Do you shy away from early morning mirrors? Do you hate your morning, crumpled face topped off with a bird's nest that bears no resemblance to your daytime glossy bob?
A simple, proven solution is at hand - stop sleeping on cotton or synthetic pillowcases and start sleeping on natural silk.
Natural silk pillowcases have proven benefits compared to their plain Jane cotton sisters. Not only do they feel sublime next to your skin - and delightfully decadent - but their very silky, smooth texture brings a whole load of goodies to your night time slumber.
When you move in your sleep, cotton fabric actually catches hold of your hair, so it twists around as you do. Result? A morning bed head full of tangles, far removed from thefashionistas' idea of a cool bed head style: think Worzel Gummidge rather than Brigitte Bardot.
Silk on the other hand, allows you hair to simply glide over its surface as you sleep, so you'll wake with no tangles and no scary reflection looking back at you from the early morning mirror.
Silk pillowcases are especially good for these hair types: curly with a tendency to tangle; dry with a tendency to frizz; hair extensions; delicate, baby-fine hair.
It's common to wake with a face embellished with sleep creases that certainly weren't there the night before. When you're young, they disappear quickly; but as you age, the danger is that these night time creases will become permanent wrinkles.
Cotton pillowcases drag at delicate facial skin, overstretch it and cause these unsightly sleep creases; silk on the other hand, allows the skin to gently slide over it without stretching, pulling or distorting the facial surface.
Cotton is a highly absorbent fabric, and will gently suck the moisture from your facial skin cells as you sleep. This explains why your expensive night cream doesn't seem to be doing what it promised; its hydration effects are being hindered by the action of the cotton.
Similarly cotton will draw out the moisture from your luscious locks, making them dry and even more likely to twist and tangle.
A silk pillowcase is the ideal answer. It won't dehydrate your face or your hair, and both will feel better hydrated when you wake.
Anyone who finds themselves constantly turning the pillow in search of the cold side, will be delighted when they switch to pure silk: a pure silk pillow always feels refreshingly cool against your skin.
Other synthetic fabrics can get sweaty when you warm up in bed, but pure silk always keeps its cool.
It almost goes without saying that silk is just....mmmm... silky to the touch. After a long day, nothing feels as luxurious or as pleasurable as laying your weary head down on a silk pillow and letting the sensations lull you into a quality sleep.
Dust mites get everywhere, but this astonishing factsheet from Achoo Allergy confirms something we'd probably rather not know: the weight of the average pillow increases by 10% in a year due to a build up of dust mites. And that's seriously bad news for allergy sufferers.
However silk is naturally resistant to dust mites, and people who frequently wake up with congestion and watery eyes may find great relief by sleeping on a silk pillowcase.
It's a myth that silk is delicate and always needs to be washed by hand. Choose a high quality silk pillow case (such as a 22 momme weight ie. 100 yards of the fabric weighs 22 pounds) which is robust and durable, and can be machine washed regularly without worry. Just ensure you use the delicates wash and use a non-biological detergent. No one wants to add hand washing to their already hectic schedule!
Silk pillowcases are more expensive than cotton pillowcases, but you won't need to save for months to buy one! And considering all of the positive benefits that pure silk offers your skin and hair, you'll probably save money long term as you won't be buying expensive anti-sleep-crease creams or hair detangler products.
