Many people wake up in the morning with frizzy, tangled hair. Others have issues staying cool at night. While you could mediate hair damage by using non-irritating laundry detergent to keep your tresses in order, it won’t necessarily maintain a lower temperature. One catch-all option for reducing hair frizz and keeping your skin cool is to use a silk pillowcase.
Silk is hypoallergenic and smoother than cotton, meaning it will reduce friction to tame hair frizz and minimize breakage. When purchasing a silk pillowcase, you should consider the silk grade and momme count. The grade starts at 2A, the least expensive option, and goes up to 6A for the highest-quality silk. Momme count indicates the weight, which goes up to 25 for the softest silk. We wanted to see if silk pillowcases helped manage frizz and kept us cool at night, so we tested three popular mulberry silk pillowcases: Brooklinen Mulberry Silk Pillowcase, Zimasilk 100% Mulberry Silk Pillowcase and Lilysilk Silk Pillowcase. Here’s what we found.
The Brooklinen Mulberry Silk Pillowcase is 100% pure mulberry silk. The high-quality silk is designed to be a breathable yet insulating fabric, making it cool to the touch and perfect for hot sleepers. In addition, it’s OEKO-TEX certified for chemical safety, meaning it’s made without formaldehyde and other heavy metals. Plus, it’s machine-washable and requires less maintenance than other silk pillowcases.
The presentation of the Brooklinen Mulberry Silk Pillowcase was impressive, appearing high-end from the start. The ivory pillowcase looked crisp and felt very smooth. We had no trouble slipping it onto a queen pillow with little to no gaping left over. As far as feel, this is probably one of the smoothest pillowcases we have tried.
What we appreciated most was the reduction in frizzy hair and tangles. It was much easier to brush out hair after using a silk pillowcase, requiring less maintenance overall. The brand claims this pillow has a cooling effect, which we can attest to. After washing the pillowcase in the machine per the instructions multiple times, it still appeared like new. There was no discoloration, snags, tears or pilling.
The only improvement we would suggest for this pillowcase is a zipper closure. The combination of an envelope closure and slippery fabric often caused the pillow to start slipping out of the pillowcase in the middle of the night.
The Brooklinen Mulberry Silk Pillowcase is available on the Amazon.
The Zimasilk Mulberry Silk Pillowcase is made of 100% Grade 6A mulberry silk and 19 momme count, which is one of the highest-quality silk combinations out there. The brand claims its breathable silk “allows your body to reduce cortisol levels, relax better and get you a better sleep quality.” Silk is also hypoallergenic, which is ideal for allergy sufferers.
We received the white Zimasilk Mulberry Silk Pillowcase. Even though the color wasn’t as bright as it was online, it was close enough to what we expected. When compared to other silk pillowcases, it’s a bit thinner, but we still were able to fall asleep quickly. We also appreciated the zipper closure, which kept the pillow in place overnight.
The washing process for this pillowcase requires more maintenance than a traditional cotton pillowcase, but that’s expected for a silk pillowcase. We simply hand-washed it with gentle soap and air-dried it to reduce wrinkles. We followed the washing instructions, and even after 10 days, the pillowcase still seemed like new. That said, it wasn’t necessarily cool and felt the same temperature as other non-silk pillowcases, but we did notice less frizzy hair and fewer tangles.
The Zimasilk 100% Mulberry Silk Pillowcase is available on Amazon.
What separates the Lilysilk Silk Pillowcase from similar products is the pure silk upper side and premium cotton underside. This feature helps cut costs and keeps the pillow from slipping around inside the pillowcase. The brand claims the Grade 6A mulberry silk and 19 momme count reduces friction on the hair and face.
We immediately noticed this pillowcase is a little rougher than other silk pillowcases we’ve tried. It’s also slightly thinner. While the instructions state that it’s machine-washable or hand-wash, we opted to wash it by hand to preserve the quality. However, after multiple washes, the material seemed mildly rougher. That said, it didn’t impact our quality of sleep or negate the positive effects of the pillowcase.
Even though this pillowcase wasn’t necessarily cool, we still slept through the night without interruption and woke up with much less hair frizz in the morning. We appreciated the zipper closure, but the cotton side didn’t provide any significant difference compared to other silk pillowcases. Ultimately, we would have preferred it to be made entirely of silk.
The Lilysilk Silk Pillowcase is available on Amazon.
Since it’s made using the highest-quality Grade 6A long-fiber mulberry silk with a momme count of 22, this silk pillowcase is soft, thick and durable. It comes in over ten color options and is made with non-toxic dyes.
Sold by Sephora
This pillowcase is made from 100% Grade 6A pure mulberry silk with 19 momme count. The company focuses on low land impact and carbon footprint. Plus, it has a zipper closure to keep the pillow secure.
Sold by Amazon
This silk pillowcase has a hidden zipper closure design and is machine-washable. It’s made of 22 momme count and 100% mulberry silk.
Sold by Macy’s
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Bre Richey writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
