Bamboo curtains are an excellent eco-friendly option for draping your doors and windows on your property, but are they perfect? In this post, we explore the advantages and disadvantages of bamboo curtains.

So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of bamboo curtains? Advantages to bamboo curtains are they’re eco-friendly, natural-looking, numerous in variety, easy to maintain, and multipurpose. However, low-quality bamboo curtains can be delicate, tough to clean in some parts, hard to place in your home, and low in privacy.

Accordingly, below we discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of bamboo curtains in sufficient detail to help you make up your mind (or not!) on them.

5 Advantages of Bamboo Curtains

There are a number of advantages that you should consider when buying bamboo curtains. Here are the five biggest advantages of bamboo curtains.

1. Natural and Eco-Friendly

Bamboo is an eco-friendly material and renewable resource. Grown in abundance, it’s the fastest-growing plant in the world and has natural antibacterial properties. Many curtains and shades throughout the home are often made from synthetic materials such as vinyl, nylon, of polyester (plastics) all of which are derived from petroleum. By adopting a more eco-friendly material such as bamboo – you are reducing your environmental impact and helping contribute towards a more sustainable industry.

2. Blend Well with Natural, Plant-Based Interiors

Today, there is great emphasis placed on natural interiors, with plants forming an integral part of the entire inner design ethos. This is also very well complemented by natural light being allowed to make its way into our interiors, to the furthest extent possible.

Amidst all this, bamboo curtains blend in very well into the nature-oriented theme and design which so many of our homes and workplaces today are centered around. Moreover, bamboo curtains allow natural light to waft its way into our interiors quite well, thanks to their woven designs.

3. Enormous Variety

Within the realm of bamboo curtains, there is ample choice on offer. For instance, you will find a wide range of styles and finishes available in the market. The Arlo Blinds Cordless Bamboo Shades (link to read reviews on Amazon) comes in a variety of designs and dimensions each with its own distinct style.

This is an important point to mention since a lot of prospective customers shy way from bamboo curtains, simply based on their assumption that there is very little to go on, as far as designs, styles, and finishes go. However, this is simply not the case! 

4. Easy to Maintain

In today’s fast-paced world – with so much to do in so little time – regular washing of curtains and drapes is a chore beyond the ability of most. Under such circumstances, bamboo curtains are a godsend since they do not require much washing or maintenance and upkeep. 

This is an especially important aspect to consider when evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of bamboo curtains since, with other regular curtains, the effort involved is beyond just the washing itself – it is also about taking curtains off their mounts and putting them back – quite an arduous task in itself!

5. Multipurpose

With a lot of regular curtain choices, you are limited in scope regarding their usage. You can either use them on doors or windows but not both; you have to make a choice!

Bamboo curtains don’t require you to make such a choice. You can easily go ahead and place them on both doors and windows with equal finesse.

Additionally, as far as the operation mechanism goes, in both instances, you have the option of having a manual setup or a mechanized one. No matter which one you opt for, you’re unlikely to face any challenges whatsoever.

4 Disadvantages of Bamboo Curtains

Now that we have had a good look at the advantages that come with bamboo curtains, it is only fair that we consider their disadvantages also. These points are mostly in reference to low-quality bamboo curtains, which aren’t usually found with high-quality bamboo curtains.

1. Delicate in Nature

With low-quality bamboo curtains, everything will seem hunky-dory at the outset but over time you will realize that they are rather fragile and delicate. Quite easily, you can end up breaking or cracking bamboo curtains. 

This is largely to do with the very fact that these types of curtains are made of low-quality bamboo. It’s a delicate material in itself, thus rendering any item made out of it to also be delicate and fragile.

The solution here lies in handling bamboo curtains with reasonable caution or purchasing high-quality bamboo curtains. We don’t intend to scare you, but if you have restless kids or aggressive pets at home, you might want to rethink your decision of opting for low-quality bamboo curtains.

2. Some Parts Can be Tough to Clean

OK, so you are quick to point out how we mentioned the ease of bamboo curtain upkeep and cleaning above. Yes, we are perfectly aware of that and it may seem contradictory but to clarify, some parts of bamboo curtains can end up proving tough to clean.

This usually happens when these curtains are not cleaned regularly such that a reasonable amount of dust gathers on them. Now, in your attempt to do a thorough cleaning job, there is the possibility of doing some damage due to their fragile nature as we just mentioned in the previous section. This is especially true for low-quality bamboo curtains.

Beyond that, it’s during such a rigorous cleaning attempt that fiber from the cleaning cloth used can get enmeshed onto bamboo curtains, especially given their relatively rough edges and surfaces. Again, the need of the hour is to clean with caution. As long as you wipe gently while cleaning, you are unlikely to face any serious issues.

3. Inappropriate Placement

Again, related to the delicate nature of low-quality bamboo curtains that we mentioned above, is the importance of appropriate placement and positioning. When you place low-quality bamboo curtains inappropriately, your chances of facing major issues take a quantum leap. 

One facet about any low-quality bamboo product, including bamboo curtains, is that it’s easily prone to damage by way of cracking or splitting. When you do not place low-quality bamboo curtains appropriately, you also increase the possibility of a crack or split emerging just when you least expected it. 

This is especially true when you don’t mount bamboo curtains properly and then try to operate them, especially in a mechanized setup. The chances of something untoward happening increase.

4. Can Possibly Compromise Privacy

Among the advantages of bamboo curtains, you might recall how we mentioned the relatively easy filtration of light through them. While this is an advantage indeed, it also has a downside to it, which is a potential invasion of privacy since it allows really easy visibility from outside.

An easy workaround for this situation is to install privacy liners along with bamboo curtains, especially for bedrooms.

At the same time, this presents two additional associated disadvantages of bamboo curtains. First, the very fact that you’ll have to get privacy liners whenever you consider installing low-quality bamboo curtains. Second, prices of privacy liners tend to be on the higher side, which only adds to your overall costs. 

Conclusion

Quite clearly, bamboo curtains have their distinct advantages and disadvantages. Which way the pendulum swings heavier is a decision best left to you.

In our opinion, when we objectively look at both sides of the fence, we consider the advantages to trump the disadvantages, especially since most of the disadvantages we highlighted above have relatively easy fixes and mostly occur with low-quality bamboo curtains.