Have you ever experienced the sheer luxury of wrapping yourself in a soft, absorbent Hammam towel after a relaxing shower or bath? These Turkish towels, also known as peshtemals, have been used for centuries in Hammam (Turkish bathhouses) for their ability to dry quickly and provide exceptional comfort. But if you want your Hammam towels to last for years to come, it’s essential to take good care of them. In this post, we’ll share some practical tips and tricks on how to care for your Hammam towels, so you can continue to enjoy their softness and absorbency for many more showers and baths to come! Let us share some quick tips for keeping your Turkish towels and Throws in tippy-top condition at all times.
First thing is first!
Give it a soak!
Prior to use your towel for the first time, we highly recommend soaking it in cold water over night, and then hanging it to dry. This allows the cotton fibres to bloom and will condition your towel to reach its maximum absorbency.
Wash at Max 40 degrees
After the initial soak, machine wash no more than 40°C. Ideally 30 °C will suffice.
Do not use bleach
Bleaching may damage cotton fibres, so no bleach. Always follow simple safety guidelines for working with bleach. Non-chlorine beach may be used, please refer to guidelines on that one.
Do not use fabric softener
Fabric conditioner may add unwanted coating on the cotton fibres which may result in reduced absorbency.
Hang to Dry
We recommend hanging your towel to dry; it is better for the towel and for the environment. Then, as soon as your towel come out of washing machine, stretch it gently side ways before hanging. This way you will hardly need to iron your towel. If tumble drying is preferred, remember to use low heat.
Quick Tip on Tassels and pulled loops
How to fix undone tassels on hammam towels
Should the tassels come undone after several washes, simply split the untied tassels, twist each one separately, put them together and tie them with a simple overhand knot.
How to fix pulled loop on hammam towels?
If one of the threads on your towel or throw been pulled by broken nail or any other sharp object or simply by a hyper-active pet, there is absolutely nothing to worry. It happens all the time, and here is what you need to do.
1- Locate the pulled thread
2– Identify whether it is the weft or warp (x or y axis), remember that weft is the thread going length-wise and warp is the one going width-wise. Please see the visual below for reference.
3- Hold on the towel from each end of the pulled loop and gently stretch few times. This should normally fix over 80 % of the pulled loop, pulled thread issues.
4– There may be a time where pulled loop entangled with neighbouring threads and you do not have the enough time to analyse and figure out what went wrong. In that case, just apply the method in 3 above, this will minimise the level of pulled thread, and cut the remaining loop at closer to surface of the towel.
And Voila! Good as new!