Bamboo vs. Egyptian Cotton Bedding – A Comparison

Short answer: Egyptian cotton and bamboo viscose are two good materials for bedding that feel different. The cotton is more robust and takes more, the bamboo feels cooler and softer from the first night. The choice depends on whether you sleep warm or wash at 60 degrees.

What Egyptian cotton is

Egyptian cotton is cotton with longer fibres than ordinary cotton. Long fibres make a stronger thread and a fabric that pills less and takes more washes. That is why the term has become a mark of quality over many years.

What bamboo viscose is

Bamboo viscose is a manufactured fibre in which cellulose from bamboo is dissolved and spun into thread. The surface ends up smoother than cotton's, and it is that smoothness you register as softness and as a cool feeling in the first minutes.

How they feel

Cotton feels neutral immediately and becomes softer over the years. Bamboo feels cool and soft from the first night and changes little with time. That is the difference between something that matures and something that is finished from the start.

Temperature in bed

Bamboo viscose leads heat away from the skin faster and moves moisture further out into the fabric. If you sleep warm or perspire at night, that is the clearest difference between the two, and it shows most in the summer months.

Durability

Egyptian cotton takes more boil washes and rougher handling. Bamboo viscose weakens when it is wet and warm at the same time, so it must not be boiled or tumbled hot. If the set has to be washed at 60 degrees weekly, cotton wins.

The price

The two sit close together, and the price depends more on weave density and on the brand than on the fibre. A cheap set in either material is thinly woven, and it is density rather than the fibre's name that decides how long it lasts.

See the range

Our sets in bamboo viscose sit under bamboo bedding, and the matching bamboo fitted sheet comes in the same colours, so the whole bed can be one quality rather than a mixture of two materials.

Who should choose what

If you sleep warm, have sensitive skin or want the softest thing from the first night, bamboo is the choice. If you wash at 60 degrees weekly and tumble dry everything, Egyptian cotton is the more robust of the two.

Thread count in the two

Thread count says most about cotton and less about bamboo, because the bamboo fibre is smoother in itself. A bamboo set with a lower thread count can easily feel softer than a cotton set with a higher one, so the numbers cannot be compared directly.

Do not mix them in the bed

A cotton cover and a bamboo sheet feel different against the skin, and you notice the transition at night. Choose one and stay with it, at least within the same bed, where both layers touch the body at once. See also a better night's sleep with bamboo, washing guide for bamboo clothing and bamboo bedding vs. percale cotton.