When shopping for sheets, everyone recommends Egyptian cotton. Manufacturers love to be able to put this on the label. People will skip over regular cotton and choose those made from Egyptian cotton. This type of fabric has reigned as softest sheet material for a very long time. But now Egyptian cotton is facing some competition and it comes from an interesting source. The competition is from that little plant known as bamboo. I'm not kidding. I actually said bamboo.
Who would have thought that this funny looking tropical plant would have a use like this? Believe it or not, that tough fibrous plant produces some of the softest fabric around. If you lay Egyptian cotton sheets and bamboo sheets next to each other, it will be hard to choose which one is softest. Some will say the Egyptian cotton is still best. Others will insist that the bamboo wins out.
On top of softness, bamboo has other attributes that make it very appealing. For example, everyone knows that Egyptian cotton is made from cotton. Just about everyone knows what cotton is and probably wears cotton clothing on a daily basis, or uses cotton somewhere in their house. Well, it has been shown that bamboo breathes more than cotton. And because it breathes so well it is much more adept at regulating a person's body temperature as they sleep. When a person starts to sweat as they sleep, cotton will absorb that moisture and let it fall back onto them. This triggers the sleeper to pull the covers up and then push them off. As they get a chill they have to put the covers back on again. But bamboo is great at absorbing that moisture and wicking it away from the sleeping person. So someone sleeping with bamboo sheets will not have to continuously pull up and push off the covers to try and regulate their body temperature. The bamboo does all this for them.
Another thing different between bamboo and cotton is its "greenness." A lot of bamboo sheets are hypoallergenic, and all of them are very bug resistant. Cotton is neither. For people with sensitive skin or allergy issues this is a big win for bamboo. Because bamboo is naturally resistant to bugs, pesticides are not needed during the growing season. Cotton is always being attacked by bugs and pests. This means that farmers must always use pesticides to keep them away. So utilizing bamboo can be helpful for those who do have sensitive skin or who might react to any leftover pesticide residue on the cotton sheets. Of course the manufacturers wash the cotton as thoroughly as possible to try and eliminate as much residue as they can. But when using bamboo we don't have to worry about this at all.
Lastly, there are many out there who want to go greener these days. This means that bamboo has even more appeal for them. The bamboo crop grows really fast. And on top of fast growth, it produces a lot more fiber per acre than cotton does. This puts bamboo ahead as a more highly renewable source than cotton. Even cotton fans wish that cotton were easier to grow and could produce more cotton per acre.
So who do we declare as the winner? Bamboo certainly pulls ahead when discussing greenness and reproducibility. But there will likely always be that group of people that sticks with cotton. But stop the presses! We may not have to choose between them after all. These days manufacturers are experimenting with combining both Egyptian cotton and bamboo into one fabric. Just picture how soft your sheets or comforter sets and duvet covers will be if they are made from both of these wonderful fabrics!
Who would have thought that this funny looking tropical plant would have a use like this? Believe it or not, that tough fibrous plant produces some of the softest fabric around. If you lay Egyptian cotton sheets and bamboo sheets next to each other, it will be hard to choose which one is softest. Some will say the Egyptian cotton is still best. Others will insist that the bamboo wins out.
On top of softness, bamboo has other attributes that make it very appealing. For example, everyone knows that Egyptian cotton is made from cotton. Just about everyone knows what cotton is and probably wears cotton clothing on a daily basis, or uses cotton somewhere in their house. Well, it has been shown that bamboo breathes more than cotton. And because it breathes so well it is much more adept at regulating a person's body temperature as they sleep. When a person starts to sweat as they sleep, cotton will absorb that moisture and let it fall back onto them. This triggers the sleeper to pull the covers up and then push them off. As they get a chill they have to put the covers back on again. But bamboo is great at absorbing that moisture and wicking it away from the sleeping person. So someone sleeping with bamboo sheets will not have to continuously pull up and push off the covers to try and regulate their body temperature. The bamboo does all this for them.
Another thing different between bamboo and cotton is its "greenness." A lot of bamboo sheets are hypoallergenic, and all of them are very bug resistant. Cotton is neither. For people with sensitive skin or allergy issues this is a big win for bamboo. Because bamboo is naturally resistant to bugs, pesticides are not needed during the growing season. Cotton is always being attacked by bugs and pests. This means that farmers must always use pesticides to keep them away. So utilizing bamboo can be helpful for those who do have sensitive skin or who might react to any leftover pesticide residue on the cotton sheets. Of course the manufacturers wash the cotton as thoroughly as possible to try and eliminate as much residue as they can. But when using bamboo we don't have to worry about this at all.
Lastly, there are many out there who want to go greener these days. This means that bamboo has even more appeal for them. The bamboo crop grows really fast. And on top of fast growth, it produces a lot more fiber per acre than cotton does. This puts bamboo ahead as a more highly renewable source than cotton. Even cotton fans wish that cotton were easier to grow and could produce more cotton per acre.
So who do we declare as the winner? Bamboo certainly pulls ahead when discussing greenness and reproducibility. But there will likely always be that group of people that sticks with cotton. But stop the presses! We may not have to choose between them after all. These days manufacturers are experimenting with combining both Egyptian cotton and bamboo into one fabric. Just picture how soft your sheets or comforter sets and duvet covers will be if they are made from both of these wonderful fabrics!
About the Author:
Norita Sieffert has traveled extensively looking for helpful hints on a variety of topics. She has gathered information on many subjects like Egyptian cotton and bamboo. To read more interesting facts about a lot of things, visit her articles page. To browse her outstanding selection of bamboo sheet sets visit her online home dcor store.
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