Open a fresh pack of disposable face towels — almost any drugstore brand — and bring it close to your nose.
You will probably notice a faint, slightly sharp smell. It is hard to describe. A little chemical. A little like wet cardboard. A little like nothing in nature.
Most people assume it is the packaging. Or the manufacturing facility. Or just "what new things smell like."
It is not.
That smell is the residue of how the towel itself was made. The fabric is called viscose, and it is what most disposable face towels sold in Canada are made from. The smell is the lingering signature of two of the harshest chemicals used in modern textile manufacturing.
This article is not about scaring you. It is about giving you the information that the back of the box leaves out — so the next time you cleanse your face, you actually know what is touching it.
What Is Viscose, Really?
Viscose is a regenerated cellulose fibre, just like Lyocell. The raw material is the same: wood pulp.
The difference is the chemistry used to turn that pulp into a soft, spinnable fibre.
To make viscose, manufacturers dissolve wood pulp using two main chemicals:
- Sodium hydroxide (lye) — to break down the cellulose
- Carbon disulfide (CS₂) — to convert it into a soluble form
The fibre is then regenerated by extruding the solution through a spinneret into a bath of sulfuric acid, which solidifies it back into a fibre.
It is an open-loop process. Most of these chemicals are not recovered. They leave the factory as wastewater discharge, air emissions, or trace residue on the finished fibre itself.
Why Carbon Disulfide Is the One to Worry About
Of all the chemicals in viscose production, carbon disulfide is the one that has drawn the most scientific concern.
It is a colourless, highly volatile liquid that evaporates quickly into the air. It has a distinctive sweet-then-pungent smell. It is also recognised by occupational health authorities around the world as a serious neurotoxin.
Decades of medical literature have documented health issues among viscose factory workers chronically exposed to carbon disulfide — including cardiovascular disease, neurological damage, and reproductive complications. Many countries have introduced exposure limits for this reason. Some viscose plants in higher-regulation countries have been forced to upgrade or close.
To be clear: a single face towel is not going to expose you to anywhere near these worker-level doses. The risk to consumers is fundamentally different from the risk to factory workers.
But the question is not "will one towel poison me?" The question is: do you want a chemical residue from a known neurotoxic process pressed against your face every single day, when there is a cleaner alternative?
The Sulfuric Acid Step
The second chemical in the equation is sulfuric acid — the same acid used in car batteries and industrial drain cleaners.
In viscose production, it serves the essential function of regenerating the fibre out of solution. But it leaves a sulfur-based residue behind that requires extensive washing to remove. In a perfectly run facility, the washing is thorough. In a poorly run one, it is not.
This is where that faint chemical smell on a fresh pack of disposable face towels comes from. It is the trace sulfur compounds that did not fully wash out during finishing.
You are not imagining it. Your nose is doing exactly what it evolved to do — detect chemicals that are not supposed to be there.
Why "All Viscose Is Plant-Based" Is Misleading
One of the most common things you will see on disposable face towel packaging is some variation of: "made from natural plant fibres" or "100% plant-based."
Technically, this is true. Viscose does start as wood pulp. The raw material is plant-based.
But describing the finished fibre as "natural" because of its starting material is a bit like describing a deep-fried doughnut as "made from wheat." Both statements are technically accurate. Neither tells you what actually happened between the field and the finished product.
Between the wood pulp and your face is a chemistry-heavy industrial process — and there is no requirement on most packaging to disclose what it involves.
The Environmental Story Most Brands Don't Tell You
The chemical residue on the fibre is one half of the story. The other half is what happens to all the chemistry that does not make it onto the fibre.
Conventional viscose production is responsible for significant water and air pollution in the regions where it is concentrated — primarily in parts of Asia where most of the world's viscose is now made. Untreated wastewater containing sulfur compounds, sodium sulfide, and trace carbon disulfide has been documented entering local rivers and ecosystems near several large viscose facilities.
This matters even if you never see those rivers, because the brand sitting on the Canadian shelf in front of you almost certainly cannot tell you which mill made its fibre, what that mill's environmental record looks like, or how much of the chemistry was responsibly contained.
The lower the price point, the less likely you are to get good answers to those questions.
The Lyocell Comparison: Same Wood Pulp, Different Universe
Here is what makes the contrast so stark: Lyocell is made from the exact same raw material as viscose — wood pulp. The starting point is identical.
The difference is everything that happens after.
| Viscose | Lyocell | |
|---|---|---|
| Solvent used | Carbon disulfide + sulfuric acid | NMMO (non-toxic organic compound) |
| Process type | Open-loop | Closed-loop |
| Solvent recovery rate | Low — most chemistry is discharged | ~99.5% recovered and reused |
| Residue on fibre | Sulfur compounds, faint chemical odour | None — odourless |
| Worker safety profile | Long history of occupational health issues | Significantly safer manufacturing environment |
| Suitable for medical-grade textiles? | No | Yes |
Same tree. Two completely different industrial philosophies. Two completely different things touching your face.
What This Means for Your Skin
Trace sulfur residue on fibre may not poison you, but it is also not nothing — especially when it is being pressed against your most sensitive skin, twice a day, for years.
People who have switched away from conventional viscose face towels regularly report:
- Fewer unexplained breakouts and clogged pores around the cheeks and chin
- Less of that "tight, dry" feeling immediately after cleansing
- Reduced redness and reactivity, especially in those with rosacea or sensitive skin
- The disappearance of that faint chemical smell from the bathroom
None of this is a guaranteed transformation. But the underlying logic is straightforward: the fewer irritants you put on your skin, the less your skin has to work to deal with them.
How to Spot a Cleaner Alternative
If you are buying disposable face towels and want to avoid viscose, look for these signs on the package:
- The word "Lyocell" or "TENCEL™" listed as the primary fibre — not just "plant-based" or "natural fibre"
- The word "closed-loop" in the manufacturing description
- A named fibre source (such as Lenzing or Sateri) rather than vague sourcing language
- Certification logos like OEKO-TEX, FSC, or PEFC, which signal third-party verification of sourcing and chemistry
- No detectable smell when you open the package
If a brand is using Lyocell, they will tell you. It is a more expensive fibre and they will absolutely take credit for using it. If the package is silent on the fibre type, assume it is viscose.
Why We Built InfiCare
InfiCare Pure-Touch face towels are 80% Lyocell + 20% pure cotton. We do not use viscose. Not in our blend, not as a "value" alternative, not in any product we make.
Our Lyocell is sourced from Sateri, a leading global producer of closed-loop cellulosic fibres, and our towels are produced in an automated, zero-contact cleanroom — which means no human hands ever touch the fibre during manufacturing.
We are not asking you to take that on faith. Open the pack. Smell it. There is nothing there. That is the entire point.
You can read more about how the brand came to be — and the mother and neuroscience researcher behind it — on our Our Story page. If you want to compare the three main face-towel fibres side by side, our Lyocell vs. Viscose vs. Cotton guide breaks it down round by round.
The Bottom Line
That faint chemical smell when you open a pack of cheap disposable face towels is not packaging. It is not perfume. It is not your imagination.
It is the lingering trace of an industrial process that was never designed with your face in mind — and was certainly never designed with the people who make the fibre in mind.
The good news is that a cleaner alternative exists. It is made from the same trees, with completely different chemistry, and it has none of the smell because it has none of the residue.
Now you know what to look for.
Try InfiCare Pure-Touch Lyocell Cotton Face Towels →
InfiCare is a Canadian-owned skincare brand based in Scarborough, Ontario. Our Pure-Touch Lyocell Cotton Face Towels are available on inficare.ca and Amazon.ca.