A hammam towel is a flat-woven towel, thin enough to fold into a bag and wide enough to wrap around you, and it dries faster than a bath towel because there is simply less of it to dry. No thick terry loops, no heavy pile, just a close weave that lets the air through.
What a hammam towel actually is
The name comes from the bath houses of Turkey, where these towels were made for warm, steamy rooms and long, unhurried afternoons. Traditionally they are called peshtemal. The idea has not changed much. A flat weave rather than a looped one, a fringe of tassels at each end, and a size that sits somewhere between a hand towel and a bath sheet.
Ours measure 90 x 170cm, which is long enough to wrap and tuck, and light enough that you barely notice it on a hook. They are woven from a cotton and polyester blend with tasselled ends, and each one is striped in a single soft colour on a cream ground.
If you have only ever used a fluffy bath towel, the first thing you notice is how little a hammam towel weighs. The second is how quickly it stops being damp.
Why it dries faster than a bath towel
A conventional bath towel is a terry weave. Thousands of small loops stand up from the base cloth, and each loop holds water. That is what makes a bath towel feel plush, and it is also why a bath towel can still be cold and heavy the next morning. All that water has to find its way out through a thick, tightly packed pile.
A hammam towel has no loops. The weave is flat, so the cloth is thin, and thin cloth exposes almost all of its surface to the air at once. Hang it over a rail, a door, or the back of a chair, and the moisture has nowhere to hide. It dries in a fraction of the time, which matters more than it sounds.
A towel that dries quickly is a towel that stays fresh. Damp terry left in a warm bathroom is where that musty smell comes from. A hammam towel gives it no chance to start.
Does a thin towel really dry you off
Yes, though it does it differently. A terry towel soaks water up into the pile. A hammam towel draws water across the flat weave, so you use a little more of the towel and a little more movement. Wrap it round rather than patting, and it does the job well.
Two small things help. Wash it before first use, on its own, so the fibres open up and the weave softens. And skip fabric softener, which coats the threads and makes any towel less thirsty over time. After a few washes a hammam towel settles into itself and gets better, not worse.
Where a hammam towel earns its place
In the bathroom, it is the towel for a quick shower, a hair wrap, or a hook by the basin. It looks calm on a rail in a way that a stack of bath sheets never quite manages, and it will be dry again long before the next person needs it.
In a bag, it comes into its own. Folded, it takes up about as much room as a paperback. That makes it the towel for the gym, the pool, the lido, or a weekend away with a small case. Sand shakes straight out of a flat weave, so it is the beach towel too.
At home, it does not have to stay in the bathroom at all. Over the arm of a garden chair on a warm evening. Across the end of a bed as a light layer. Folded on a bench by the back door for wet dogs and wetter children. A hammam towel is closer to a throw than a bath towel in the way it lives with you.
Looking after it
A hammam towel is undemanding. A normal wash with your other towels is fine, and it will dry on the line or over a rail without needing the tumble dryer. If the tassels tangle, run your fingers through them once they are dry. Roll it rather than fold it if you are short of shelf space, and keep one folded in the car.
Because it dries so readily, it is also kinder to a small bathroom with poor ventilation. If your towels never quite seem to dry between uses, this is the easiest fix there is.
What we would choose
All of our hammam towels are the same size and the same price, so the choice is simply which stripe suits your bathroom. Hammam Towel, Sand (£14.95) is the quietest of the five, soft sand on cream, and the one we would pick for a neutral room. Hammam Towel, Charcoal (£14.95) is the smartest, and hides the most. Hammam Towel, Ocean Blue (£14.95) is the one for a bag by the door, ready for the pool or the sea. You can see the whole set, along with our cotton throws, in Throws & Towels.
If the bathroom is where you go to slow down, a Cucumber & Mint Soy Wax Candle (£14.95) on the windowsill makes a hammam towel and a long bath feel like a small ritual rather than a chore. More of that mood lives in our Calm & Reset edit.
One thing we do not sell, but which makes any towel dry faster still, is a heated towel rail. If your bathroom has none, a slim electric one is worth a look on Amazon. That is an affiliate link, so if you buy through it we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
UK delivery is free, and orders arrive within three to seven working days.