Silk is one of the most coveted pillowcase materials around due to its luxurious comfort, gentleness on the skin, and benefits for hair care. It's also lightweight, breathable, and cool to the touch, making it a great option for hot sleepers.
As such, silk is prone to fading when exposed to direct sunlight, either indoors or outside. Even this best silk bedding will fade if left in direct sunlight. This is why we recommend always hanging your silk to dry away from the sun. Happily, your silk sheets should air dry very quickly, even indoors.
Natural fabrics are the answer – they help skin to breathe easily. And silk, with its exceptional thermo-regulation and air permeability properties, can keep the body cool and comfortable during those dreaded night sweats. It becomes nicely warm when the weather gets cooler, too.
Temperature regulation
Because satin is a man-made fibre, and often synthetic, it lacks the same breathability you find with silk, and so doesn't regulate temperature quite as effectively. Silk is a natural temperature regulator, thanks to the tube-like fibres that allow air to efficiently flow through.
For people who get hot during sleep, choosing sheets made of bamboo, cotton, or linen — breathable fabrics that wick away moisture from the body and help maintain a comfortable temperature — can help.
Linen: At the top of the breeziness chart, you'll find linen. Linen sheets are made from flax fibers, which are thicker than cotton. The fabric feels rougher to the touch—though it softens up with every wash—and the loose weave lets all that sleepy body heat escape.
Which one you choose comes down to a few factors, like price and preference. "I like satin more because it's less expensive than silk, but it's also smoother than silk, reducing the friction between the hair strands and the pillowcase," says Dr. Isfahan Chambers-Harris, Trichologist, Ph. D.
If you frequently sleep with wet hair, we suggest investing in a silk pillowcase. Silk doesn't retain moisture well, thereby allowing your hair to dry faster. More importantly, it's slick and produces less friction when compared with a cotton or flannel pillowcase.
The issue isn't necessarily that silk makes you sweat more than other kinds of fabrics. But even though it's a light and flowy material, it's also surprisingly insulating! The very nature of the silk fabric is that it can cling to your skin, which can lead to uncomfortable nights if you're already feeling overheated.
Silk pillowcases, like your other bed linens, come into direct contact with your skin every night, so it's important to wash them regularly — typically about every seven to ten days. To learn more about washing bed linens, check out this guide to washing and properly caring for bedding.
Silk is one of the most coveted pillowcase materials around due to its luxurious comfort, gentleness on the skin, and benefits for hair care. It's also lightweight, breathable, and cool to the touch, making it a great option for hot sleepers.
Silk pillowcases feel incredibly soft and luxurious to lie on, but they also have notable benefits to help you get your best possible beauty sleep: Silk has a smooth surface that allows your hair and skin to easily glide over the fabric to reduce friction (and its unwanted effects) on your skin and hair.
Bamboo is more breathable than silk.
With a bamboo pillowcase, you can keep that cool side of the pillow feeling all night long. Silk pillowcases have a tighter weave, which means they heat up more easily.
Silk is smoother than bamboo
While both bamboo and silk feel smooth and luxurious, bamboo pillowcases aren't quite as smooth as silk ones. Nonetheless, some people actually prefer it that way as silk can be too slippery like satin, whereas bamboo has more of a buttery feel that's more natural.
If you have oily hair, a silk pillowcase may not be the best choice, since a cotton pillowcase will absorb oil better, according to Aguirre. Silk pillowcases will be more beneficial if you have dry hair, or are experiencing breakage.
Temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius) can damage silk significantly. It is best to wash all silk products in cold water. Don't use bleach, which will harm the fabric and cause it to yellow, or fabric softener which can leave residue on the fabric.
Turning the pillowcases inside out before washing will protect the fibers and may extend the life of the fabric.
The fabric of your pillowcase plays a role in the premature formation of wrinkles and overall skin health. “Silk pillowcases are better for your skin,” Dr. Michael Jacobs, medical technology director at Cortina and a clinical associate professor of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College, previously told HuffPost.
"Silk doesn't absorb or pull moisture from your skin the way traditional cotton pillowcases do, leaving hair hydrated and frizz-free." Plus, according to Richy Kandasamy, a hair colorist and a member of R+Co Collective, resting your head on this fabric will keep textured hair fresher and less "slept on" upon waking.
Take a frozen washcloth to bed
It'll keep you cool as you fall asleep, particularly if you place it on your forehead. This is because blood vessels on your head sit very close to the surface of your skin. Cooling these blood vessels on your head using a frozen flannel can significantly affect how hot or cold you feel.