5 Cooling Towels Our Team Swears By – Stay Up to 30° Cooler!
Grab a cooling towel from our round-up of the best cooling towels to beat the summer heat!
Did you know a cooling towel can make it feel 30 degrees cooler?! Our team-tested cooling towels are the best to buy to beat the heat. Even better, all of them are affordable, all under $15!
Your personal comfort will be well worth that small investment in a cooling towel! It’s amazing how refreshing they feel when it’s hot outside.
Choose the best cooling towel for you from our top Hip team favorites:
- Best Overall – Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad
- Most Affordable – Frogg Toggs Mini (just $1.99!)
- Best for Workouts – Perfect Fitness Cooling Towel
- Most Travel-friendly – Tough Outfitters Cooling Towels
- Best SPF – Alfamo Cooling Towel
- Best for Pets – Mission Cooling Towel Gaiter
How do cooling towels work?
Once wet, a cooling towel instantly feels chilly and can be such a lifesaver for keeping you and your family from overheating when experiencing hot weather.
We live in Arizona, and the extreme heat is hard to deal with at times when it can get well over 100 degrees. 🥵 Cooling towels help make it possible to stay active during even the hottest months.
A cooling towel for neck has many benefits. Here are just a few ways you can use them:
- Golfing, hiking, or any outdoor sport
- Working in the garden or mowing the lawn
- Walking around Disney or any outdoor amusement park during the summer
- Yoga, studio workouts, and the gym
- Anyone who works outside in the heat
- Watching outdoor sports like baseball, football, & soccer
- Soothing migraines, much like a cold compress
- Cooling off your dog after walks or hikes
1. The Frogg Toggs cooling towel is great for staying cool for long periods of time.
Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad– $9.99 (regularly $14.99)
With over 2,300 five-star Amazon reviews, the 33″ x 13″ Frogg Togg cooling towel is a fan favorite—and for good reason. Our Hip sidekick, Lina, tested them during a scorching 95-degree softball tournament and was impressed by how long they stayed cool. The hyper-evaporative material provides an instantly refreshing effect that feels 20–30 degrees cooler than the air, offering about 30–60 minutes of cooling relief before needing a quick re-dunk.
The towel is soft and refreshing without soaking your clothes, and thanks to the internal mesh reinforcement, you can easily cut it down to a kid-friendly size or custom shape. Frogg Toggs are also machine washable or can be hand-washed. Just a heads-up: they stiffen when fully dry, so it’s best to store them slightly damp—folded or rolled back into their packaging—to avoid any awkward storage issues.
Looking for an even more affordable option?
As another option, consider grabbing this Frogg Toggs Mini for only $1.97 on Amazon! Just keep in mind, Prime shipping is not available on the mini.
Here’s what our Hip sidekick, Chelsey, said about her Frogg Toggs cooling towel:
“I used to use Frogg Toggs cooling towels when my daughter was little and we’d hike with her in a carrier! They would help keep both of us cool, and I loved how easy it was to pack them. They fold up great and are so lightweight!” – Chelsey, Hip sidekick
2. This cooling towel Walmart sells is another team favorite.
Perfect Fitness Cooling Towel – $7.47 (regularly $9.99)
These were the very first cooling towels our Hip sidekick, Lina, owned for years, and they’re another affordable and solid option. The material is identical to the lightweight material of Frogg Toggs and performs very similarly, staying cool for long periods after soaking. Perfect Fitness cooling towels measure 11″ x 29″ and are also machine washable. They’re also stiff when dry, like Frogg Toggs. They are a great cooling towel for the neck.
3. Sara’s pick is extremely packable and under $10.
Tough Outfitters Cooling Towels – $8.95
This UPF 50+ cooling neck wrap doesn’t just give cooling wonders but is also good at blocking damaging UVA & UVB rays. It’s made of a breathable mesh, is soft and pleasant to the touch, lightweight, and absorbent. To use, just wet, wring out the water, and enjoy the chill factor.
These are sized 38.5″ by 12″ and remain soft when dry, unlike Frogg Toggs.
“I bought these Tough Outfitter Towels to put in my kids’ Easter baskets and LOVE how well they work at cooling. When our air conditioning has gone out in the past, these were lifesavers! They are over 50 SPF, and I highly recommend them. Plus, the little pouch it comes with is convenient for storing.” – Sara, Hip sidekick
4. This towel claims to stay cool for up to 3 hours, provides UPF 50, and comes with a carabiner to hang it dry.
Alfamo Cooling Towel 2-Pack – $17.99 ($9 each)
Here’s another excellent, highly-rated all-purpose towel to consider! Alfamo cooling towels work like a charm as a cooling bandana or neck wrap. The smaller size measures 33″ x 11″.
It chills instantly and dries completely soft, so it easily folds up and fits into a gym bag. The Alfamo towel claims to stay chilled for up to 3 hours and can reduce body temperature a great deal in the heat. The fabric also provides UPF 50 sunscreen protection.
One aspect that is unique to the Alfamo cooling towel is that it comes with a carabiner clip to conveniently clip to a bag or pant loop!
“My kids love these cooling towels and use them at soccer practice to stay cool during hot weather. In fact, they work so well that I actually just bought more to have on hand for summer!” – Jenna, Hip sidekick
5. The Mission cooling gaiter is hands-free and easy to use on the go, including your pets!
Mission Cooling Towel Gaiter – $14.99 (reg. $16.99)
The Mission towels are great for you AND even for pets too! The gaiter design allows for easy, hands-free wear and the ultimate 360 cooling experience. It’s also complete with UPF 50 sun protection, so you can stay in the heat with less worry. This is the one cooling towel on our list that we haven’t tested, but with over 19,000 5-star reviews, it’s certainly next on our list to try!
Other perks that we love about this pick are that it cools for up to 2 hours, is machine washable, and, even more importantly, is chemical-free!
Cooling towels make fantastic gifts, too!
My parents love to golf year-round, so I have given them towels as gifts. They use them a lot to keep cool while staying active!
My boys use the Frogg Toggs for sports. We have used them for several years and they have kept up well. I hand wash in the sink with dish soap when dirty. They do exactly as advertised…keep them cool by adding water. I have even gotten them wet and put in the freezer. This keeps them super cold in their ball bags until used… just add water to loosen up the towel if it’s stiff/frozen. I highly recommend for everyone to help keep cool!
Thanks for sharing Lolie! I actually just experienced a frozen one yesterday because i threw it in the cooler with ice at a game and it was awesome I agree!
Great for those hot flashes too 😒
Oh ya smart – didn’t think of that!
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I have the Frogg Toggs rain gear for my son and the brand is great. It has held up amazing through camp seasons
Thanks for sharing!
I work outside in the heat all the time and I only us the frogg togg chill pad. I have used other brands but I think this one is the best. I usually wet it and put it inside my cooler that i keep in my truck and as long as it stays cold, it works the best. I sometimes have to reapply water but I just stick it back in my cooler. When I get hot I take it out and wrap it around the back of my neck which is one of the best places to put it for bringing your body temp down.
Thanks for sharing Micah! I agree the neck is key 👌🙌
I live in Arizona. It’s 116 degrees right now. My husband works outside. If it weren’t for these cooling cloths, he’d of died from heat stroke stroke years ago. I can’t say enough good about these!!! He prefers the long ones that he can wrap around his head AND his neck. We all carry one in our cars/trucks, wrapped around a bottle of water. If you were to break down somewhere in this heat, it could TRULY save your life! If you live in the heat, these are a MUST! Also-we have several different brands. They all work well.
Thanks for sharing Lisa, I agree! Stay safe out there!
Love Frogg Toggs!
Yes! Same! Thanks for sharing 🙌
We are in central Texas and daughter is a senior in high school marching band. She uses these towels to keep cool and they are amazing! She said without them this year she probably would have passed out from the heat being over 100 degrees for 50 days or more now. I’ve stopped counting!
Glad to hear how helpful this cooling towel has been for your daughter, Tammy! 💗🙌 I’m in the Central Texas area too, so I hear ya on the heat! 🥵 Hoping we get some rain, and a break in the temperatures soon! 🤞 Stay cool!