There’s a reason beauty gurus rave about silk bedding, and it’s not just because of silk’s elegant appeal or luxurious feel. Aside from giving your bedroom a posh vibe, silk linens are loaded with real beauty benefits.
The most common pillowcases are made out of cotton. Cotton pillowcases are inexpensive, but the cheap price comes at a cost to your skin and hair. Switching to a 100% silk pillowcase can do wonders for your hair and skin, bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase “beauty sleep.”
So, without further ado, let’s jump into the top 10 benefits of a silk pillowcase for skin and hair:
1. Help Tame Bed-Head
Messy morning hair may seem like an unpreventable nuisance those of us with long hair must accept and cope with. However, your pillowcase may actually be to blame for the knotted, frizzy hair you wake up to in the mornings. If you sleep on a cotton pillowcase, then swapping it out for a pillowcase made of silk can help keep bed-head under control.
Unlike cotton, silk is tightly-woven, giving pillowcases made out of the fabric a smooth surface. The sleek surface of a 100% silk pillowcase reduces friction between your hair and the material. This results in less frizz and fewer tangles in the morning.
2. Less Hair Breakage
Have you ever woken up to linens covered in strings of hair? Your cotton pillowcase could be the culprit.
Although cotton might feel soft, the way the fabric is weaved causes it to grip and pull strands of hair. As you move at night, your cotton pillowcase tugs at individual pieces of your hair, causing breakage. Tightly-woven silk, on the other hand, allows your hair to glide smoothly across your pillowcase while you sleep, mitigating hair breakage and split ends.
3. Keep Skin & Hair Hydrated
On average, skin has a 30-45% moisture content. Keeping that moisture locked in is vital for having healthy, vibrant-looking skin. Everyone knows that drinking plenty of water and applying moisturizing skin lotion daily are absolute musts for keeping skin vivacious, especially as you age. However, few are aware that the type of pillowcase you sleep on matters for keeping your skin, as well as your hair, full of much-needed moisture.
“Cotton is a material meant to absorb moisture, and it will do just that to your hair,” hairstylist Ali Batista says, and this is just as bad for your hair as it is your skin. As Batista explains, “Hairstyles that lack moisture tend to appear frizzy, lifeless, and more prone to static.”
Silk is a much less absorbent material than other common pillowcase fabrics, like cotton, that actually suck moisture out of your hair and skin as you sleep. Sleeping on a smooth, 100% silk pillowcase means less moisture will be drawn out of your face and hair each night, giving you more hydrated, beautiful skin and tresses.
4. Enhance The Benefits Of Your Hair & Skin Products
Besides preserving the natural moisture of your hair and skin, the non-absorbent properties of silk also help with retention of overnight beauty products. Think of all the face creams and hair serums you apply during your bedtime beauty routine. If you sleep on a cotton surface, your pillowcase is absorbing a good amount of the products you add to your skin and hair every night!
Since silk does not absorb moisture like cotton does, sleeping on a 100% silk pillowcase will ensure that any products you put on your skin or hair before bed stay on all night long so they can work their magic while you sleep.
5. Prevent Wrinkles
Silk pillowcases retain skin moisture and prevent abrasion, resulting in healthier, more supple skin. Silk’s hydrating, gentle qualities can help improve your complexion, decrease skin redness, and in the long run, even prevent wrinkles!
According to dermatologist Dr. Neal Schultz, “We get 'crush wrinkles' from sleeping on our side/face, so we may get less of those when sleeping on silk.”
6. Decrease Face Creases
Those ugly “sleep creases” those of us who tend to sleep with our faces on our pillows are all too familiar with can be eliminated by sleeping on a good, high-quality, 100% silk pillowcase. Although creases caused from putting pressure on skin for too long while sleeping do fade eventually after waking, they can actually be pressed into the skin permanently over the years, especially as a person ages and their skin loses its elasticity.
Because the material of silk does not fold or bunch up, creases do not occur when sleeping on a silk pillowcase. Silk also allows for skin to gently slide over its smooth surface, preventing creases.
7. Regulate Body Heat
There’s nothing worse than waking up in the morning soaked in sweat - except suffering from insomnia-inducing night sweats.
If you’ve experienced sweating in your sleep on more than one occasion, you’ll be happy to hear that silk pillowcases can help stop you from perspiring at night. Unlike many other fibers, silk does not conduct heat. On the contrary, silk actually regulates temperature naturally. The fabric in a 100% silk pillowcase breathes easily, keeping it at an even temperature all night long. This means no more night sweats or flipping your pillow around in the middle of the night in search of a cool spot! In addition, keeping cool at night can help drastically improve the quality of your sleep, helping you wake up refreshed and ready for the day.
8. Help Keep Acne Away
While silk pillowcases cannot cure your acne, they can certainly aid in preventing it. Cotton fabric was made to absorb – skin oils, makeup, hair potions, and face creams included! If you sleep on a cotton pillowcase, then all of this is building up on the surface you sleep on night after night.
According to dermatology PA-C Laura Dyer, products like these “can contain harsh ingredients and can be oil or silicone based, all of which can cause inflammation and breakouts.”
Sounds pretty bad, right? But, that’s not all.
In case you’re not already grossed out, keep in mind that cotton pillowcases do not regulate temperature very well. Every time you get too hot and perspire at night, all that sweat is sucked up into your pillowcase, which can encourage growth of bacteria. Needless to say, this can cause break-outs, especially if you tend to sleep on your face.
The same is not true for a 100% silk pillowcase. Because silk is not an absorbent material, moisture does not get pulled into silk pillowcases. Since there’s no buildup of moisture or stimulation of bacteria growth, sleeping on a silk pillowcase can help keep your pores clear and acne at bay.
9. Reduce Exposure To Chemicals
In today’s world, chemicals are everywhere, even in our bedding. Most common fabrics used in making pillowcases are produced from crops that contain pesticides, herbicides, or other man-made chemicals.
You may have heard some debate about the benefits of a silk vs. satin pillowcase. Satin, like silk, has many benefits that cotton pillowcases do not. However, when it comes to limiting exposure to chemicals, this is one area where silk pillowcases triumph their satin variants. Whereas satin is made of synthetic fibers, silk is all-natural, spun from silk worms.
This is especially true with a mulberry silk pillowcase – the highest quality silk pillowcase available on the market. A mulberry silk pillowcase is one made from silkworm cocoons naturally produced in a carefully-monitored environment by silkworms that are fed a strict diet of mulberry leaves. Mulberry silkworms create uniform, strong, light, yet smooth threads of silk that, when used in a mulberry silk pillowcase, result in the best silk pillowcase for hair and skin you can get.
10. Prevent Allergic Reactions
Because a 100% silk pillowcase does not contain any chemicals, it is also hypoallergenic. This is another reason why you should purchase a pillowcase made of silk vs. a satin pillowcase. Unlike synthetically-produced satin versions, silk pillowcases – particularly a mulberry silk pillowcase – contain zero allergens. Not only that, but tightly-woven, pure silk actually repels many allergens, including bed mites, dust, fungus, mold, and pollen.
According to Dr. Lily Talakoub, “Unlike cotton — which can have highly allergenic properties in it — silk doesn’t, which means less redness, eye-watering, and congestion if you’re allergic.” The hypoallergenic qualities can also help those with skin conditions like eczema, which is caused by dust mites.
A mulberry silk pillowcase is perhaps the most sought-after, coveted pillowcase in the world, for good reason. Although a cotton, satin, or blended fabric pillowcase may cost less than one made out of silk, the extra expense of a 100% silk pillowcase is more than made up for by the benefits of a silk pillowcase for skin and hair.
If you decide to purchase a silk pillowcase, make sure you look for a mulberry silk pillowcase with a 22 momme (fabric weight.) Superior to Egyptian cotton pillowcases in every way, a 100% silk pillowcase is truly the most lavish, beneficial pillowcase out there.
A good mulberry silk pillowcase usually runs somewhere between $30-90, but ours are priced for as low as $26! Purchase one (or several) today at Tafts.com. Trust us, you’ll fall in love with your brand new 100% silk pillowcase as soon as your head meets its lush, smooth surface for the first time!