Here’s your useless, but interesting fact of the day.

Turns out, I am very passionate—

About cotton.

Yes, cotton.

Bed linen and bath towels to be more precise.

When we were in Istanbul a few years ago, we went to a particular Turkish hamam to buy what is supposed to be the finest cotton towels on Earth. Apparently, even the King of Morocco gets them here.

Everything is hand-woven by the last traditional weavers in Turkey.

The threads themselves are spun from cotton grown in the fields of Gaziantep. The towels are then made on ancient-style shuttle looms in small villages of South Anatolia, by little old men who’ve grown up with the tradition of weaving.

These huge towels are so beautiful that we have been in love with them since the day we brought them home. I cannot fathom drying myself off with any other towel.

However, the part I find fascinating is this:

Did you know...

You have to “teach” organic cotton to become absorbent?

So, before you use your new towels, soak them in cold water for 24 hours first.

Once the towel is completely saturated, you have to really work the water into the fibers.

Then, wring out the water the best you can...and do it all over again.

In the end, you have the most wonderfully absorbent towel...and you’ve trained it yourself. It will last you pretty much a lifetime.

And there you have it. Your interesting, but useless fact of the day: organic cotton is not absorbent until you teach it.