Why is my new bed sheet shiny?

[StealthPolarBear]

Recently bought a new bed sheet which claims to be 100% Egyptian cotton. It has what I can only describe as a sheen, and rather than being 'crisp' as cotton should be it's almost silky. I don't like the feel of it and it creases on the bed.
What do I need to buy to make sure I just get a normal cotton sheet?

Have you washed it?

cotton percale

Yes I washed it before its first use and its back in now. Hoping it wears off but I've never known this before. It almost seems cheap, but it wasn't

Could it be a sateen cotton?

Is it sateen? Seems to be fashionable at the moment

I've just been trying to find it. I think I'd have avoided sateen, but percale, maybe not. The 'getting into clean sheets' feeling has been ruined for me :o

OK sounds like I've accidentally bought sateen. Urgh.

I LOVE sateen. Is it white and kingsize? Do you fancy selling it?

We have Linea Hotel Collective 800 thread count bedding which is sateen finish. It's pretty heavy so the sateen finish works but maybe on a lighter bedding it would might feel cheap.

It is cream and king-size. Feels to me like the cheap and shiny sheeny types I bought when younger.

I bet it is sateen as PP have suggested. It’s all the rage now, in me head I associate it with the ‘luxury/lux’ ‘WAG/insta’ crushed velvet/mirrored furniture thing. Make sure you buy percale - some places have their own category for it like ‘Crisp and Fresh’ is John Lewis’s percale bedding.

A friend described sateen bedding as ‘as close to “slimy” as anything dry could be’.

Oh bollocks :( that's so annoying. It should have come with a slimy warning.
Just asked dh and he hadn't noticed anything :)

And I agree, it feels far cheaper than percale! All limp and thin. Hate it. It’s especially infuriating when you really like a design online but when it arrives you realise it’s sateen. Looking at you, M&S.

Oh sorry, I meant you need to buy cotton percale for it to feel like proper sheets.

(Sateen is awful in my view.)

I see. Its been so long since I've bought bed sheets I wasn't aware they now came in slimy vs non slimy! How annoying

Although price isn't always an indicator of quality, where did you buy it and how much was it?

John Lewis, £55 :(

I made the same mistake a few years ago OP. It's still shiny, despite many washes.

Oh. You could have lied :)