When I recently discovered an opportunity with Tomoson to receive a free Shandali towel in exchange for writing a blog post about it, I jumped at the chance.

I’m going to be doing more sponsored posts here on Future Expat, but I plan to be very selective on what I sponsored products I accept. I’m only going to write about products that I really think could be good for you or me.

While I may have received free product or a few bucks for my sponsored articles, you’ll always get my honest opinion and a disclosure that the post is sponsored. That said, you won’t find me trashing a product since I believe in the philosophy of “if you can’t say anything nice…”, but you will get well balanced opinion that gives you pros and cons. If I am hired to write about a product and don’t feel I can write a positive article, I’ll give the company the option for me not to sharing about it at all. I have a feeling they will take me up on it. 

Shandali UltraSport Travel Towel:

The Shandali UltraSport Travel Towel I received is 100% microfiber and has a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It is sold only on Amazon.

The towel comes in 2 sizes. I received the large towel which measures 24″ x 48″.  Smaller than a typical bath sheet towel (I love big towels), it still is big enough to use to for just about anything.

Here you can see how big it is in comparison to my couch. It is big enough to dry me when I got out of the shower, but not big enough to wrap around me. This isn’t a towel you can use to walk around the hotel room before you get dressed.

I picked river blue. It also comes in a light blue and grey.

While the manufacturer pitches the towel as perfect for a day at the beach, backpacker travel and camping, I saw it and immediately knew it would be perfect for pet care.

I’m sure I’m not the only pet owner who keeps a big bath towel on the floor next to the front door to wipe off muddy paws and rain soaked fur. I was excited to replace it with the compact Shandali microfiber towel.

I also like how compact the towel is when it is folded up. It easily fit in my purse when I went to the dog park last week.

Luckily, Milo knows better than some dogs to stay out of the mud puddle. I bet this guy’s owner wished he had a towel handy.

I did also try out the towel myself to see if it really is absorbent enough to use for a shower.

The Shandali travel towel definitely dried me as well as my big fluffy towel. I like wrapping myself up in a thick towel after showers, so I wouldn’t use this towel at home. But I agree it would be perfect for backpackers, hiking or camping since it is lightweight, folds up really small and dries 10 times faster than cotton (per the website…I really have no way to test this).

The one negative for me doesn’t have to do with this specific towel, but that it’s made from microfiber.

I didn’t realize it until I started reading some of the other reviews, but microfiber fabrics should not be exposed to heat, fabric softeners or dryer sheets.

I don’t use liquid fabric softener with my wash and I normally wash everything on cold, so now I just need to remember to pull out the towel and let it drip dry when everything else goes into the dryer. Unfortunately, if I forget even once, the towel could lose its absorbency.

I am surprised that the Amazon product description and the paper slip that came with the towel doesn’t mention that it shouldn’t be exposed to fabric softener, dryer sheets or heated drying. If I hadn’t read it in a review, I wouldn’t have thought twice about tossing this into the dryer with everything else.

If you had a microfiber towel, what would you use it for?