By Mark Kuta

Beach towels can be made of different materials and therefore will affect the cost of the towel, how comfortable your pool towel might be and even how heavy or how quickly yours might dry out after use. Below we discuss the three different types of materials used to make most beach towels.

100% Cotton - This is your standard material. Most of your standard towels are going to be made of 100% cotton. cotton is readily available and easy to make so it is typically inexpensive. Another nice thing is the thinner material dries out faster than the more dense material made of Egyptian cotton or cotton velour. By choosing material made of 100% cotton you will also have a wider range in choices of the style you prefer. You can find just about every pattern of beach towel made of 100% cotton so if you decide that you want one made of this material then you won’t have a problem finding it even if you are looking for a big or oversized towel.

Egyptian Cotton - Egyptian cotton is the least available cotton of the three materials and therefore you might have to pay a little more for a towel made of this material. Beach towels made of this material are typically going to be thicker than your 100% cotton towels so therefore will take a little longer to dry and will also take up a little more room when packing them up. Since Egyptian cotton is a little more expensive you are going to find the same variety that you might get when looking for a towel made of cotton but those who typically spend a little more on their towels are willing to pay for the extra comfort and tend to care a little less about the design of their beach towel.

Cotton Velour - You won’t find cotton velour naturally in the wild. Towels made of cotton velour are typically going to be softer and a bit heavier than your other cotton beach towels because manufactures combine cotton typically with polyester to make a tighter weaver of material and more threads per square inch. This means that towels made of cotton velour are going to be much softer and very absorbent but they tend to pick up a lot of sand, weigh a bit more and take longer to dry since there is more material per square inch. These towels are great towels for the pools or if you have access to a drier between uses. These towels are going to be slightly more expensive than those made of 100% cotton but they won’t be as expensive as towels made of Egyptian cotton.

Now that you know what type of material you are looking for you are now ready to go see the other two things you need to consider before buying a beach towel or go start picking out the right beach towels for you.