These little suckers are great when you don’t want to add to the weight of your hiking pack. Compressed towels are cloths that have been compressed into small “tablets” or “pucks” making them very easy to carry.
Once in contact with water, they unfold into the full cloth and serves as a perfectly capable face, hand or cleaning towel. In most cases they are also 100% organic (made from entirely natural materials) which make them bio-degradable and easy to discard. You can re-use them a few times before they begin to wear out and work perfectly in most hiking situations.
We simply can’t overstate the convenience and simplicity these add to your camping trip. They are cheap, light and very compact!
We carefully looked at the various differences between the top selling compressed towels to determine which brand is the absolute best choice for your next adventure.
Lightload Compressed Towels
These 12 x 24 inch Lightload Compression Towels in a pack of 3 and are the most absorbent towels on the list. As with all the other options, they are shrink wrapped into a tiny discs that can be stored almost anywhere.
When you find yourself in a survival situation, you could even use the re-dried material as tinder for a fire.
Even though the manufacturer allows for machine washing after use, they really can’t take very much wear and could come apart in the washer. It is highly suggested that these are hand washed (if at all) and used one a few times before discarding them.
Thankfully the strong, hypoallergenic material is made from Viscous, which is similar to “meshed” paper and easily degradable when discarded.
These are by far the most effective towels for the price and we definitely suggest you grab some before heading back into the wild.
EZ Towel
Unfolded, the EZ Towel is much smaller (8.5 x 9.5 inches) but you’ll get 50 in a pack.
A handy plastic tube makes it very easy to transport and keep dry.
The bio-degradable Rayon material is 100% organic and made from cellulose fiber (tree bark, wool, leaves, etc.) It can therefore also be dropped into a septic tank when discarded.
“Wysi Wipes” Cleaning Cloths
If you need even more little towels, the Wysi Wipe Pack contains 100 little 9 x 12 inch pucks. You can simply throw a few into your backpack and go!
The towels feel soft to the touch but are reasonably tough too. They’re completely unscented and 100 bio-degradable. This makes them fantastic for everyday use like cleaning up kids spills, hiking gear and dirty faces while being very eco-friendly and easy to get rid of.
Compressed Organic Bamboo Towels
The larger 12 x 20 inch compressed GO! Organic Bamboo Towels are made entirely from highly absorbent Bamboo fiber. This makes them the most eco-friendly on the list.
There are 10 in a pack which makes them pretty good value for money.
Given their size, you’ll want to use them at least 2 or 3 times before they start to show some wear. You can really use this all the way until they fall apart before opening the next one.
Again, after use, these compressed towels can easily be used as tinder to start a fire and burns quite well. They slip right onto your pocket or take up practically zero space in your camping bag.
Something to bear in mind
Compressed Towels Require Water to Open
In all these cases, remember that these are compressed towels and require water to use. If you don’t have water nearby, it’ll be hard to pull it apart dry and will most likely tear. (So not quite the best solution for a toilet tent.)
This also means that if you needed to dry yourself after a shower, you’d have to wet the towel first to unwrap it, allow it to dry a little and then dry yourself off again. For this reason, it is mostly used for things like cleaning your hands (and body) while camping, dealing with perspiration on a hike or wiping down dirty surfaces or objects.
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