Men's Terry Cloth Robe (Pajamas & Robes)

Loops are what a terry robe is for. While the cloth is woven, an extra set of warp threads feeds in several times faster than the ground cloth, and the slack stands up as uncut loops on both faces. Every loop adds surface area, and surface area is what moves water off skin. That means the same cotton woven flat leaves you damp.

Weight tells you what you are holding, quoted in grams per square meter. 300 to 400 is an everyday robe, 400 to 500 is the heavy one, and past 500 you own something that takes most of a day to dry. Yarn quality decides how long the loops last, so two ply yarn spun from long staple cotton, which means fibers 1.25 inches or longer, holds together where short fiber yarn sheds and goes bald at the elbows. Collars come two ways, since a shawl collar rolls in one continuous band around the neck and holds heat. A kimono collar lies flat and open and dries faster.

The Waffle Robe weighs half as much, dries in a third of the time and picks up a fraction as much water, which turns the choice into a question of what you need the robe to do. A knit jersey robe splits the difference and behaves more like a long cardigan. Nothing else in the drawer matches terry for getting you dry, and nothing punishes a damp bathroom faster.

Straight out of the shower is the case that sells them, particularly in a cold bathroom where you want to dry off and warm up in one move. Households with children or a shared bathroom get daily use, and so do swimmers. Travel argues against it, since a 450 gram robe fills a carry on by itself. Warm unventilated bathrooms are the wrong home, where a heavy robe stays damp and turns sour within days.

Rub the loops between finger and thumb and reject any robe that sheds fiber onto your hand, because that lint keeps coming for the life of the garment. Weigh the belt as well, given that a limp belt slips undone all evening. Never use fabric softener, as it films the loops and a robe that has stopped drying you is nearly always a softener problem, fixed by half a cup of white vinegar in the rinse. Hang the robe open on a wide hook or a bar rather than folded, so the inside face dries too.