Towel advice needed

[elevenses]

I am hoping someone of more experience out there may be able to help me out with a bit of advice.

I am going to be visiting Venezuela and I was thinking about buying some travel towels, the ones that are meant to soak up tons of water compared to normal towels.

I normally I carry a small hand towel when camping but I have never been out long enough to make me want to take a shower outside before now

I have heard that these micro towels are not great in high humidity and tend to want to soak up all the moisture from the air, so are unable to dry out.

Has anyone used these in a jungle or in very warm humid area's? or have any advice about towel choice I.e. types if there are more than one or manufacturer if it makes a difference.

Many thanks

M

 

[bigjackbrass]

Generally I use a face flannel, just the ordinary cotton sort. It's easy to wash (boil it when necessary) and rather surprisingly it will completely dry your whole body: wet if first, wring it out, then use it and wring it as you go. In serious humidity it'll never dry out, however, and unless you can wash it frequently it may begin to smell (and rot, in the long term.) For extra style points I've been known to substitute a Guinness bar towel instead.

Viscose fibre towels, the sort of thing generally sold as travel towels, are pretty good. Again, you don't need a full size sheet when using one of these as you wring excess moisture from them. I've had a "Packtowl" (sic) for many years, pretty good but prone to getting a bit whiffy if it can't dry out. Equally effective is the "Wonder Towel" by Go Designs, discovered on one of those spinner displays of dubious travel paraphernalia found at airports. Apparently newer versions of these sorts of towels have anti-bacterial treatments to reduce the famous pong.

Paramo do a very good travel towel, velvety-soft on one side, which works in the same way as their moisture-moving shirts. This one seems to be much better when it comes to not getting smelly, but I find it gets overwhelmed by water more easily than the viscose types. In high humidity I'd suggest avoiding the Pertex towels: they pack away into a handkerchief-sized bundle, but don't suck up moisture so much as they spread it across the fabric.

 

[spamel]

I have a pertex towel somewhere, two are supposedly enough to dry a whole average bloke. I'm a bit skinny though and one gets the worst of the water off after a wash.

 

[Toddy]

Stuart or Bod are probably the folks with most experience in jungle stuff; but for lightweight quick dry towels Poundland is your friend
Seriously four micro fibre cloths for £1, they even do a range in green and a slightly larger one meant for drying the dog too.......if it can dry a hairy mutt it'll manage a naked ape
I bought a lightweight/ camping / backpacking towel for £15 from Tiso for HWMBLT a few years ago and I have to say my pound ones are just as good.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[elevenses]

Cheers all for the advice

Im a little on the larger side so I may go for a larger sheet ?

ill have to shop about. im not going until September so I may experiment with the pound land special

l have to admit I have a Guiness bar towel as well

 

[John Fenna]

Pound shop artificial shammy thing...feels like wet rubber....dries me - hair and hairy fat body with ease!
Smal and light brill - take it on all my expeds.
Nomad used to sell the same product (?) at a higher price - best towel I ever travelled with.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

I have one of these aztec travel towel and find it great.
https://www.gapyeartravelstore.com/Travel-Towel-p-5.html

That said

Will be going to my local pound store asap

 

[nicodiemus]

I buy up those poundland cloths whenever they get stock in. The dog towels are great too. Listen to Toddy!

 

[bigjackbrass]

The Poundland towels might be a very good solution. I've used various towels in very humid locations (not jungle, though... I'm extrapolating from my experience in places like Louisiana) and the stink can be a long-term issue. With some synthetics you just can't get rid of the smell once it sets in, whereas cotton can at least take some seriously rough washing, so if you don't mind the environmentally unfriendly aspect it makes sense to take a couple of cheap spares and keep them out of the wet until needed.

 

[gregorach]

If you're in a serious high humidity area, "dry" becomes a relative concept. It doesn't really matter what fabric you choose, they all soak up some of the ambient moisture. At least the modern fancy travel towels (viscose etc) remain fairly effective - because they can soak up so much water, you can just wring 'em out and keep using them. Never used on in those sort of conditions for long enough for the pong to really set in, but I can see that would be a problem. Still, like I say, when you're at 95+% percent humidity, 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, it really doesn't make that much difference - everything gets damp.

 

[w00dsmoke]

I went to the other side of the world and only used a shemagh and it did me ok-still got it today even!

 

[mayfly]

I've used a 100% cotton kikoy in a lot of hot and humid climates, not in the jungle mind you, which has proven to be an incredibly versatile bit of kit - as a wrap, towel, etc. I never travel without one.