Ready to start your hair journey?
Are you tired of dry, greasy, tangled, or overall just crummy hair? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Let me share with you, of the 10+ methods I’ve tried to promote my hair growth and health, what CHANGED my hair the MOST. It’s called… a sleep cap! Or… a night cap! Or… a silk cap! Ok, you get the point. For the sake of this, we are calling it, “a sleep cap.”
What is a sleep cap?
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A sleep cap is a silky-type of material cap worn to protect hair from breakage at night. They tend to look similar to the cap shown in the image below. How did I come across night caps as someone with straight, healthy hair? Well, just like anything now-a-days, TikTok. A video came up of a woman with the most GORGEOUS hair I’ve ever seen!! She was wearing what looked like a hair net you see at fast-food restaurants, but this one was pink and cute! So of course I wanted one!
I immediately went to Amazon and purchased the silkiest sleep cap I could find, and let me tell you, this thing was a game-changer.
What changed?
Little did I know this hair cap would change my hair in just 7 days! I woke up morning after morning wondering how my hair got so soft! And I’m not just talking by touch, but I had strangers complimenting how shiny and silky my hair looked. I used to dream of waking up to hair and not having to style it to go to work. Just a few weeks ago, I forgot to brush my hair!! Dun, dun, dunnnn… Once I realized I ran to my boss, asked her, “how bad is it??” And to my surprise, she said, “I wouldn’t have even been able to guess that you forgot to brush! It looks so smooth!”
So, what did this magical cap have to do with silky, smooth, siren-like hair?
EVERYTHING. The silky material on the inside of the cap reduced friction against my pillowcase, neck, and back. “But Paige, can’t I just get a silk pillowcase?” NO! I tried that for years, and despite both the silky pillowcase and silk sheets, my hair was not protected from my own skin! I’d wake up to tangled hair on the underside, right by my neck and shoulders. Not to mention as my hair grew the ends started to get thinner and split more easily as they rubbed against my shoulders at night. The sleep cap solved all of these issues.
Not to mention on top of preventing friction and breakage, my sleep cap also prevented split ends, hair loss, and thinning. I tell you, I could see my hair strands getting thicker. The natural oils were retained, and all frizz in my hair was LOST! And I’m not kidding, I used to be the kid that woke up and thought she saw a lion in the mirror! I had a frizzy mane! But now, I wake up to the smoothest hair I could ever dream of!
Which styles of hair should use a sleep cap?
The answer is any! All hair types can benefit from wearing a sleeping cap. Straight, wavy, frizzy, coils, etc. Not to mention, wearing a sleeping cap can also maintain hair styles like curls, braids, or blowouts overnight. I recently curled my hair for a Sunday-night concert. (Side rant – who decides to host a concert on a Sunday?? Post Malone you should know better. It’s ok, I still love you). After getting home at midnight-thirty *eek* I had to decide, do I wake up early enough to shower? What do I do if my curls don’t last and I wake up looking not so good? Well, I just decided to throw my hair in the sleep cap, and no matter how many times it still surprises me HOW WELL the sleep cap holds up my hairstyle. I’d dare say my curlers were bouncier (that’s a word?) than before!
Where to purchase?
Sleeping caps can be purchased at many different places, and there’s many different styles to choose from. My favorite is this one from Amazon. You get to decide how tight around your head you want the elastic to be. And, besides the hair benefits of course, it doubles as a sleeping mask! I’m not kidding. I’ve got a super sensitive head, and I struggle to fall asleep with any light whatsoever. So, I tuck my hair into this bad-boy, and pull it over my eyes. I can finally sleep in because this eye-mask/hair protector duo doesn’t fall off in the middle of the night! With my head sensitivity, I actually don’t tie the straps like you’re supposed to, I didn’t like how tight on my head it got and the knot always seemed to work it’s way underneath my neck – not comfortable.
Step-By-Step
- Purchase your sleep cap
- Throw it in the wash
- I personally like to throw anything I get online in the wash before using it
- You never know what the item has gone through with warehouse packaging, shipping, etc.
- Twist your hair with your hand on top of your head
- Wrap the cap around your scalp, make sure all of your hair is tucked inside of the cap
- The straps should be near your neck
- Take the straps and cross them across the nape of your neck
- If you have a sensitive head like mine, you’ll want to just leave the straps alone. I crumple them on one side of my neck so they don’t strangle me…
- While keeping the straps as straight as possible, bring them towards the top of your forehead
- Tie the straps in a bow, as tight or loose as you like, at the top of your forehead
- Voila! Your hair will be protected overnight, and silky soft by morning!