"It's a Swan!" - Beyond the Cleaning Purpose of a Towel
- Marcin Włodarczyk
- Aug 30, 2025
- 9 min read
Outside of cleaning, towels serve plenty of purposes that you might have never thought about and this post will talk about both: their very important and very niche use cases.
In my posts you can often notice the influence of the Japanese culture. I have spoken at length about Japanese cleanliness and even about their magical high-tech toilets. I have always been fascinated by the country, and its various aspects of life are woven tightly inside my brain just like their hot cotton oshibori towels. That's right! You don't need me to tell you what a towel is, so we are getting right to it and starting this off with none other than おしぼり. And it won't be the only Japanese piece of fabric we talk about today!
CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT USES OF JAPANESE TOWELS
PICTURE OF OSHIBORI TOWEL (2,50)
If you ever find yourself in a Japanese restaurant or a bar do not be confused by a towel given to you. A typical oshibori, made of cloth, is dampened with water and wrung - and "to wring" is the verb that the word oshibori originally comes from. It is often rolled or folded, placed on a tray, then on the dining table for customers to wipe their hands before or during the meal. An oshibori can be moistened with hot water at an appropriate temperature or steam to make atsushibo, or placed damp into a refrigerator to make tsumeshibo suitable for use in summer. Oshibori have long been part of hospitality culture in Japan - some sources say that this tradition goes back all the way to the 8th century Japan. Since 2004, October 29th is said to be the day of oshibori. Around the world, you can find types of oshibori distributed on premium airlines or used in barber shops to moisturize the skin or beard before shaving.
This towel is definitely not meant to be used on your face though.
PICTURE OF TENUGUI TOWEL (2,50)
A tenugui is a traditional Japanese decorative towel made from a thin and light cotton. It dates back to the Heian period, which would place its origin in a time frame similar to the previously mentioned oshibori towels. It is usually about 35 by 90 centimetres in size, plain woven, and almost always dyed with plain colour or some pattern. Its short sides are left unfinished to allow fraying. 手拭い are traditionally used to wrap and carry lunch boxes and bottles but are also used as hand towels and headbands. They were once used as dishcloths but today they serve mostly as souvenirs and decorations.
The last Japanese type of towel I will tell you about today is used in a bathing setting. I know! Finally! And it is actually a set of two. You have finished your restaurant meal and drinks and now you feel like taking a hot-spring bath. But how do you take an onsen bath without making a fool of yourself when it is a full-on ritual with rules and taboos?
If you have not found your set of towels in your hotel room, you will probably find them in the bath. In the changing room, corresponding to your gender, you will find baskets or lockers to store your belongings as well as small and a large towel. With the large one you will dry your body after the bath. But before that, you will strip naked, triple check your body for tattoos you are not allowed to enter with, you will panic for no reason because you have never had any and then you will wash and fully scrub your body in the washing room so you can then finally enter the bathing area, while holding a small towel to cover yourself when moving in and out of the actual hot spring. When inside, the small towel will usually rest on your head. Enjoy the springs!
NOT ONLY FOR DRYING AND CLEANING
I said that I don't need to tell you that a towel is a piece of absorbent fabric used for drying or wiping a body or surface and that is true but it would be good to know how it actually works, wouldn't it? It draws moisture through direct contact, often via blotting or rubbing. Water is absorbed primarily due to the capillary action of the towel's loopy fibres that increase surface area and absorbency. A capi- what you ask? It's just a process that allows the liquid to stay in-between the fibres. You know, some intermolecular forces? The usual stuff. But what are some other circumstances towels can be used in?
Just a week ago from writing this, the temperatures in the UK reached 30 degrees Celsius outside. Which basically meant that it was about 35 degrees inside of your over... I mean your flat. You can use your home towels to help you and your pets cool down on very hot days.
Over the years I've noticed my cats melt into various shapes because of this English phenomenon called "5-days-long summers from hell". Sometimes I spray them with water from a spray bottle, sometimes I wet my hands and pet my cats with them but I also dampen a couple of towels and lay them out in the flat for my cats to rest on. Do they use it, like... ever? Yes, actually, thank you very much for asking. Do they use it only after said towel has dried? Perhaps.
What you can also do with a towel is to wrap your cats in them if they are not cooperating during nail trimming. One cat buritto coming right up! Not that I ever had any success with this because my cats are crazy but hey, it's an option. And they do have their own dedicated towel in our bathroom, in case that bath that never happens finally happens. When you are sick and have a fever or a headache of some kind and you feel like you are going to explode and your forehead is about to overheat, you probably, at least once in your life, dampened a cloth or a towel and placed in on your head to cool down. You can do exactly the same in the heat of the summer. What I also like to do is to take that same spray bottle I used on my cats, face my fan and spray water in its direction while it's spinning. You could also spray it upwards and wait for it to fall down on your body but where's the fun in that? I've also read about draping a wet towel in front of a fan for better evaporative cooling but I have never tried it.
After summer comes winter, obviously. And then your hot-oven flat turns into a freezer because of all the draft coming through all the possible cracks and slits. You can block door drafts by plugging them in with some towels. I usually just shove it in there but in my flat the draft comes not only from under the door but ALSO from side so there goes the towel idea...
When you and your cats finally realise you have had enough of scorching heat and cold elements inside your own flat affecting your living, you can start assembling boxes, padding them with towels and newspaper and storing your finest china - because it's clearly time to move out! I moved houses a few times in my life. And I do remember cases where I used towels do prevent my TV screens' from scratching against other items or even outright breaking.
You are traveling to you new place of living. You take a bus, then an airplain, then a bus again. But your neck is thankful that you did not abandon it to hold you head for hours on end without a proper support. You actually had your magic cloth with you this whole time! You rolled up your towel and used it as a neck support for your travel! Clever!
Okay, you moved out and moved in to your new place. But you have not done any shopping yet, it's still winter time and you are missing a proper doormat to clean your shoes. You unpack your china, take out your multipurpose, head-cooling. cat-wrapping, china-padding, draft-conceiling towel and use it as a makeshift floor mat until you actually buy one. It's been through a lot already, it can handle a few boot prints. Tis but a scratch!
You are sitting on your sofa in your new place, finally happy but then you realise that your favourite sofa pillow seems kind of flat. For some reason the stuffing is gone and all you have is a pillowcase. You grab your trusty towel and stuff it inside the pillowcase. Now you can dose off after a tiring day of moving and take your first nap in your new home.
After sleep your pillowcase is all wrinkled and you realise you left you ironing board in your old drafty flat, it was hiding behind the bedroom door. However, that doesn't bother you at all. You still have your iron so you take out your towel out of the pillowcase, spread it on the floor, put the pillowcase on top of it and start ironing right then and there! Who needs a clunky board!
You know what else is "wrinkled" after your sleep? You! You decide to stretch and exercise. You like yoga but you do not have a proper mat for it. It will not be perfect but you can use your towel as a yoga stretching aid or a home-gym workout! Just lay it out and do the cat-cow pose!
The clothes you had on you during your workout are stained with sweat now and very wet because that session was intense! You take them off and change into a fresh t-shirt and shorts. But now you have this bundle of clothes and a dirty towel. You grab the ends of the towel and make a laundry bag out of it! Now you can easily drop it of to the washing machine!
It is the next day! You washed and dried you laundry yesterday but after all this stretching your muscles are sore. But your towel can do anything! And it's clean and fresh now! You wet it with some hot water, wring it until the water stops dripping down and put it on your tired body parts! A make-shift hot-pack!
You stretched and let you muscles calm down and relax. You decide to go outside and travel - see the surrounding areas. You pack a tent, some food for the ride, take your car and you buckle in your towel in the seat next to you. You just now it will come in handy!
You stop at clearing in the nearby forest. The sun is shining and reflecting off of the crystal lake in the middle of the clearing. You sit by the lake, take out your food and spread out your towel to have a picnic.
The sun is shining with just the perfect intensity so you decide to bath in it! It may be shining enough for you body to get some tan but your face definitely needs protection. While eating, you inspected the surface of the ground and it seemed safe to lay down on the grass without worrying about some nasty bugs too much. So you take the towel you were sitting on, shake it out and use it as a sunshade for you eyes and head while you try to get some tan.
You slept for an hour in the peak afternoon sun. You are now very cripsy indeed. Without thinking you jump into the lake to cool down. You come out, water dripping down your body. You realise you should probably hide inside your tent. You line your car's back seats with your towel so it doesn't get wet and dirty from the lake water and rummage for your tent.
You leave the towel outside to dry and the spend rest of the afternoon in the tent. Evening comes and it's getting chilly outside. You grab your now dry towel and use it as a blanket to doze off. Your sleep is long and deep.
You dream of flora, fauna and all kinds of abstract things. You see flowers and butterflies, monkeys and sloths in trees, cars and boats, cats and cows (it must be because of yoga stretches!), mice and elephants, crabs and octopuses, bears and snails as well as random baskets, envelopes hearts and... swans. Then you realise everything you see is made out of towels. Folded and made to resemble animals and other doodads. What a crazy dream to have! After many hours you wake up and realise you have to go back home and get ready for work tomorrow.
WAKEY WAKEY!
I didn't intend to turn this post into a made-up fever-dream story of How To Use Your Towels but hey, it got the job done, I think.
Now that your imaginary super-towel has gone through more adventures than a typical person in their lifetime, it is probably no longer considered good enough to dry you body and face. But you can easily give it a second life. Do it DaisyFresh way!
Cut it into smaller pieces for dusting, polishing, or scrubbing and use it as a cleaning rug!
Now chop, chop, no more dreaming! It's time to clean!
