This story first appeared on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, in The Strategist Beauty Brief, a weekly newsletter in which our beauty writers share their must-tries, can-skips, and can’t-live-withouts. But we liked it so much we wanted to share it with all of our readers. If you want more first impressions of buzzy launches, quick takes on what’s trending on TikTok and Instagram, and deep dives into the week’s best beauty launches, sign up here. The Strategist Beauty Brief is delivered every Wednesday.
After the grand dame of hair towels, the Aquis, was discontinued last month, Dominique Pariso, who’s covered them for several years for the Strategist, hopped into action. Here’s how she quickly found a best-in-class replacement.
Aquis was the hair towel most people thought of when they thought about hair towels. “The turban truly — and I’m not being dramatic — changed my life,” wrote Strategist contributor Rio Viera-Newton back in 2019. Aquis was a favorite of hairstylists (like Jenna Perry and Patricia Morales) and Strategist readers alike. Its magic was in its water-wicking fabric made from a blend of polyester and nylon that dried hair much faster than your standard hair towel. I’ve used hair towels on my fine, long hair for most of my life, and Aquis is what I’ve stocked the longest in my bathroom at home.
But, if I’m being honest, Aquis started getting supplanted by other brands in recent years. I knocked it down a peg in our best-in-class review (which I’ve been stewarding for several years) after testing out Crown Affair’s version. It was much larger and more comfortable, and it featured a more absorbent waffle texture than Aquis. I moved the latter to “best less expensive” two and a half years ago — a categorization that seemed perfect since it was less than half the price of Crown Affair. But then other popular hair-care brands, like Act+Acre, Ceremonia, Kitsch, Drybar, and Bread Beauty Supply, to name just a few, entered the hair-towel landscape. It seemed that even after a 2022 rebrand, Aquis couldn’t quite keep up.
Despite some big news last week, we’re still in great shape. I’d been reading the tea leaves for a while and have tested Act+Acre’s towel for over a year, so I’m confident in it as a good swap-in for Aquis lovers.
I still swear by Crown Affair as my best-in-class pick and the best option for most hair types: It’s the most absorbent, which is the key measure of any hair towel, and it definitively stays put when I’m wearing it around the house. But I admit its $55 price point is high. My new “best less expensive” pick is from Act+Acre. It has the same shape, button fastener, and elastic band as the former category winner, Aquis, so it really stays put. It’s on the plusher end of the spectrum, with a microfiber that’s fluffier than both the Crown Affair and Aquis towels, but I found the supersoft microfiber to be very efficient at absorbing water. Because of its absorbency, I think it would work well for those with thicker hair types who have more hair to dry. Compared to the Crown Affair towel, though, the size runs shorter, so I would only recommend it for those with short- to medium-length hair who want to save a few bucks. (If your hair is very long, I also love Volo Beauty’s towel.) For more on hair towels — with picks for curls, damaged hair, and extensions — you can check out my best-in-class roundup.
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