Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have learned the hard way that one cannot just buy towels and use them. They need to be washed multiple times before use. The exact number of times varies based on the brand, your water hardness and your tolerance for having your skin feel wet after using a towel to “dry off”. It took three washings to get the majority of lint out of these towels. After the 1st wash the washer lint filter had a LOT of lint in it and there were clumps of lint inside the washing machine. I dried the towels and there as a thin coating of lint on the dryer filter, but some clumps of lint inside the dryer. After the 2nd washing there was about half as much lint in the washing machine lint filter and fewer clumps of lint inside the washing machine. The lint in the dryer filter was about the same as the first drying of the towels. There were a couple of clumps of lint inside the dryer. After the 3rd wash there was much less lint in the washing machine filter and only two clumps of lint inside the washing machine. The 3rd drying again had a thin layer of lint on the dryer lint filter and no lint inside the dryer. At this point I was satisfied that most of the lint was removed from the towels. Getting rid of the lint is good, but I was still less than half way towards my goal - actually using the towels to dry myself after a shower. From experience with other brands of towels I knew it would take around 8 washes to sufficiently remove the fabric softener and other chemicals which make the towel feel nice when dry - but be about as absorbent as a piece of plastic. After three more wash dry cycles I tried a towel - my skin was uncomfortably damp after using it. So, two MORE wash dry cycles and I tried a towel again. This time the towel felt like it was absorbing water - not just moving it around. It was still not, I think, as good as it could get, but it was good enough to start using the towels. So, here are my initial impressions. The towels were thinner than I had expected, but even after all the lint that came off them, they remained about the same in appearance and thickness. After the 8 washings (I have soft water - hard water may remove the chemicals more quickly) they were still soft enough for me and the size (length/width) was fine (my current towels were slightly larger so I was not sure how these would seem after using them). It is still too early to know how long these towels will last, but if you are willing to “prep” them and do not require totally dry skin after using them (my skin was dry enough after the 8 washings that it did not feel wet and the thin layer of water evaporated quickly) these seem like good towels for the price. I expect (based on past experience with other towels) that these towels will become more absorbent over time. I took one point off my rating because of all that lint (why can’t the manufacturer wash them enough to remove the lint) and for unnecessarily adding (or not removing) chemicals which make the towels non-absorbent. These towels were no worse than other brands I have used in the past with respect to absorbency. I hope this helped, but I suspect that it will not give you the yes or no advice you might prefer.