If you’re spending time outside in the heat or breaking a sweat at the gym, cooling towels can provide quick relief and only need water to work. The cloths are cold to the touch and deliver a refreshing chill that lasts for hours, plus they easily roll or fold up when not in use, making them easy to throw in your bag. Learn more about the science behind cooling towels and their effectiveness below, plus shop the top options.
Related
Want more from NBC Select? Sign up for our newsletter, The Selection, and shop smarter.
What are the best cooling towels?
Most cooling towels look and function the same, but they stay cool for varying amounts of time. They also come in different sizes and colors, and some are available in multipacks or with carrying cases. Based on expert guidance, I rounded up a handful of highly rated cooling towels below, all of which are made from PVA, microfibers or polyester, a material experts say is commonly used to produce microfiber.
Best multi-pack
I ran my first 10K race on a humid 90-degree summer day and didn’t come prepared to combat the heat — thankfully, other runners did. Many brought these cooling towels, which I bought per their recommendation and have since used for years. They’re thin and lightweight so they don’t distract me while I’m running. I use them during hot yoga classes, too.
These machine-washable cooling towels, which are long enough to tie into a headband or gaiter, have UPF 50 protection and stay cool for up to three hours, according to the brand. Each towel comes in a reusable plastic carrying pouch with a carabiner clip so you can attach it to bags or backpacks.
Most customizable
If you want to make your cooling towel shorter or narrower, this option’s mesh interior prevents fraying after you cut the fabric. It’s also machine-washable, has UPF 50+ protection and comes with a reusable plastic tube for storage. It can absorb up to eight times its weight in water and once wet, it activates to quickly cool up to 30 degrees, according to the brand.
Best cooling gaiter
This cooling towel is shaped in a loop so you can pull it over your head and wear it as a neck gaiter, headband, bandana or hood. It’s machine-washable, has UPF 50 protection and stays cool for up to two hours, according to the brand. Mission also makes other cooling products like traditional towels, sweat towels and a hoodie.
Best for travel
This option folds into its included compact carrying case, making it convenient to keep in a backpack or fanny pack while running, especially during the warmer months. Like others on our list, the machine-washable towel has UPF 50 protection and stays cool for up to two hours, according to the brand.
Best quick-absorbing
Since it’s made from a thick PVA material, Chill Pal’s cooling towel acts like a sponge — the more water you let it absorb, the longer it takes to evaporate and the longer it will stay cold, according to the brand. Like other options on our list, the machine-washable towel comes in a reusable storage pouch with a carabiner clip. Chill Pal also offers mesh cooling towels if you prefer the feel of mesh, and a cooling gaiter.
How I picked the best cooling towels
When shopping for cooling towels, experts recommend considering the following factors:
- Fabric type: PVA has high-moisture absorption, so the more water that’s present, the faster the material conducts heat away from your body, says Preethi Gopinath, an associate professor of textiles at Parsons School of Design. Microfibers are composed of many tiny fibers, which increases the fabric’s surface area and contributes to its ability to help moisture evaporate quickly, says Gopinath. Evaporation is key to getting your body to cool down, experts say.
- Size: Most cooling towels are similar to hand towels, although dimensions vary per brand. When deciding what size is best for you, think about how much of your body you want the cooling towel to cover and whether you want to tie it, which may require a longer towel. Cooling towels are also available as loops and hoods.
Frequently asked questions
To activate the chilling effect of a cooling towel, soak it in water, ring out the excess liquid and snap or shake it a few times to circulate air throughout. Afterward, the towel gets cold, which you’ll immediately feel when you put it on your skin. That’s because water is a great conductor of heat, says Dr. Daniel V. Vigil , a sports medicine specialist and health sciences clinical professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.
The moisture in a cooling towel’s fabric absorbs heat from your skin and conducts it away from your body into the air through evaporation, hence why cooling towels are often called evaporative cooling towels. As this process plays out for a prolonged period of time, your body temperature decreases, making you feel cooler, says Vigil.
Using a cooling towel mimics the process of what happens when people sweat, according to Gopinath. Our bodies’ main way of dissipating heat is through evaporation, so as moisture (in this case, sweat) moves to the surface of our skin and evaporates, our bodies begin to cool, says Vigil.
The best places to put a cooling towel are areas on your body where you have big blood vessels, like behind the neck, the armpits and the groin area, says Vigil. When you’re hot, your blood vessels dilate so more blood flows near the surface of your body, making it feel warm to the touch. This is what allows heat to naturally dissipate and cool you off. Putting a cooling towel over those areas helps speed that natural process up by evaporating heat and cooling down your skin.
Yes, you can put a cooling towel in the refrigerator to make it extra cold.
No, you shouldn’t freeze cooling towels. The moisture inside will freeze and the towel will get hard, making it too stiff to unfold and drape across your body.
Meet our experts
At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also ensure that all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and with no undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
- Preethi Gopinath is an associate professor of textiles at Parsons School of Design.
- Dr. Daniel V. Vigil is a sports medicine specialist and health sciences clinical professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. He is also the associate head team physician for UCLA’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, caring for and advising patients across a wide variety of sports.
Why trust NBC Select?
I’m a reporter at NBC Select who has covered health and wellness for over five years, writing about topics like tinted sunscreen, teeth-whitening strips and filtered showerheads. For this article, I interviewed two experts about how cooling towels work and how to shop for them. I researched highly rated cooling towels and chose options that meet expert shopping guidance, plus a few I’ve tested.
Catch up on NBC Select’s in-depth coverage of tech and tools, wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.
