‘Honestly, it’s life changing’ is a regular series where we talk about the weird and wonderful possessions we can’t imagine life without. Think of it as an ode to the mundane, bizarre and, sometimes, wholly unnecessary products in our lives.
You know you’re a proper adult when you start caring about towels – dreaming of the super-soft type found only in posh hotels and White Company stores. The cotton clouds I would love to have in my bathroom, if only I had £45 to spend on a jumbo sheet that requires 18 people to fold it.
But there is another (decidedly less luxe) towel for which I’ll always find a space on my rail. If there’s any towel to beat even the sumptuous softness of an expensive white fluffy number, it is this: tiny, brightly coloured, and made from microfibre.
Microfibre usually means polyester and polyamides. In combination, those materials make the towel quick-wicking, absorbent and best of all: so light and small you forget you’re carrying it. Essentially, it feels like a very thin fleece – the opposite of the traditional heavy, dense, scratchy towels that take up half the bathroom floor.
As a gym goer and beauty obsessive, I prioritise my shampoos, hair masks, body scrubs and oils over the practical stuff when packing my gym bag. So many toiletries I have no room for a chunky, cotton towel.
Which sounds as if common sense also has no place in my gym bag. But my microfibre towel folds up smaller than a t-shirt, while being big enough to wrap around me twice. If it gets dropped on the floor of my shower cubicle, it doesn’t soak up all the grimness found on gym floors, nor does it soak through my bag on way home. It’s like magic, water just glides right off it.
This also makes it perfect for holidays, specifically the beach. You won’t find any grains of the sand stuck to it and it’ll dry you off instantly when you come out the sea, sunburnt and hungry. It is always the first thing I pack in my suitcase.
Plus, mine cost £5.99! I’ve had it for over a year and it’s still in mint condition. You can chuck it in the washing machine and it doesn’t take up the whole machine like a regular towel, and even though it’s thinner than a flannel, neither will it tear, no matter how many times it’s washed. What an absolute bargain.
Nabaiji Microfibre Towel in Large, Decathlon, £5.99
We all work hard to earn our money – so it shouldn’t feel like hard work to spend it well. At HuffPost Finds we’ll help you find the best stuff that deserves your cash, from the ultimate lipstick to a durable iron to replace the one that broke (RIP). All our choices are completely independent but we may earn a small commission if you click a link and make a purchase.