21 Best Yoga Mats For Sweaty Hands Now In 2022

If you have sweaty palms when you do yoga, then you know how annoying it can be when your hands start slipping…

Everything is fine for the first little while so you think,”I won’t need a different mat or a towel this time.”

But inevitably you begin sweating, losing your grip, and becoming steadily more frustrated in class.

I thought yoga was supposed to relax us - not make us angry! 

I’ve taught hot yoga for quite a few years now so I’d like to share with you my experience with various mats, which are the best ones for sweaty hands, and even a cool tip or two along the way. 

Let’s get right to it with my top choice...

Jade delivers once again…

The Fusion mat is a beast. It’s got the same amazing grip as the Harmony mat listed above, but with an even thicker width so you can enjoy even more padding.

An 8mm thickness means you’ll love the joint support and overall cushion you have on this mat. The only tiny downside is that sometimes too much padding can be a bad thing.

You’ll solve the problem of your hands slipping on the mat, that’s for sure. However thicker mats tend to provide less balance when you are doing standing poses like Tree, Eagle and Warrior Three.

Balancing on one foot with a thick mat can be a bit tricky, because this mat is so dense, you may or may not have an issue with balance. Just be sure you don’t trade one problem for another.  

Often it’s best to have something that will just absorb the sweat from your hands when you’re doing yoga.

Certain cotton mats, also known as “yoga rugs,” can be helpful in this regard. They will absrobe the moisture from your palms so you won’t have to worry about sliding. 

Mats made from cotton are really good for people who have sweaty hands in yoga, but they are not so good for people with dry hands. Dry hands can slip on a cotton rug, where as sweaty hands will find a nice grip. 

Let’s look at the top choice for a cotton mat...

Okay, so I fully understand this mat is NOT a cotton yoga mat because it’s made of rubber.

However, the overall theme of a mat helping to draw moisture out of your hands still applies here. As I mentioned before with the Jade Harmony mat there seems to be a slight aspect of this mat that “wicks” the moisture away from your palms. 

It’s not exactly what’s happening, but all I know is that Jade mats are really good at keeping sweaty hands to stay in place. 

About traveling...

If you travel a lot and practice on airport carpets while you are waiting for your plane, or even if you practice on hotel carpets then you’ll like this mat. It’s foldable, lightweight and easily stored. 

Keep in mind that it is quite thin, so it won’t provide any cushion on hard floors. 

Lastly, it deserves to be in the number 7 spot overall. Putting this mat any lower would not be doing it the justice it deserves. 

Mats that have a slightly “rougher” texture to them, I find often have the best grip. 

There’s also something to be said for individuality. Each individual will find the following rougher mats to be unusable because when laying down it doesn’t feel quite right.

Other people will love the texture because it’s very earthy and grounding. 

Remember, as we travel down this list you’ll find that each mat has a bit les grip overall than the previous one. The following sets of mats still have really good grip, but you may want to have a yoga towel to accompany them. 

Let’s explore mats that have a few natural fibers in them, thus giving them that unique texture I was talking about...

Here we have another unique mixture of materials. This time it’s rubber and Jute. 

The natural blend of these two materials coming together is what provides you with such a unique experience. 

This mat is good at holding you right where you want to be without having a scratchy surface. The smoother surface means you hands might slip a tiny bit if they get super sweaty, but if its only a mild amount of perspiration you should be just fine. 

Ajna also has fantastic customer service, cares about the environment, and the people they serve. Overall it’s a solid company. 

Sweating in yoga has to do with a mixture of 3 different things. One is how hot the room is. Two is the relative humidity. Third is overall how “ready” your body is to release sweat. 

Some hot rooms can get as hot as 110 degrees fahrenheit. This much heat is going to make anyone sweat buckets. Even if your yoga is only room-temp then there’s other factors at play.

Humidity is probably one of the biggest factors you’ll face in sweating. If it’s 77 degrees in a yoga room with 100% humidity then you can bet you’ll be breaking a sweat in no time. However, it can be 90 degrees with only 5% humidity and you may be surprised with how little you’ll sweat comparatively.

Are you ready to sweat?

Lastly, there’s the idea of how ready your body is to sweat. If you’ve done more than ten or so hot yoga classes then you know that each yoga session seems to produce different results. Sometimes you sweat the “normal” amount and others it looks like you just ran a marathon on a treadmill underneath a raging waterfall.

I’ve found there’s really no rhyme or reason as to what makes things better or worse from each time I step on the mat. I used to think it was how hydrated I was, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I”m sure my overall diet has a lot to do with it, but that’s a bit harder to correlate.

All in all, if you sweat a lot in yoga then it’s probably a mixture of any of these three above points. 

If you do sweat a lot you’ll want to consider getting a “closed-cell” mat. I’ve found TPE yoga mats to be a relatively cheap solution to this problem. This way whatever comes out of your body won’t live inside your yoga mat. 

This is an outstandingly good mat for the price…

The top layer provides the user with a quality grip that won’t slide or move during your practice. This mat has a good amount of give as well because of its thickness. 

This mat is made from mostly rubber so you'll enjoy we well it performs in the hot room. The bottom layer has an open cell construction that grips well to smooth surfaces. 

Your hands slipping in Downward Dog has to do with two things...

The first is how much traction your mat has. As your hands perspire you’ll eventually slip in your  Downward Facing Dog. This is the most common pose for you hands to slip in because of the angle at which your hands are.

The second reason your hands slip has to do with your form. Overall, you should seek to distribute the weight into your thumb, index, and middle finger while in Down Dog.

I’ll be real with you though… No matter how good your form is, if you have sweaty hands you’re going to need a quality mat, or a yoga towel. 

Lots of people find that mixture of both a quality yoga mat and a towel works wonders. Just like moisture on cotton mats helps you to stick to them, so will a little bit on your yoga towel. 

If you are going to go with the mat and towel combo for your practice then I highly suggest the Manduka line of mats. 

If you are going to do the towel/mat combo then there’s really no better choice than getting a Manduka Pro mat.

You might think that 6mm of padding is too much, but fortunately manduka mats are pretty dense. While it may not have a lot of cushion, it makes up for that fact by being overall more solid. Couple that with a towel, and you’ve got a fantastic combination. 

If your hands are sliding around a lot then you may only need a yoga mat towel. Here are 3 more Manduka mats you might want to check out depending on your needs.

Manduka PROlite Mat

The two eKO mats from Manduka hold up really well in sweaty conditions…

The top layer is manufactured just a bit differently to help add more traction between your hands and the mat.

But why isn’t this at the top of the list you ask?

Having a towel on top of one of the Manduka Pro mats is just SLIGHTLY better than these mats alone. The fact is if you sweat a lot then you’ll need a towel to absorb some of that water.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a really good mat for sweaty hands - just maybe not as good as having a towel on top of it as well. 

Manduka eKOlite

This one is worth having on the list because of its versatility…

Yes, it is a travel mat, but you can use it for so much more! 

• It makes for a good extra layer to have on top of a normal yoga studio mat.
• You can use it rolled up to place under you neck for cervical support, 
• You could also even use it rolled up under your knees for lower back support while laying down. 

Having a travel mat comes in quite handy if you do yoga a lot. I keep one in the trunk of my car (with a change of clothes) just in case I want to pop into a studio. 

If you don’t already have a quality yoga mat, then you’re going to need a yoga towel to help with this problem.

Using a yoga towel will help soak up some of the sweat and oils from your palm. In fact, using a slightly damp yoga towel works the best. This is why you see people spraying down their yoga mats beforehand. It adds more traction.

There is a quick and easy solution however…

You may want to entertain TPE yoga mats. These are cheaper and quazi- ecologically friendly mats that have really good grip. 

This is the budget part of the list… They are still decent mats that will help to keep your hands from slipping, but just don’t expect them to perform as well as rubber-based mats.

Let’s have a look at the top end of these mats...

Here we have another replica of the top recommendation…

There’s nothing wrong with trying to replicate the number one choice on this list if you do it decently well and at a third of the price. 

For any TPE yoga mat if you have sweaty hands you’ll find that they work pretty well. If you have really sweaty hands however, then you’ll want to look elsewhere. 

Arteesol Mat

This mat has two layers. A textured top for non-slip and a spongy layer on the bottom for cushion. 

The reason why this mat, and some many other TPE mats are this close to the bottom of this list really has to do with durability. Many of these mats won’t last much past a year if you are using it regularly. 

They will eventually start to break down and maybe even tear a tiny bit. Once that happens then it's all downhill. Tears or scrapes on these mats will allow funky odors to slowly take over your yoga mat. 

It’s pretty common to have to replace these types of mats after about a year beaucage the grip eventually goes away and/or the smell just becomes too much.