Cotton pillowcases are known to absorb the oils from your hair and skin, which can leave them dry, brittle and prone to breakage. The good news is all these problems are easily addressed by switching to a silk pillowcase. Silk allows the hair to slide around on your pillow effortlessly, so you wake to smoother hair.
More significant hair loss can be caused by a number of factors — alopecia, chemotherapy, hereditary baldness, childbirth, stress — but your pillowcase doesn't have anything to do with it. “Whether it's cotton or silk, the pillowcase you sleep on at night doesn't influence your hair loss in any way,” Fox says.
Silk pillowcases fight frizz by helping your hair retain moisture. Silk is also a friction-free material that allows your hair to glide and move freely over the pillowcase while you sleep. Meaning less snagging and damage which, as you've probably guessed, means less frizz.
It may seem hard to believe, but even a soft cotton pillowcase has tiny fibers that pull and tear at your hair strands and skin on your scalp and face. This makes your cotton pillowcase a source of friction and hair breakage (along with sleep wrinkles that can lead to fine lines on your face.)
Don't sleep with your hair tied up!
Instead, sleep with it down, or if you have to tie it back, go low with a ponytail or loose braid at the nape of your neck. Try pulling your hair up with a soft scrunchie instead!
Mulberry Silk Pillowcase
Brooklinen is well renowned for its cozy sheets and towels, but the bedding brand also makes all-star silky pillowcases. Its mulberry silk material is breathable and naturally cool to the touch, two features that guarantee less friction damage to your hair and skin.
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.
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.
Bamboo Sheets Are Breathable and Moisture-wicking
Bamboo's moisture-wicking ability is great for your skin, but it's also beneficial for your hair. The fabric is very breathable, so if you like to wash your hair just before getting into bed, you can feel confident it will dry nicely during the night.
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.
Less Friction
That's not the case with a satin or silk pillowcase. The satin pillowcase will allow your hair to gently glide over the top of it reducing friction, tangles, and frizz and keeping your hairstyle intact. The satin or silk pillowcase also helps prevent split ends from breaking.
Silk (and cotton) are highly absorbent, which can rob hair and skin of their natural oils. Satin feels cool to the touch, whereas silk warms up with body heat. For those who prefer to sleep on a cool surface, satin is the better choice. Satin is easy to launder and will look beautiful for years.
Whilst sleeping on a silk pillowcase is said to help to prevent wrinkles and is gentler to hair than cotton weaves, it will not stop hair loss. Many women use them to help to prolong their hairstyle or blow dry between washes as the smooth surface of silk, or satin, pillowcases means that the hair glides over it.
Is it normal to find hair on your pillow? Yes, within reason. We're constantly shedding hair so finding some on a pillow isn't surprising. However, if you find a large clump of hair on your pillow day after day, you may want to consult a doctor to be sure there is no underlying medical condition.
Satin pillowcases offer a variety of potential benefits. The glossy, smooth texture of the weave allows the head to move easily, reducing the friction that could otherwise cause wrinkles, hair frizzing, and breakage.
Satin is also soft, so it won't pull at your skin or hair which means it's better compared to a cotton pillowcase and can help prevent the formation of wrinkles or reducing breakage and frizz. A satin pillowcase can easily be thrown in the wash with the rest of your laundry (silk requires more careful care).
Silk is a much stronger material than satin. This is important because when you're investing in a high-quality bedsheet or pillowcase, you want it to last a long time. Being a durable, strong material, silk is much more likely to stand the test of time without tears and other damage to the structure.
When comparing bamboo lyocell Vs silk, the majority of the main points of bamboo Vs silk can also be applied. While both are silky smooth – bamboo will last longer, get softer with time, wash well and provide hypoallergenic, antibacterial properties while you sleep.
A key factor when choosing pillowcases for acne is the type of fabric used. Smoother fabrics like silk and Tencel are generally less abrasive, meaning they are less likely to irritate acne-prone skin.
It is normal to lose up to about 100 hairs a day on one's comb, brush, in the sink or on the pillow. This is the result of the normal hair growth cycle. Hairs will grow for a few years, then rest for a few months, shed, and regrow. Telogen is the name for the resting stage of the hair growth cycle.
Cotton is pure and natural and if it is made with organic cotton, can be a great pillow material for anyone with chemical sensitivities. Cotton has the ability to “breathe” during warm weather, unlike synthetic pillows.