My husband and I watch a lot of late-night television, mostly CNN and the Comedy Channel. (It's good to have comedic relief after hearing the news!) Of all the strange commercials on during that time slot, our favorite is for Sham Wow! super-absorbent towels. “Vince” the Sham Wow! shaman/salesman ropes you in, works the yellow Sham Wow! towels quickly and effortlessly through cola spills, wet sweaters, and a pie pan full of water to show you how the synthetic chamois sucks up liquids like a vacuum. Note that Sham Wow! is a great play on the word chamois (pronounced ‘shammee”) since Sham Wow! is a sham/fake of real chamois, a leather made from super soft sheep and lamb skin.
With slightly spiky hair and a crazed look in his eyes, Vince resembles Beavis of Beavis and Butt-Head. His rapid-fire sentences mostly end with exclamations. For example:
- Sham Wow! holds up to 20 times its weight in liquid!
- These are made in Germany! You know the Germans always make good stuff!
- Olympic divers -- they use it as a towel!
- These sell themselves!
- Call now! Call within the next 20 minutes! We can’t do this all day!
- Sham Wow! You'll be saying "Wow!" every time!
Vince embodies the quintessential American huckster/salesman – the kind you’d find at a county fair hawking products that you never thought you’d want or need but suddenly find yourself desirous of. After watching the infomercial about 20 times, what intrigued me about Vince’s demonstration was when he rolled up the wet sweater in a Sham Wow! towel to wick away moisture. Could it do that to all the lettuce an herbs that I wash for Vietnamese food? How would it compare to the regular salad spinner that I use?
One New Year’s Day, we watched the Sham Wow! low-budget infomercial on YouTube and we nearly ordered it, but chickened out once we looked up the shipping and handling -- $7.95 on a $19.95 set of 4 big and 4 mini Sham Wow! towels. “Not available in stores. Beware of imitators,” the voiceover reminded us. That’s nearly $30 for the 8 towels and seemed to cost a little too much.
But yesterday, Rory and I walked into a Bed, Bath and Beyond and what was the first thing we saw by the door? An “As Seen on TV” display of goodies including boxes and boxes of Sham Wow! towels for $19.95. No shipping and handling here, and we had a 20% discount coupon that was just about to expire on Monday. We drove home, fetched the coupon and sped back to the store to purchase a box of Sham Wow! towels for $16. How’s that for recession savings?
At home, I tested Vince’s claim of saving us loads of money on non-reusable paper towels and time. Sham Wow! towels are made of rayon and they’re oddly dry feeling. They do suck up water like there’s no tomorrow. I filled a baking sheet half-full with water and put a large Sham Wow! towel in there and all the water got absorbed. I even wrung it out like Vince did on TV. The towel is easy to wring out but beware – do not hang it over a counter to dry as I did. The water drips off the towel. Left that way over night, we woke up to a puddle of water in the kitchen which we effortlessly wiped up with the Sham Wow!.
Just now, I washed some lettuce for bun rice noodle salad bowl with leftover roast chicken. To test my theory – can lettuce be dried like the sweater in the infomercial? – I put the leaves between two mini Sham Wow! towels, patted the towels and then rolled them up like a jelly roll for the yule log I made for the holidays.
The towels removed about 2/3 of the water but I realized that the crinkly aspect of the lettuce leaves was not easy for Sham Wow! to tackle. The towel fibers just can’t reach that moisture. Flicking the leaves into a dry bowl, I found that there was still water hidden in the crevices. Same thing for fresh herbs, in this case, sprigs of mint and kinh gioi Vietnamese balm from my garden that had survived our recent light frosts.
I wrapped the head of lettuce up in the towel and stuck it in the fridge. I usually do this with a paper towel to prevent the leaves from getting funky and spoiling. In that scenario, Sham Wow! does seem to work in a passive manner.
So the upshot? I am wowed by Sham Wow! as it does do what it claims – so long as the surface is relatively smooth, like a counter, car, dish, or cutting board. But for drying lettuce and herbs? If I have a few leaves or sprigs, a mini Sham Wow! would be okay. If a lot of fresh lettuce and herbs are to be dried, a salad spinner is much better.
If you've used Sham Wow!, do share your good, bad and ugly experiences!
Related sites:
thanks for the review - my husband and I were also quite interested in this 'unbelievable' product when we saw the infomercial. we'll definitely check it out at BB&B! btw, BB&B coupons has an expiration date, but they take expired coupons too!
Posted by: starrytears | January 05, 2009 at 10:13 AM
I'd heard that BB&B took expired coupons but have never tried it. Thanks for verifying it!
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | January 05, 2009 at 10:58 AM
haha, I totally remember being `wowed` by this infomercial, but never bought one because... well... it was on an infomercial, and my reasoning is that if it was as good as it said it was, you`d be able to buy it anywhere!
I`ll give them a try if I can pick up some at a local store tho. Maybe you can review the polyethylene-absorbing vegetable-preserving bags next? I`m tempted for one of those every time I throw out a moldy head of lettuce!
Posted by: oliver | January 05, 2009 at 12:49 PM
LOL...I watch the same infomercial and think the same thing as you did all the time! Glad to know that these things do work. I think I also saw Sham Wows being sold at Target. Now, I'm tempted to get a box to wipe my counter tops =)
Posted by: anh | January 05, 2009 at 03:13 PM
Well, I'm a sucker for good salesmanship. It's a dying art and breed of a human who'd be part of hawking strange, seemingly unfathmomable goods.
Another infomercial confession is that I bought a Ped Egg some time back and it was pretty good with removing the dead skin cells. The bits of skin grossed my hubby out. It's nothing but a super fine microplane for your feet.
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | January 05, 2009 at 11:00 PM
I can just picture you and Rory trying out the ShamWow! Too funny. I think you should try the Snugglie next. It's the latest strange product commercial my hubby and I giggle over. It's essentially a fleece blanket that has sleeves sewn into it. We think the people using it on the commercial look like they joined some bizarre cult.
Posted by: Carolyn Jung | January 06, 2009 at 11:22 AM
I love that BBB has all those As Seen on TV stuff. With the 20% off coupons and no shipping, what could be better?
By the way, our Pandan Chiffon Cake post is up. Come check it out!
http://chezannies.blogspot.com/2009/01/pandan-chiffon-cake.html
Posted by: Nate | January 06, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Carolyn, I think I can wear Snuggle.
Nate, the cake is FABULOUS. Thanks for providing the link!!!
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | January 06, 2009 at 04:17 PM
That is soooo Alton Brown of you! I love the post, the creativity, and the fact that every new product has just got to have a use in the kitchen!
Posted by: Shannon | January 06, 2009 at 08:38 PM
Shannon, thanks for the compliment. I wonder if I can use a Ped Egg to grate coconut . . . sounds kinda gross, huh?
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | January 06, 2009 at 09:17 PM
Funny I just saw the commercial last week and was amazed too. Are these towels washable? I might have to get them now since they're available in stores. Thanks for the review.
Posted by: TT | January 07, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Andrea, I was thinking about purchasing this but was wondering if they truly worked, but now I know! I'm gonna go get some for myself sometime soon.
Posted by: shavedicesundays | January 09, 2009 at 07:52 AM
Andrea,
Have you tried to wrap the lettuce and herb in the ShamWow and then put that into a plastic bag? Swing the bag around (it's pretty much like a salad spinner), of course try not to hit anything with the bag. It should dislodge the water from the crevices. Just a thought. But good to know the stuff does work. I saw it on Tuesday at Walgreen's.
Posted by: Lili | January 09, 2009 at 03:04 PM
You are distgusting.
Posted by: | January 10, 2009 at 12:21 AM
I'll take the disgusting as somewhat of a compliment. Include your name if you're gonna hurl an insult.
Shamwow! towels are supposedly machine washable but I've been washing it by hand with dishwashing liquid and drying it overnight.
Lili -- your suggestion of making a salad spinner from it is kind of novel but the spinner is a trusty tool still.
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | January 12, 2009 at 10:26 PM
We recently got some microfiber terry kitchen towels, which have been working great. I'll have to try using them to dry lettuce and herbs – I think they might work better than the Sham Wow because the cloth is softer and more flexible, and so might be able to get into the crannies more easily.
Posted by: Lexica | January 17, 2009 at 05:51 PM
I wash my Sham Wows in the washer. Just don't put them into the drier. I hang them up and they're dry in a couple of hours.
Posted by: Anne | January 25, 2009 at 06:56 PM
I bought the shamwow too! Great idea to use them to dry small batches of lettuce. I found an even better spongy cloth - created by 2 Moms - www.skoycloth.com - they are thicker and last longer. But they don't have a large towel like Shamwow.
Posted by: Jaden, Steamy Kitchen | January 27, 2009 at 08:44 AM
Andrea,
It's so funny that you reviewed this! The maintenance man in my building swears by these SHAM WOW towels!
With lettuce and spinach and leaves in general I've always found the winding or electric centrifugal salad spinners to be the only way to get all of the droplet-trapped water out, though it leaves some residual moisture.
I think some industrial places use centrifuge then bounce the leaves lightly on a screen-type thing while blowing fan-air on them. So maybe a blow dry set to cold air and bouncing the lettuce in a strainer or colander?
Since we on the "As Seen on TV kick"- that magic putty, I can verify, is awesome. However, the "Oxy-Clean" brighterner/whitener cleaner never cleaned ANYTHING.
Peace,
MIKO in Seattle
Posted by: MIKO | January 30, 2009 at 04:30 PM
Andrea,
It's so funny that you reviewed this! The maintenance man in my building swears by these SHAM WOW towels!
With lettuce and spinach and leaves in general I've always found the winding or electric centrifugal salad spinners to be the only way to get all of the droplet-trapped water out, though it leaves some residual moisture.
I think some industrial places use centrifuge then bounce the leaves lightly on a screen-type thing while blowing fan-air on them. So maybe a blow dry set to cold air and bouncing the lettuce in a strainer or colander?
Since we on the "As Seen on TV kick"- that magic putty, I can verify, is awesome. However, the "Oxy-Clean" brighterner/whitener cleaner never cleaned ANYTHING.
Peace,
MIKO in Seattle
Posted by: MIKO | January 30, 2009 at 04:34 PM
Beware! If anyone has any dogs, especially big LABrador dogs (they'll eat most anything), my Lab ate one of these when it was hanging wet, and another day he ate another one, within a few minutes, cause they were GONE when I went back a bit later. Be careful where you hang them to dry if you do, dont take a chance with your dogs getting sick or blocked stomachs. Not all dogs will eat them, but you never know who might. Could be hazardous to their lives. So just a Warning for pet owners!!!! Thats all I had to add to this comments. Thanks.
Posted by: linda | February 26, 2009 at 07:40 PM
I knew that guy reminded me on someone. Beavis, it makes sense to me. Thanks for clearing that up.
Posted by: Dekonstruct | February 27, 2009 at 06:40 PM
Whoah, okay -- keep the dogs away from Sham Wow!
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | March 02, 2009 at 01:14 PM
They do make smaller ShamWows that could work better for drying lettuce. I do use a ShamWow a lot, instead of paper towels. It works great for cleaning up messes, I spilled a drink on my carpet once and immediately I grabbed my ShamWow and was able to clean most of it up. It was great!
Posted by: ShamWow | June 22, 2009 at 12:04 PM