Just like bleach, the acne-fighting ingredient benzoyl peroxide can wreak havoc on your fabrics and towels, leaving behind splotchy and discolored marks long after you've completed your skin care routine. Luckily, not all towels are susceptible to benzoyl peroxide stains. To find the best benzoyl peroxide-resistant towels, look for ones that have been identified as "bleach-safe" (or similarly, "vat-dyed") by the brand. Beyond that, pick your towels in the size that will work best for your needs.
Because any fabric that comes in direct contact with a benzoyl peroxide product has the potential to turn white, you can always opt to use a basic white towel in your bathroom as a preventative measure. Going with white towels also gives you more options in terms of sizing, as most bleach-safe towels are made for hair salons, and are all roughly 16 by 28 inches in size.
However, if you would prefer to go with a color or pattern that matches your decorative aesthetic, there are towels that are labeled by their manufacturers as "bleach-safe" or "bleach-resistant." As you shop, you may also come across the term "vat dyed," which is the name for a textile-dyeing process that helps towels resist bleaching and hold color better than with other methods.
If towels were colored in vats, that's a plus for keeping stains to a minimum but not always a guarantee, since other factors — like the temperature at which the fabric was dyed — will also affect its color retention. For that reason, make sure to check out what other shoppers are saying in the reviews section for the product as well.
With that in mind, the best bleach-resistant towels featured below come in several different colors and sizes, and have plenty of Amazon reviews to back up their claims.
Tip: It may be helpful to add a set of benzoyl peroxide-resistant sheets to your Amazon cart as well.
Study referenced:
Patra, S.K., Patra, A.K., Ojha, P. et al. Vat dyeing at room temperature. Cellulose25,5349–5359 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-018-1901-5