Yes Flax Is Better Than Cotton
The flax plant is used to make linen and has been a highly praised fabric for many reasons, such as longevity. It seems its only competitor is cotton. These two fabrics have been dominating the home textile industry (beds, dining fabrics, kitchen fabrics, and bath and spa fabrics) for a while now. But between the two fabrics: is flax better than cotton?
The answer is a humongous yes.
But why is flax better than cotton?
It comes down to two main reasons:
- The fabric properties
- The benefits it has on the environment.
Right now, let’s compare flax and cotton to show you why linen has continued to be the superior fabric to use in your home.
How They Are Created
Once you see how both of these fabrics are created, you’ll start to see why the answer to the question "is flax better than cotton?" cannot be anything other than yes.
Flax
Linen is produced from the flax flower.
The flax flower is found mainly in cooler climates and is grown across Europe and Asia. The best climates for flax are found in Northern Ireland, Belgium, and France. These regions also have the best soil for the flax plant to thrive in.
Flax produces linen through a process called retting (Using water to safely extract the fibers from the flax plant). These fibers are then spun into a yarn to create the linen that we use. As you learned throughout our conversation, flax is a highly beneficial plant to humanity as it helps us serve our needs.
For one, it is hypoallergenic, which is great if you have struggled in the past with different fabrics due to allergies. It is also great on sensitive skin, helping those with conditions such as eczema. Since the flax fibers are extremely strong and are tightly woven when producing linen, the fabric is able to resist shrinkage.
Cotton
Cotton is a highly popular fabric that became more mainstream when companies weren’t able to produce linen fast enough.
Due to linen being an expensive fabric to create products from, companies wanted to use a fabric they could produce much faster so they could sell to more people. As a result, the same companies ended up sacrificing the quality of their products for profit.
Although cotton is grown globally, it is mainly found in warmer, sunny climates. It can be found in regions such as the United States, India, and China.
To extract cotton and make it into the products that we know today, it requires a labor-intensive process that has negative effects on the environment. Unlike linen, cotton fibres are not as strong. This means that they are prone to shrinking, and they won’t last as long as linen.
Why Flax Linen Has Better Properties Than Cotton
Is flax better than cotton when it comes to its fabric properties? Yes. It is.
Durability and Longevity
Flax Linen
As we spoke about before, the flax fibres, even though they are long and thin, are very strong. When something such as a bedsheet is made from linen, the fibres are tightly woven.
This structure makes the fibres even stronger and helps them resist tears and loose threads a lot more effectively.
This, in turn, means your bedsheets will last much longer. It’s one of the many reasons why people love linen a lot more than cotton. While cotton is seen as just a purchase, linen will always be seen as an investment because it can last decades in amazing condition.
Cotton
Compared to linen, cotton fibers are much shorter and therefore much weaker. This means cotton’s delicate fibers are susceptible to pilling, loose threads, and tears over time. They also wear down quickly when exposed to stressful environments like frequent washing. This means that cotton does not last as long as linen.
Moisture Absorption
When it comes to things like kitchen fabrics and bedding fabrics, moisture-wicking is one of the most important traits to have. Its ability to handle moisture effectively will affect the performance of your item, and it can also have an effect on your overall health.
Flax Linen
Flax linen is extremely efficient at moisture absorption. This all has to do with its fiber structure. Due to fibers being long and hollow, linen has the ability to dry much quicker because of the increased airflow allowed by the hollow structure. For situations such as sleeping, your skin will be better taken care of. When fast asleep, our bodies tend to heat up, and for some people, sweating is common. With linen, you will be able to have better sleep because you won’t have to sleep on damp sheets, as the linen will quickly dry.
Cotton
Due to the fibres of cotton not being hollow like linen, cotton will absorb any moisture that it comes in contact with. Cotton is a fabric that loves water and loves to hold onto it. This means your bedsheets are more likely to be damp, as the cotton will trap the water absorbed from your body onto the sheet. This affects your skin negatively in the long run. Also, in the kitchen, a cotton towel will not dry as fast as a linen one. This means you will be cleaning up a spill for a lot longer and will possibly have to use more than one cloth.
Breathability
Because linen handles moisture so effectively and its fibers are hollow, its airflow is superior to cotton. This means linen makes you feel more comfortable no matter the time of day you interact with it.
Temperature Regulating
Flax Linen
As you might be noticing now, the long, hollow structure of linen makes it a highly effective fabric for us to use in our everyday items. When it comes to temperature regulating, the hollow flax fibers promote highly efficient airflow, which means the fabric can remain cool for a very long time.
This comes in handy for bedsheets. Going back to the example of people sweating while sleeping, linen will be able to cool you off much more effectively than cotton.
This comes in handy for something such as a bedsheet. Going back to the example of people sweating when they were sleeping, linen will be able to cool you off much more effectively than cotton due to the high airflow of the fibres.
Cotton
Since cotton does not have the same hollow structure as flax fibers, it will suffer when it comes to regulating temperature. Cotton can regulate temperatures, but it cannot do it as effectively as linen. This means for items that come in contact with your body, you won’t feel the same cooling feature that linen gives you.
Antibacterial Properties
Hygiene is of the upmost importance, no matter the item that you’re using.
Flax Linen
As you have now seen, linen is a much more breathable fabric, and it is able to wick moisture much more effectively than cotton. Not only will you have a more comfortable and dry fabric to use, but you will also have a much more hygienic fabric.
Since linen does not hold onto moisture and has much higher airflow than cotton, it is very hard for bacteria to grow on the fabric because there is no proper environment for them to grow in.
Cotton
As you have already seen, cotton has the ability to hold onto moisture much more than linen, and it is not as breathable compared to linen.
Its inability to get rid of moisture and its lack of airflow creates the perfect environment for fungi to grow. This means that it can cause a list of skin problems and lung problems, creating unnecessary stress and health issues for you in the future.
How Flax Linen Is Better For The Environment Than Cotton
There are two ways that linen is better for the environment than cotton. The first way is through how it’s extracted, and the second way is its overall impact on the environment.
Water Usage Comparison
Flax is a resilient plant that does not require much water. This means that irrigation, which is the process of using artificial rainfall to water crops, is not needed for flax like it is for cotton. Cotton is a very thirsty plant that requires a lot of water.
Irrigation is found to be a significantly negative process because of how much water is actually needed for these crops. This results in disrupting the ecosystem, harming the wildlife in the same environment, and causing water shortages.
Pesticide and Chemical Requirements
If the item is using natural linen, no pesticides or harsh chemicals are needed to extract the fibres from the flax plant. This makes it much safer for the environment.
But because cotton is a thirsty and highly demanding crop, pesticides are often used to make the extraction process much more efficient. In fact, 15% of the world’s pesticides are used for cotton.
Carbon Footprint
Linen has a much smaller carbon footprint than cotton. As you have already seen, cotton requires much more chemical use to take it out of the environment, and it also requires much more environmentally negative processes to produce.
Soil Health and Regeneration
When it comes to soil health and regeneration, flax is highly beneficial to the environment. The flax plant has a root structure that helps prevent erosion and breaks up hard soil. When the plant is extracted from the ground to take its fibres, the roots that remain in the ground break down and actually act as nutrients for the soil.
This is why, when you look into the flax plant, you often see that many people say planting it will help improve your yield for the plants you put in that same area afterward. It improves the yield so much that studies show it improves it by 20%.
For cotton, it is the opposite. Due to the heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers that harm the soil, soil erosion is very common in the areas where cotton is grown.
Biodegradability
The flax plant is 60% to 80% cellulose. This means that it can be broken down very easily and consumed by the environment it is grown in. It is a highly beneficial plant that is highly biodegradable.
Although cotton is also biodegradable, due to its use of chemicals and pesticides, it does not break down as quickly as the flax plant.
The Drawbacks of Flax
By now, you should see that the answer to the question "is flax better than cotton?" cannot be anything other than yes.
But like all things, there is no such thing as perfection. There are three main drawbacks of the flax plant.
Wrinkles
This is a debatable drawback. The reason I mention it here is that it is normal in today’s world to see perfectly ironed fabrics. Natural linen has a wrinkled feature, and for many people, the wrinkles actually give it character. But for other people, they are surprised that there are wrinkles in their items. It is important to know that even though there are wrinkles in linen, it does not affect the performance of the fabric. Also, if you want to, you can always just iron out the fabric to make it smooth if that is what you prefer.
Maintenance
Many people also say that maintaining linen is highly time-consuming. It is important to know that people perceive it to be time-consuming because of a lack of knowledge. Caring for linen is actually very easy. You just need to know what to do.
The best part is that it only takes a couple of minutes to learn how to properly care for linen.
Production
If you love buying linen, then this one is not a problem for you. If you have a business and you want to sell linen, this might be a drawback.
As stated earlier, the reason why cotton became mainstream was that people found a way to extract cotton much faster than linen. Linen tends to be a labor-intensive fabric to create. This mainly comes from the beginning process when you take the flax plant from the field. Even though it is much healthier for you and the environment, linen takes longer to produce compared to cotton, which uses chemicals to speed up extraction. But because it takes longer to produce, it also means that the quality of your item is much higher than it would be with cotton. It performs better, lasts longer, and benefits your life much more.
The Importance of Choosing Natural Linen Only
When you decide to choose flax over cotton, you are making a choice for a better home and a healthier planet. This natural fibre is truly in a league of its own, but you have to be careful about where you get it.
Not all linen is the same, and if you want the real deal, you need to look for experts who have been doing this for centuries. Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen has been weaving the world’s finest fabrics in Banbridge since 1854. They are the only ones left who still weave traditional Irish damask the right way.
With over 170 years of experience, they understand that true luxury comes from keeping things natural and avoiding the cheap shortcuts other brands take.
Linen is an investment that actually gets better every time you use it, eventually becoming a soft heirloom that lasts a lifetime. When you want the best for your family, there really is only one name that the experts trust.
