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Best cooling towels for heatwaves, hot flushes and the gym
Cheap, convenient and easy to pop in your bag, cooling towels work like magic - just add water. With so many to choose from, these are our hand-picked favourites, as recommended by Mumsnet users.
By Poppy O'Neill | Last updated Aug 19, 2025
Harnessing the power of evaporative cooling, the best cooling towels just need a little water to bring icy cool relief in a hurry. Mumsnet users love them for their ability to cool you down during heatwaves, after a sweaty workout or during a hot flush.
Along with neck fans and handheld fans, cooling towels are brilliant for keeping cool on the go. While they won't bring down the temperature of the whole room like a portable air conditioner, when you need some targeted relief, a cooling towel is surprisingly effective.
The best cooling towels - at a glance:
Best cooling towels overall: Sukeen Cooling Towel 4 Pack, £15
Best 2-pack of cooling towels: YQXCC 2 Pack Cooling Towels, £10
Best long-lasting cooling towel: FROGG TOGGS Chilly Sport Cooling Neck & Head Band Towel, £8
There are tons of cooling towels online, so I headed to the Mumsnet Talk forums to find the cooling towels Mumsnet users have bought themselves and loved enough to recommend to others. I then cross-referenced these authentic recommendations with consumer reviews and expert opinions, leaving only a handful of cooling towels we think are worth buying this summer. These are the very best cooling towels to buy in 2025.
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Best cooling towels overall
Great value
Soft, breathable fabric
Four in a pack
19 colour options
Comes with carry bags and carabiners
Carry bags are thin plastic and not durable
Key specs
Price on writing: £15 | Towels in pack: 4 | Material: Microfibre
What Mumsnet users say
It can be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff with a product like cooling towels, they tend to look very similar to one another and there are hundreds of different packs available on Amazon right now. This 4-pack from Sukeen is recommended by name regularly on the Mumsnet forums.
They're great value, come in a range of colours and most importantly, they work. They come in a pack of four, with individual carry pouches for each towel - share them with the family or stow one away in the car, your work bag, gym bag and by your bed for convenience. Bringing icy-cool relief to sweaty situations, Mumsnet users have given Sukeen cooling towels their seal of approval, and that's why we've named them the best cooling towels to buy.
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Best cooling towel 2-pack
Great for cycling, travel and exercise
Two contrasting colours per pack
Lots of colour options
Long-lasting coolness
Not as effective for wicking away sweat
Key specs
Price on writing: £10 | Towels in pack: 2 | Material: Microfibre
What Mumsnet users say
If you're buying for yourself and partner, or would like one and a spare for yourself, a 2-pack of cooling towels comes in very handy during heatwaves. These cooling towels from YQXCC come highly recommended by Mumsnet users, and at £10 for two, they're a great price, too.
Effective and long-lasting when it comes to cooling, Mumsnetters say they're a godsend in hot countries or busy events with no air con. However, they're not so good at wicking away sweat, which is a claim made in the description.
Best long-lasting cooling towel
Unique fabric stays wet and cold for longer
Durable
Three colour options
Fabric is rigid when dry
Key specs
Price on writing: £9 | Towels in pack: 1 | Material: PVA
What Mumsnet users say
Made from a unique form of PVA, Frogg Toggs Chilly Sport is rigid when dry and spongy when wet, and it stays cold for an impressively long time. Reviewers recommend giving it a quick wash in mild detergent before first use, to release any excess dye.
When kept in an airtight bag or container, this towel will stay wet (and surprisingly fresh) almost indefinitely - one reviewer claims their towel stayed damp for a year and was ready to use. When in use, it can stay cold for up to 4 hours, depending on conditions. Outdoors in hot weather, it'll last around 1.5 hours.
Read next: Best air conditioners for bedrooms
How do cooling towels work?
Cooling towels work through the process of evaporative cooling. Made from highly absorbent, moisture-wicking materials, they retain water while allowing it to evaporate slowly. When you soak a cooling towel in water, wring out the excess, and snap or shake it, the movement helps activate the cooling effect by enhancing air circulation.
As the water evaporates from the fabric, it draws heat away from your skin, creating a refreshing cooling sensation.
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What's the best cooling towel to buy?
The best cooling towels to buy are the Sukeen Cooling Towel 4 Pack, because they're great value, provide effective cooling and come highly recommended by real Mumsnet users.
Related: Best cooling sheets
About the author
Poppy O'Neill is a Content Editor at Mumsnet and a mother of two. She researches and reviews the products Mumsnetters swear by, with a particular focus on home essentials, laundry and fans. From a highly-recommended retractable washing line to the best quiet fans money can buy, and Mumsnet's favourite dehumidifier to the steam generator iron that'll cut your ironing time in half, she loves to deep-dive into research and find the very best products on the market.
With an MA in Creative Writing and a PGCert in Lifestyle Journalism, Poppy's written about parenting topics for The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Mirror and The Sun. She's a best-selling, award-winning author, and her books for children and parents have been translated into 12 languages.
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