OT: 'rough' bath towels sought

[jkn]

Hi all I quite like the luxury of soft fluffy bath towels, occasionally at least. But I don't find them terribly effective at actually _drying_ me. I like to be quite 'vigorous' in my rub-down, and find moderately rough towels better for this purpose - especially eg. after a session at the Gym. Unfortunately I've only ever come across suitable towels 'by accident'. The best one I had recently was a cheap standard towel range from Ikea. It had a pattern of 'towelling' ('X') and 'no towelling' (' ') which looked like this:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ... # etc, hope this makes sense

This towel is reaching the end of its life and from what I can tell from catalogue & web site Ikea no longer do these.

Any suggestions where I can get something similar, to give myself a vigorous rub-down following a few lengths in the pool?

Thanks for any suggestions Jon N

[Mike Halmarack]

Take one of the soft, Namby-Pamby towels and dip it in a bowl of portland cement slurry, then allow to dry. To help prevent the newly developed texture from crumbling during vigorous use, first dip the towel in a dilute PVA solution.

Have a stock of intensive care body lotion in reserve. I recommend the "Essence of Jock-Strap".

-- Regards, Mike Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.

[Rick]

The Fabric Conditions does some bad things 1) reduces the water absorbancy of the towel 2) make them soft

I suggest you wash without fabcon, and dry on the outdoors line.

Rick

[jkn]

That's pretty much what I do at the moment. Just looking for something a bit 'more so'. Thanks for the comments anyway.

j^n

[jkn]

Update in case anyone is interested:

- various places seem to do 'jacquard ribbed' towels, which look similar to what I've used before.

-

do something called a 'linen friction' towel for an 'invigorating exfoliating rub'. Sounds just what I need ... if you're lucky I shall file a report...

Jon N

[Martin Angove]

Try washing them without fabric conditioner a few times, and air-drying on the line instead of tumble-drying. That seems to work for us anyway. Fabric conditioner makes them too soft and seems to reduce the water-absorbency (*never* use FC on nappies!), but hot tumbling can make them very very scratchy if you don't use FC, especially if you tumble very dry.

Hwyl!

M.

[Mary Fisher]

If it's real linen it will be good. My very favourite towel has "CITY OF WESTMINSTER" running through it in green. We pulled it, black, filthy and soggy, out of muddy snow outside Porchester Town Hall one November, many years ago. To everyone else's disgust I brought it back to Leeds, washed it a few times and it came up beautifully, if a bit torn at the edges. I trimmed and hemmed it and it's been in daily use ever since.

It's linen therefore VERY absorbent (I suspect it was once part of a roller towel in the building) and while not harsh it's certainly not fluffy, it gives exactly the right amount of friction we love.

Fluffy towels? You can keep 'em.

I'm giving loads away to someone who wants to make nappies. But nobody will part me from my wonderful ill-gotten Westminster prize.

Mary

[Pete C]

Hi,

Find an OAP (like Mary ;) ) they will have been using the same odd towels for the last 30 odd years, which makes them nice and scratchy.

The tricky bit is getting them to swap their much loved old towels for some nice new ones!

cheers, Pete.