Product Review: Oh My God, Bamboo Sheets
“You have really good sheets.”
Be still my heart. I love compliments as much as anyone (that means I love them a lot) but when this one was bestowed upon me recently my heart did a little somersault. I have good sheets! This is a big deal to me.
I take bedding seriously, always have. I’m also pretty into sleepwear and underwear. Basically, I get giddy about the details that make life’s quieter experiences a little prettier, more comfortable, a little more pleasant. And so bedding matters to me. But so does making responsible choices.
Bamboo sheets makes that really, really easy.
Here’s why it’s great: Bamboo is an abundant, easy-to-grow crop—which means that even when it’s not grown organically, it can be cultivated without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. (It isn’t always, though; do your homework.) It also produces incredibly soft fabric that drapes on your sleepy self in a way you can’t imagine. More pluses: It’s weirdly stain-proof, with the exception of blood,* and after many washes, it feels as soft as the day you cracked open the package. It helps keep you cool when it’s warm, and warm when it’s cool, and it’s never heavy or scratchy. The brands I’ve tried are BedVoyage and Bamboo Dreams. I love them equally. The only thing I have yet to do is replace my duvet cover with bamboo. Once I do, I may never make it out of the sack again.
Have you ever tried bamboo sheets?
P.S. Just make sure they’re 100% bamboo and not a blend.
P.P.S. Now who wants to take a nap?
* TMI alert: I mean real blood, like from a cut.
I’m sorry, but bamboo is NOT Eco friendly. The processing method to turn the fiber into RAYON is toxic.
We fell into the hype in 2007, bought the sheets, and sweat like crazy; that’s when I started looking up why (with the exception of silk & wool, most natural fabrics are absorbant and breathable, not sweat inducing).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/greenproperty/8645517/Are-bamboo-products-really-the-eco-friendly-option.html
Totally unrelated, but wanted to let you guys know that MyChelle is going to be on http://www.sneakpeeq.com/ tomorrow. So exciting!
Bed voyage actually boasts about their viscose on the webpage. Per Wikipedia,
“Viscose is a viscous organic liquid[1] used to make rayon and cellophane. ”
“Viscose currently is becoming less common because of the polluting effects of carbon disulfide and other by-products of the process”
“Retailers have sold both end products as “bamboo fabric” to cash in on bamboo’s current ecofriendly cachet; however, the Canadian Competition Bureau[29] and the US Federal Trade Commission,[30] as of mid-2009, are cracking down on the practice of labeling bamboo rayon as natural bamboo fabric. Under the guidelines of both agencies, these products must be labeled as rayon with the optional qualifier “from bamboo”.[30]“
I was so excited to see this posting! I have been planning on trading in my questionable bedding for some higher thread count, environmentally friendly, compliment worthy bedding. However it isn’t an easy process as Caralien pointed out. Do you choose bamboo, organic cotton, hemp, fairtrade, wha! who knows! I’m excited to further research this and check out the sites you recommend Siobhan and, also look at the site attached to Caralien’s link. Either way I’m on the bandwagon of love for bedding. I bought my first set of 300+ thread count sheets in high school, had to put them on lay-away but, worth the couple months it took to get them! My friends though tit was a bit bizarre though, ha!
Got it, Caralien! Thanks for sharing. Will investigate myself as well. From what I’ve learned so far there are pluses and minuses with bamboo: Yes it can be grown sustainably and turned into fabric in a closed loop that is less polluting—and far less polluting than conventionally grown cotton, for instance—or it can be quite devastating environmentally. I’ll keep looking into this, and appreciate you sharing what you’ve found.
The problem with clothing and by extension.. sheets, is not the pesticides uses on the crop, but primarily how it is processed. If you are buying something that is rayon or viscose – the majority of the time it has been chemically stripped.
Quick rundown:
- natural (animal or plant origin – cotton, linen, wool, silk);
- artificial (chemically processed fibers from natural origin – viscose, modal);
- synthetic (from petroleum synthesized textile fibers – polyamide, elastane, polyester, etc.).
A note on Viscose… which you often see paired with Bamboo:
“Viscose. This synthetic fiber is produced by processing chemically cellulose and by allocating a silk, cotton, wool or linen look. Expensive and time-consuming manufacturing process. Often combined with cotton to improve its qualities. ”
A really good resource is: http://www.ladyinfo.com/from-what-the-bra-is-made/
On fabrics.
Fabrics is my ‘thing.’ I try to maintain a ‘diet’ of natural fabrics: cotton, silk, cashmere and wool. Unfortunately I love lingerie and most lingerie (and in fact a great deal of fashion) is not found in those basic fabrics.
When it comes down to it, is the item biodegradeable, preferably compostable? Rayon, aka viscose, aka bamboo, is not.
Can anyone recommend a reputable place to get (not crazy-expensive) sustainable sheets?
Bamboo just doesn’t cut it. I stick with organic cotton or hemp. Rawganique has some good basic sheets. Bamboo kitchenware (cutting boards, etc. — products that are still hard) are just fine as long as they contain low/no formaldehyde.
I love my bamboo sheets. Super soft and kept me cool during the summer nights. I, like you, take bedding very seriously (I like to iron my sheets. I’m not crazy I promise) and I couldn’t stop bringing people into my room to feel my new sheets…that sounds bad but it’s not what you’re thinking. They are now on the guest bedroom bed since I have purchased a larger bed and am too cheap to buy larger ones
A little late but I came across this post a while ago when I was hunting for some new bedding. I have to cosign on rawganique. Their linen was fab! I bought from their close out section to save some money and have been thrilled with the offering. I also perused etsy for some other options and came across several other options there for hemp, flax and orgo cotton. Linen beats bamboo, hands down :) IMO
I’m sorry, Carolien but you are mistaken, as It breaks down faster than cotton. Feel free to research it for yourself……just pick any article.
https://www.google.com/search?q=rayon+breaks+down+faster+than+cotton&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb#q=rayon+breaks+down+faster+than+cotton&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=0jB&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=fflb&prmd=imvns&psj=1&ei=Mch-UIaaJuXm2QWaw4GYBA&start=10&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=113d4d484dcc5d02&bpcl=35440803&biw=1024&bih=627
<>
Hello Y’all!
Ok here is what I have to say, I know textiles quite well and I know about bamboo.
I was a sales rep for a large textile company in NY for 10 years.
1) The process off breaking down the bamboo raw pulp into a textile yarn is not so far off from the process used to break down raw cotton pulp into a textile yarn.
They both use very strong chemicals.
2 Cotton plantations use 25% of the worlds pesticides and fertilizers, not to mention millions of gallons of water and wasted electricity is used in the process as well. When we get tired of that old cotton sheet set or cotton tshirt and decide to throw it away in the trash well sadly to say cotton is not a very biodegradable fiber.
3) Bamboo grow in the wild with almost no water or sunlight needed, it need NO pesticides and fertilizers to grow.
Bamboo is highly biodegradable and when bamboo is growing it produces more photo synthesis than cotton or any other grass plant! So it cleans our air and does good while growing.
Also when they cut the bamboo down, it grows back, this can be done 4-5 times before the plant will no longer grow.
So it is renewable too!
This stuff is important to know when buying bamboo over any other fiber.
Remember the true beauty of bamboo sheets are:
Super soft and smooth
They work with your own body temperature to keep you just the perfect sleep
They repel germs!
Good for planet earth!
Hope this helps
Jen
Karlakris, Try West Elm’s new green sheets made from organic cotton. I bought them on sale and they were very reasonably priced. I bought two sets and I’m really happy with them. They get softer with each washing. Go to westelm.com
I am not affiliated with the company in any way. I just try to buy green and give companies that feature truly green products my business.
Hi there, when I was on holiday I bought bedding that was 100% viscose from Bamboo…
When I returned home I found & bought another set that is 60% rayon from bamboo & 40% cotton..
Yesterday while I was out I found a duvet set 100% natural bamboo fibre.
I guess the second pair of sheets would be a blend of bamboo and the duvet cover would be all bamboo, what about the first pair of sheets I bought…I love bamboo, but I don’t want to be buying what isn’t…Heeeelp..
You said that blood stains the bedding? It sounds like it ruins the linen. Is that correct?