Bath Sheets and Towel Sizes – A Guide

Short answer: Towels come in four sizes that cover everything: guest towel, hand towel, bath towel and bath sheet. The difference is not only the size but what they are for, and most households need three of them rather than all four.

The guest towel

30x50 centimetres. It is for hands at the basin and nothing else. It is mostly used in a guest cloakroom where nobody bathes, and it has to be changed more often, because several people touch the same piece of fabric.

The hand towel

50x70 to 50x100 centimetres. The classic towel for hands and face and for drying hair after a bath. It is the size most people own the most of, because it is used every day by everyone in the household.

The bath towel

70x140 centimetres. That is the size an adult needs after a bath. It reaches around the body and has enough fabric to dry both body and hair without having to fetch a second one halfway through.

The bath sheet

100x150 centimetres or larger. It is for those who want to wrap themselves up entirely, and for the beach, where it can be lain on too. It takes longer to dry and takes up more cupboard space than a bath towel.

What you actually need

Two bath towels per person, four hand towels for kitchen and bathroom and two guest towels. A bath sheet only if you like them, because they dry slowly in a bathroom without a window and quickly become the first thing to smell.

Weight matters more than size

500 to 600 grams per square metre is what works for bathing. A large bath sheet in a light quality absorbs less than a smaller bath towel in a heavy one, which is why weight is the first number to look at.

Room to dry

A towel has to hang unfolded to dry. If two bath sheets hang on top of each other on the same hook, neither of them dries, and after two days they start to smell, however good the quality is.

The colours

One colour per person makes it easy to see whose towel is hanging where. It sounds trivial, but it is the one thing that makes people use their own rather than the nearest, and that means fewer washes.

When to replace them

A towel is spent when it no longer goes soft after a wash without softener, or when the edges start to fray. At that point it can still be used in the kitchen or for cleaning for another few years.

See the range

Every size and weight sits under bamboo towels, and the rest of the soft things for the home are under home and homewear in bamboo, if the bathroom is to be the same quality throughout. See also bamboo towels and bedding.