Free shipping on orders over $150. Free shipping on orders over $150.

Blog

Can a towel be too thick?

Can a towel be too thick?

Are thicker towels better? Well, not always.

When you think of towels, you generally envision something soft and luxurious, and you may think you want the plushest, fluffiest option available to coddle your skin. However, a towel that is too thick and absorbent has a few downsides.

What’s GSM?

In textile lingo, a towel’s level of thickness is identified by its GSM, or grams per square meter. Towels with higher GSM have fiber loops that are spaced more closely together than those with lower GSM, and therefore are able to absorb and hold more moisture. A thicker, denser towel will feel heavier, especially when it’s wet.

When shopping around for quality towels, the standard GSM you’ll often find is 400. Gym and beach towels fall on the lower side, and spa and bath towels on the higher side. Economy towels with 200 GSM or less may feel sparse and rough on the body, and are better suited for cleaning hard surfaces.

The Laguna Difference

At Laguna Beach Textile Company (LBTC), we’ve carefully selected the GSM for our towels to provide the optimal balance of comfort and effectiveness. There’s a bit of a Goldilocks science to it.

LBTC bath towels are 800 GSM, more than a third thicker than typical bath towels, but not so thick that they won’t dry. Ultra thick towels that stay damp for too long develop a musty odor, and could leave you feeling soppy and unpleasant with reuse. While our bath towels are luxurious to the touch, they’ll still dry off fairly quickly, even in a warm and humid environment like the bathroom.

At 600 GSM, LBTC cabana beach towels are nearly twice as thick as typical beach towels. They provide superior comfort and absorbency, but aren’t so heavy that they’re tough to carry. We wanted to create towels that have just the right amount of plushness and absorbency, and are also accessible to anyone looking to bring comfort and quality into their home.

Our luxury towels don’t have luxury markups. Browse here.