A beach towel has a harder life than almost anything else you own. Salt, chlorine, sun cream, sand, and more than one week spent folded damp in the bottom of a bag.
Looked after properly it keeps its colour and its quick-dry fibres for years. Here is everything worth knowing, roughly in the order you will need it.
How often should you wash a beach towel?
After every two or three swims, and after any day it picks up sun cream.
Salt and chlorine dry into the fibres, and left there they dull the artwork over a season.
If the towel has only been used dry, on a lounger or at the gym, you can go longer between washes. Let it dry fully before it goes back in the bag either way.
Do you need to rinse it before washing?
Not really. Shake the sand off and it can go straight into the machine.
The weave is flat, so sand lifts away rather than working into loops, which is the same reason the fabric dries so fast.
A cool wash handles the salt and the chlorine on its own.
What temperature should you wash a quick-dry beach towel at?
Cold, and never above 30 degrees.
Recycled polyester and nylon hold their shape and their quick-dry performance at low temperatures. Heat relaxes those fibres and takes the edge off how quickly the towel dries.
A cool wash also protects the print. The artwork is the reason you chose the towel, and hot water is the quickest way to take the life out of it.
Hand washing works just as well if you would rather. Keep it on a delicate cycle either way.
What should you wash it with?
On its own, or with other light things.
Jeans, anything with zips and hooks, and towels with heavy trims all catch and abrade a fine weave over time. The wear is gradual enough that you only notice it a season later.
A mild detergent is all it needs. The full instructions live on our FAQ page.
Should you use fabric softener?
Leave it out.
Softener works by leaving a fine coating on the fibres. On a quick-dry fabric that coating sits between the fibre and the water and slows the drying that makes the towel worth carrying in the first place.
Mild detergent on its own keeps it soft.
Can you tumble dry a beach towel?
Air drying is both gentler and faster here.
Tumble drying is heat again, and heat is what shortens the life of a performance weave. It is also unnecessary: the towel is usually dry before a cycle would have finished.
What is the best way to dry it?
Hang it up, out of direct sun. That is the whole method.
These towels are quick-drying by design, so there is nothing to manage. Put it over a rail or a line with air reaching both sides and it will be dry sooner than you expect.
Keep it out of strong sunlight, though. Direct sun dries a towel fast and fades the artwork just as fast, so a shaded rail, or a line indoors near an open window, is the better spot.
Spread it out rather than folding it over the rail in half. A towel drying in a doubled layer takes roughly twice as long.
Does salt water damage a beach towel?
Not on this fabric.
Salt needs somewhere to settle, and a flat weave gives it very little to hold on to. What does not stay in the fibres cannot stiffen them.
Wash it cool after a few swims and the towel stays as it started. Chlorine behaves much the same way, and is harder on colour, so a pool towel is worth washing a little sooner.
How do you get sun cream out of a beach towel?
Deal with it the same day.
Sun cream marks set as they dry, and set harder in heat. The two things to avoid are leaving the towel folded in a hot car, and hanging it in full sun with a fresh mark on it.
Wash it cold with a mild detergent while the mark is still new. Bleach has no place on a printed towel, and it is not needed.
Can you iron a beach towel?
The fabric is better left as it is.
A quick-dry weave relaxes out of its creases on its own once it is hung, and an iron works against the fibres in the same way a dryer does. The same goes for dry cleaning.
How should you store it?
Completely dry, and loosely.
The fastest way to spoil a beach towel is to put it away slightly damp. Check it is dry all the way through, including the hem and around the snaps, then fold it into its drawstring bag. There is a step by step for the fold if you want it to go in neatly.
Beach towel care FAQs
How often should you wash a beach towel?
Every two or three swims, and after any day with sun cream on it.
Do you need to rinse a beach towel before washing it?
No. Shake the sand off and it can go straight into the machine.
What temperature should a quick-dry beach towel be washed at?
Cold, never above 30 degrees, on a delicate cycle with a mild detergent.
Can you tumble dry a quick-dry beach towel?
Air dry it instead. Hung up it is usually dry before a cycle would have finished.
Does salt water ruin a beach towel?
Not on a flat weave. Salt has very little to hold on to, and a cool wash takes care of the rest.
Can you use fabric softener on a microfibre or quick-dry towel?
Leave it out. The coating it leaves behind slows the drying.
Can you bleach or iron a beach towel?
Neither is needed. A cool wash, mild detergent and a shaded line do the work.
Key takeaways
- Shake the sand off. There is no need to rinse before washing.
- Wash cold, never above 30 degrees, on a delicate cycle.
- Wash it on its own or with other light things, never with jeans or zips.
- Mild detergent only, with no softener and no bleach.
- Hang it up out of direct sun. It is quick-drying, so it needs nothing else.
- Air dry rather than tumble dry. It is faster anyway.
- Store it fully dry, in its drawstring bag.
Narrae towels are made from 88% recycled polyester, spun from plastic bottles, and 12% nylon, with metal-free snaps certified Oeko-Tex Standard 100 Class I.
More on why the sand falls off and the fabric dries so fast, or see the eight towels we make with artists.
If you are looking at towels for a hotel, a resort or a brand, there is a separate guide to how a commission works.
