycle.
Wanna FREE Makello towel? Come to Elementary Institute of Science, 608 51st Street, San Diego, CA 92114, on Oct 24, 2026 @ 11am-2pm.
Register for Climate Action Week @ EIS here.
When you Book an Appointment for Energy Analysis, and securely share your utility data, you’ll get a FREE Peshtemal Beach Towel: Full length, lightweight, compact, sand resistant weave, and water & energy efficient. Up to 15 towels per large washer!