The Benefits of Wrapping Hair in Silk Overnight

You are probably already familiar with the benefits of silk pillowcases for the delicate skin on your face, and how the silk is anti-ageing and helps hugely with hydration levels.

Given that our hair is made out of the same substance as our skin (keratin) it makes sense that silk has many benefits for our hair too.

In order to understand these benefits it is worth understanding what hair is made of, and why silk in particular benefits hair.

What Is Hair Made Of?

Hair is made of the same type of protein that the outermost layer of our skin is made of: Keratin.

Keratin acts as both a ‘connecting’, structural protein, which helps to keep skin and hair strong and elastic, and also as a protective protein, which helps to maintain a barrier between the hair and its environment. That barrier helps to keep hair hydration levels balanced, and helps prevents environmental pollutants from penetrating the hair.

Damaged/Frizzy Hair

Unfortunately, whilst keratin is an extremely tough and fibrous protein, enabling our hair to withstand a fair amount of heat and styling, it is susceptible to damage when we overdo it.

Too much heat, harsh chemicals and prolonged periods of hormonal disruption (stress, not eating well, pregnancy, for example) can damage both the inner, structural keratin proteins and the outer protective ones.

The end result will be dry, brittle, damaged and frizzy hair which is prone to breakage and splits easily.  

The answer to healing hair does not lie in slathering synthetic creams or conditioners onto hair. Many of those will contain ingredients like sulfates, which do an excellent short-term job of making hair *look* healthy whilst actually stripping it of its own precious oils.

So how can silk help? A Silk hair wrap is helpful in a number of ways, not least because of what silk is made from.

What Is Silk Made Of?

Silk consists primarily of two different proteins; fibroin and sericin and fibroin is often classified as a keratin protein.

The 18 amino acids in silk proteins are very similar to the amino acids in human hair and skin and it is this similarity which results in silk and hair being biocompatible.

How Does Silk Help Our Hair?

Unlike chemicals which challenge the hair shaft and cuticles, like sulfates do, silk has a natural synergy with our hair and complements and nourishes it.

The haircare industry is aware of the science behind this, which is why miniscule amounts of silk are added to premium shampoos and conditioners. Silk used in this way is beneficial for the hair as it fills the gaps where keratin has been damaged but is ultimately a product which is washed off. The best benefits come from wrapping hair in silk each night whilst we sleep.

Benefit 1: Less Frizz

The Silk Hair Wrap is a guaranteed way to minimise quite significantly the halo of frizz we get overnight, because there is virtually no friction and the hair is not loose, rubbing against itself or cotton.

Curly and frizz hair benefits, as does hair which is inbetween blow dries. 

 

Benefit 2: Shinier Hair

When we cocoon our hair in silk each night, the amino acids from the silk proteins help to replenish the depleted keratin on our hair shafts, in turn helping the hair to become smooth again. When hair is smooth, as opposed to rough from damaged and depleted keratin, it reflects light better and becomes shiny and healthy looking again.

Benefit 3: Stronger Hair

Over time, and with sustained use, the silk proteins also help to replenish the structural keratin within the hair shaft, thus making the hair strands stronger and more elastic again. People often report *much* less breakage over time, and it is because the silk makes their hair less resistant to damage.

Benefit 4: Fewer Tangles

Tangles are hard to bear at the best of times when hair is healthy and smooth, but tangles when you have dry or frizzy hair can be excruciating to comb through, and detangling them can cause further damage and breakage to hair.

When your hair is either loosely tied or piled up and cocooned in silk it is removed from all sources of friction; with itself, with your body and with your pillowcase. So whilst you toss and turn at night (which we all do) your hair will remain intact, smooth and tangle-free.

This reduction of friction whilst you sleep will mean that your hair is also smoother and shinier.

Benefit 5: Better Hydrated Hair

When we sleep, our body uses the ‘downtime’ to regenerate. Cell renewal happens all the time but much more so at night. And so it is with our scalp and our hair oils. When we sleep, our scalp produces hair oils (sebum) in order to maintain the health and hydration levels of our hair. Sleeping on a highly absorbent surface such as cotton means that the hair oil your body has taken the time to produce is wicked away and sucked up by the pillowcase.

Wrapping your hair in a silk hair wrap will help the hair oil do the job it is supposed to do - nourish and hydrate your hair. Superior to any conditioner because it is perfectly developed for the task, your hair oil will hydrate and strengthen your hair over time.

Benefit 6: Less Greasy Roots

The body is a finely honed and sensitive machine, and when the hair oil the scalp produces is wasted in cotton pillowcases, instead of being retained and used by the hair to protect and moisturise itself, the scalp goes into overdrive.

This means that it keeps producing hair oil and the end result is greasy roots but dry ends.

Sleeping with your hair in a silk hair wrap means that your hair oil is distributed where it ought to be and the scalp learns that it does not need to produce more.

So you can see how silk hair wraps work in a number of ways to heal the hair. Here at This Is Silk, we consider silk to be a biodynamic material which is so similar to our hair and skin, that it is naturally beneficial for us.

Our hair wraps are made with our award-winning silk and have been designed to comfortably all sizes of hair and heads. Our clever design expands to cocoon even the most voluminous hair whilst comfortably holding less hair. The elastic we chose is soft and gentle, holding the wrap in place whilst you sleep without a hint of tightness.