Talk to me about those cooling towel thingies...

[enough]

Heading down in about 3 weeks, and I'm expecting some pretty hot weather. I've heard of these frog-tog cooling towel things, but I am skeptical.

has anyone used them? do they keep you cool?

I looked on amazon and there's a ton of different ones - which variety is the one most people use? Anyone know what it's called?

 

[Anotherfaceinthecrowd]

Oh I have never heard of them but since we are going next November probs won't be a great need for then lol

 

[copakedave]

Have them for work and they are great. Many different sizes available, but you would be get by with medium size towel. Just keep it container that it comes in as it works best moist. I fill mine with ice cubes before we head out, then when I need it, just wring it out and wipe yourself down, or roll it up and drape it around your neck.... Do not keep it in a closed container when you aren't using them as they can mildew easily, hang over a towel bar each night and re-wet in the morning. Enjoy. Got mine at Gander Mt. On Sale 4.99

 

[DManRightHere]

I have one. Good for extreme activities. Cutting grass, running, working in the heat.it's good to cool you a little. I've taken it to Disney but never used it there. We move in and out of AC so much it wasn't necessary. Maybe more beneficial at the water park if you enjoy just sitting out.

 

[unkadug]

Cooling towels work well in low humidity.

In high humidity....they do not perform as well.

 

[DisneyRoy]

We used ours in June in Orlando and they were a life saver!! Awesome!! We got ours at the dollar store for a dollar a piece and worked just as well as the more expensive ones.

 

[enough]

Cooling towels work well in low humidity.

In high humidity....they do not perform as well.

ahhh. since they work as evaporative coolers this makes complete sense... I wonder if for $5 it's worth a try though?

 

[unkadug]

ahhh. since they work as evaporative coolers this makes complete sense... I wonder if for $5 it's worth a try though?

From what I understand, save your $5.00 and just use 100% cotton cloth...same principle.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I bought the Jockey Staycool t shirts, to help with the heat. But when a friend told me about how cooling bandana worked, I got them to try for our August trip knowing we would encounter higher heat and humidity than we ever had on other trips. I'm glad I purchased them. They made a world of difference in keeping us comfortable. I bought the bandana style for me, DW got the vest. They lasted most of the day and were simple to use. Now I'll use them when working around my property on hot days at home. I'll keep bringing them to WDW on those trips when the weather will be oppressive. They were worth the money to add to our comfort.

 

[Club34]

total scam. the towels heat up to your body temp just like anything else.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

We had both the big one and some small ones bought at the dollar tree, and they all worked great. My mother had an allergic reaction to some medication that was made worse by the heat and this happened right before our July Disney trip, the towels worked like a charm and were the only thing that got her through till it cleared. We also put some ice in the plastic containers that they are stored in and they stayed cool.

 

[copakedave]

that's why you re-wet them with cool water and reapply ...... not a scam, science........

 

[Club34]

that's why you re-wet them with cool water and reapply ...... not a scam, science........

of course, any other towel would also behave the same way. don't take my word for it...

Towel-snapping has been taken to a whole new level with a variety of new cooling towels that promise to beat the heat when dampened and draped around your neck. You may have seen the colorful towels used by such athletes as Serena Williams, Dwayne Wade, and Sergio Garcia. Consumer Reports compared two, the EnduraCool and Chill-its, to an ordinary towel and found that some of the claims were all wet.

The instructions for EnduraCool, $22, which the company claims “cools instantly” and has been “field tested,” by Serena Williams, tell you to wet the towel, wring it out and then snap it. Doing so, the packaging claims, cools the towel to 30° F below the average body temperature. The so-called “proprietary performance fabric” is 90 percent polyester and 10 percent nylon and soft to the touch when wet or dry.

Chill-its, $12, are a little rougher around the edges and so are its ads, which feature construction workers on a hot day. Made of polyvinyl acetate, the towels feel like a soft chamois when wet but when dry look and feel like cardboard. We compared both to a typical smooth-weave dish towel (not terry cloth) that’s 100 percent cotton.

In our tests, Pat Slaven, our resident textile expert, wet all three towels with tap water then wrung them out and snapped them in the air to “activate” them as instructed. Using an infrared thermometer, she measured the surface temperature of the towels and also recorded the temperature of the air and the outdoor humidity. In multiple tests at various temperatures and differing levels of humidity, all three towels cooled to within one to two degrees of each other.

“It’s the power of evaporative cooling,” Slaven said. “People have been doing this for millennia. It’s not new. It’s science”

Bottom line. All three towels cooled down when wet and can help you cool off on a hot day when relative humidity is low to moderate. They do not work as well when the humidity is high. As our tests show, a common kitchen towel will cool you just as quick but if you want to chill out like your favorite sports star, give a cooling towel a try.

—Izabela Rutkowski


-Taken from consumer reports August 2013

 

[PoorSkippy]

Just used these on a trip, and while I can't vouch for how many degrees cooler they were than the air, it felt refreshing, they weren't drippy, and they protected a little one's neck from the sun, as well as increased his visibility (neon). For a few bucks, I'd say its worth a try. We resisted opening one because we thought it'd become a nuisance later in the day, but they were lifesavers one afternoon in Epcot.

 

[LowesChevy]

They also work great if you got sunburned ....they keep you skin cool and moist.

 

[NYwdwfan]

I bought one for my husband for work. When you leave it in your car and don't take it out of the box, they don't work at all.

 

[GetAPaperBag]

total scam. the towels heat up to your body temp just like anything else.

Umm not true at all. Do yourself a favor and look up evaporative cooling. They work for the same reason we evolved to sweat.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Cooling towels work well in low humidity.

In high humidity....they do not perform as well.

From what I understand, save your $5.00 and just use 100% cotton cloth...same principle.

As our tests show, a common kitchen towel will cool you just as quick but if you want to chill out like your favorite sports star, give a cooling towel a try.

Umm not true at all. Do yourself a favor and look up evaporative cooling. They work for the same reason we evolved to sweat.

Science time!!

I got one of these special towels and ran my own test. I wet it and a common dish towel and hung them outside in the shade. They were indeed cooler than the surrounding air, so the principle of cooling-by-evaporation worked. BUT... they were cooler by the same exact amount. The dish towel and 'frog' towel were the same temperature.

The special towels will not cool you more than a wet cotton rag.

So why use them? Because they tend to retain moisture evenly. When you ring out a cotton towel, the water in the towel can run off due to gravity. The special towels are evenly wet and don't drip. Don't know if that's worth the extra money.

And it is true: on a very humid day, they are nearly worthless since there will be little evaporation going on.

One advantage a wet towel may have is that it increases the area of evaporation. You are cooled by sweat evaporation. But that is limited by the area of your body. The towels adds extra area if you shake it out a bit and apply it to your skin. But, the towel will indeed be heated up by your body and will become no more effective than your own bodily evaporation if you just leave it on your body. Got to shake it out and reapply.

If you buy a special towel, read the reviews on Amazon. Don't get the ones that stiffen. Get the ones that remain pliable after they dry out.

Consider the combination spray bottle fans, especially if they have a lithium rechargeable battery. You spritz your face and body and the fan increases evaporation. That is much more effective than applying a rag that will soon catch up to your body temperature and will need to be shaken out.

They also work great if you got sunburned ....they keep you skin cool and moist.

More importantly, they block the sun.

 

[Disney4family]

The CMs gave them to us on the Wild Africa Trek. They felt great! Very refreshing.

 

[Weather_Lady]

When we visited WDW as kids and the afternoon got hot, my mother would usher us into the bathroom, take our cotton T-shirts off, run them briefly under the sink until they were damp (not dripping wet), and have us put them back on. It cost nothing and produced a similar cooling effect to the towels (although we did have to take care to wear T-shirts that would stay opaque when wet).

If she'd taken her idea a step further and invented a cooling towel, we'd be millionaires! Alas, opportunity lost...