Introduction
What makes for the ideal sleeping experience? A soft pillow, a quality mattress, a nice blanket to keep you warm and cozy and then the bed sheets. Lacking any of these essentials is practically selling your sleep comfort short. When it comes to sheets, things have changed since way back, when cotton was the sole fabric that came to mind. Today there are options. Blends of bamboo are increasingly getting more popular as years pass, and they do represent the future in bed sheets for lots of people around the world.
So how do cotton sheets compare when pitted against bamboo sheets? In this article, we will explore this showdown in detail, and weight all the pros and cons of these two options. Ideally, by the end of your read, you will have gained a better understanding of the two types of bed sheets and hopefully, you will be able to confidently lean towards one or the other in your future purchases.
The Classic Quality of Cotton Bed Sheets
Well, as mentioned, cotton bed sheets have been used far and wide for a considerable amount of time. In fact, until recent years, cotton was nearly uncontested when it came to bed sheets material. Surely, there must be a reason for it to be so. The benefits of using 100% cotton sheets include the following:
- Pure cotton is a highly breathable fabric. It thus transfers moisture away from the skin and does not make you wake up all sweaty during the night like inferior bedding fabrics do.
- Cotton is hypoallergenic. If you are prone to skin irritation or commonly suffer from allergies of the skin, cotton is very unlikely to harm you.
- Cotton has the very valuable ability to gift you with enough warmth when it is chilly and yet remain cool when the temperature gets hot. It is thus highly flexible and does well in multiple conditions and can work in pretty much all climates except the most extreme.
- Cotton has substantial durability. Generally, you can expect to use pure cotton bed sheets for years before they start wearing out. If your sheets use a blend of cotton that includes other materials, this durability may lessen.
New Face in Town: Bamboo Sheets
There has been a surge in the popularity of bamboo sheets the past few years that can be largely attributed to their eco friendliness. Bamboo sheets, however, have many other benefits than that:
- A big part of choosing a bed sheet has to do with how comfortable it is to the touch. Organic bamboo sheets do excellent in this regard. In fact, they are even softer than pure cotton – which speaks volumes.
- Much like cotton, bamboo sheets are breathable and thus flexible. They will thus not trap heat and allow you to sleep in peace, while still keeping you from getting cold.
- Bamboo sheets are healthy due to their antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. What is great, however, is that they are also deodorizing. They will remove or conceal unpleasant smells to a large extent, which is a great side bonus.
- Generally speaking, bamboo shoots will be less likely to tear than traditional cotton sheets, as bamboo has longer fibers that stretch through the entire length of a sheet.
A clear downside of bamboo sheets is clearly their price. As a general rule of thumb, they are much more expensive than cotton sheets.
Cotton Vs Bamboo Showdown
Directly pitting one type against the other shows up the following clear conclusions:
- When it comes to variety, cotton sheets heavily trump bamboo sheets. There are simply more options for you to choose.
- In quality, 100% cotton seems to fare a bit worse than bamboo, but the difference is only by a slight margin. This is because bamboo sheets are a bit more durable and soft than cotton. Also, according to many people, bamboo keeps them cooler and drier at night. However, we stress that this is not intended to take anything away from pure cotton sheets quality. They have been the standard for a long time and for good reason.
- Both types of sheets should be cared for carefully in order to increase their longevity. Generally, bamboo sheets seem to be more prone to wrinkling than cotton.
- Cotton sheets are much cheaper than bamboo sheets.
- Bamboo sheets get extra points due to how it appeals to the eco friendly and eco aware customer. In essence, bamboo is a more sustainable material than cotton.
The Final Verdict
In all honesty, you can not really go wrong with bamboo or 100% pure cotton sheets either. If you are looking for excellent bed sheets and want to improve your rest quality and sleeping experience, both types of sheets will perform more than adequately and certainly much better than mixed blends who use other, less desirable materials.
For most people, softness and breathability should be the defining factor. In this regard, it seems that bamboo sheets are coming first by a slight margin. People who used cotton sheets before report that bamboo leads to a relatively cooler and drier experience.
Also, if you consider yourself ecologically aware, bamboo sheets do have a distinct advantage compared to cotton made bedding. This, however, might not ring with as much importance as the more expensive price tag attached to them. If you are not willing to invest as large a budget in your sheets, you should probably lean towards cotton sheets.
At the end of the day, the best and safest way to really know which type of sheets suits your personal preferences bests is to experience them both first hand. In such case, we recommend you give these excellent products a try:
The Classic Bamboo Sheets by Cariloha and the 100% Egyptian Cotton Chateau Home Collection Sheets both.
