Bamboo bedding: an honest verdict on a confusing category

"Bamboo" on a bedding label can mean two things that share nothing but a raw material. Knowing which you are looking at is the whole decision.

Bamboo viscose (rayon)

The bamboo is dissolved in a chemical bath, the resulting solution is extruded into fibre. It is a heavily processed regenerated cellulose — chemically, it is viscose, and the bamboo origin is irrelevant to the end result.

It is soft and cheap. It is also weak when wet, pills fairly quickly, and the traditional viscose process uses carbon disulphide in open systems, which is a genuine problem for the workers and the water nearby.

Most cheap "bamboo sheets" are this. Regulators in several countries have required sellers to label them as rayon rather than bamboo, precisely because the word was doing marketing work the fabric had not earned.

Bamboo lyocell (Tencel)

The same starting material, a different process: a closed-loop system where the non-toxic solvent is recovered and reused at rates above 99%. The resulting fibre is stronger, especially wet, and resists pilling far better.

This is the version worth buying. On a label it appears as "lyocell", often with the Tencel trademark and a named producer.

What lyocell is genuinely good at

• Moisture. It absorbs noticeably more than cotton and moves it away from the skin fast. For night sweats it is one of the best fabrics available.
• Cool to the touch. Real, and it persists longer through the night than sateen does.
• Drape. It falls like liquid — heavier and more fluid than cotton, close to silk.
• Smoothness. The fibre surface is very smooth, which is easy on skin and hair.

Where it loses

• Durability against a good percale. Five to seven years rather than eight to ten.
• Warm washing is bad for it — 40 °C maximum, and it dislikes hot drying.
• Price sits close to Egyptian cotton, so it is not a budget option.
• Crispness is impossible. If you want a hotel-flat bed, this is the wrong fibre.

How to read a label in ten seconds

Look for the word lyocell. If it says "bamboo viscose", "bamboo rayon", or just "bamboo" with no fibre named, assume viscose and price it accordingly.

A named producer — Lenzing, for instance — is a further good sign, because it means the seller knows their supply chain rather than buying whatever the trade fair offered.

Who should buy it

People who sweat at night and have not got on with cotton. People with sensitive skin who find linen too textured. People who want silk's smoothness at a third of the price and none of the hand-washing.