Satin or silk pillowcase?

[cocolover]

I decided it was time to switch from my cotton pillowcase, but have seen both satin and silk pillowcases mentioned. Which do you like better? Best place to buy one? Thanks

[dancingbarefoot]

Satin is type of fabric weave, and silk is a fiber. You can have silk satin, cotton satin (which is usually called sateen), and polyester satin, among others. Some people find that silk sating absorbs moisture better than synthetic fibers, but I don't really notice a big difference.

[Cinnamon Hair]

Having used both, I found satin to be more durable and slippery. I made the mistake of washing a silk pillowcase in the washing machine resulting in pulls and tears so bad I had to toss it out.
Satin Pillowcases at JcPenney (http://www2.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6E.aspx?DeptID=59474&CatID=59521&GrpTyp=ENS&ItemID=1505d64&attrtype=&attrvalue=&CMID=59474%7c59484%7c59521&Fltr=&Srt=&QL=F&IND=21&CmCatId=59474|59484|59521#GroupItemNameSection1)
Satin and Silk Pillowcases at TenderHeaded.com (http://tenderheaded.com/silpil1.html)

[ravenreed]

I got a satin acetate pillowcase at Sally's Beauty Supply for not too much. My hair is definitely less tangled in the mornings.

[Neen]

I prefer silk just because it's a natural fiber and it feels softer and more luxurious to me, but it does take extra care.

If you do decide to go for silk I'd recommend going for top quality (look for momme (weight) and mulberry silk as well as thread count) as it'll be more durable and you should be able to wash it in the machine on a gentle cycle.

I got my pillow case from http://www.betweenthesheets.co.uk/ but it was pretty pricey (especially the shipping!) and if you're just getting one pillow case you might as well handwash it to extend the life even further.

[Aditi]

I like satin pillow case but even silk is not a bad option at all. I buy the pillow cases from the best shop in town, although its pricey it provides with the best design and material.

[Nanni]

Silk is so much more expensive and a bit more hard to keep in good condition. Not a big deal if your ear-ring gets caught in a cheaper satin pillowcase.

[Anlbe]

I find satin, even silk, creates static in my rather dry hair. So I use silk other silk weaves. My favourite is sluff or raw silk, which is a little grainy and stops any slipping and as it is more robust can be washed in the washing machine on the handwash option (is also the cheapest type of silk). Otherwise I have a charmeuse half slip which I put over my pillow (particularly good when traveling, no need to bring pillowcase in baggage) or a woven silk scarf both of which work really well.

On the laundry front the easiest way to wash delicate silk is to but it in a bowl of warm water with some delicate detergent and leave it to soak for an hour or two, then rinse, but I find the most important thing is not to wash it unless it needs to be and don't iron it. Depending on how my hair's behaving (it is very dry) my pillowcase sometimes doesn't get washed for months, hence I'm still using the same two my mother gave me five years ago and they're not showing any wear.

Hope you find what you need.

[Missie]

oh silk! silk !
I bought two from http://www.slipslip.com.au/range.htm
Definitely less hair tangles and they are gentle on (middle aged) skin..
No static electricity from them and I'm sure I perspire less with silk than the satin pillow slips. I have been washing them for ages now on the regular cycle/cold water/gentle washing powder in the washing machine with no damage at all.

[ImmortaLamia]

I have some velvet pillowcase set with bedsheet, but can ask my mom to make me a silk pillow, and i just know she haves the perfect silk color for me :heartbeat royal purple :eyebrows:

[Arctic_Mama]

You guys are going to laugh - DH and I were in-between paychecks when I found this site and reformed my routine and I wanted, no... NEEDED a silk pillowcase (my hair tangles, frizzes, and snags SO easily!) but I couldn't get to the fabric store and couldn't order one online.

So. Resourceful me, I dug up a lovely thin silk poncho I was on some sort of weird acid trip when I decided to buy - and consequently never wore it - and decided to cannibalize it into a pillowcase. Snip snip here, row of stitches there, viola! Silk pillowcase. It's not thick (you can see through it) and it's not a dense, rich satin weave... but even that cheap crappy thing has INFINITELY more slip than even my 400 thread count pima cotton pillowcase I'd previously used. ANYTHING is better than cotton. A good satin will be dense, thick, and very slippery, but you can absolutely get away with many different weights of silk or bamboo, in particular, as they are both extremely lustrous, long-stapled fibers.

And yes, you can totally go Holly Hobby like moi and hack something up yourself... you have no idea how close I was to cannibalizing something like my wedding dress, instead (that things made me look like a snow beast) but thought the better of it at the last minute :lol:

[Masara]

You guys are going to laugh

I'm not laughing. I did more or less the same thing.
I made my silk pillowcases out of an old sari bought from ebay. All the pillowcases I found on the web were the wrong shape (French pillows are square) So I just made my own. The fabric is very thin, but I put a cotton case underneath it and when you get three or four pillow cases from one sari, it doesn't matter if you need to replace often (so saying, I've been using them since May and they are all still fine)

I didn't answer the question: Silk for me. I love the feel of silk and I'm always careful with things marked "satin" because my skin prefers natural fibres.

[cocolover]

Hmmm....a real mixed response. I guess I'll have to feel them in person and then make my decision. However, I am heading into middle age here, so maybe for my skin the silk would be good. thank you all for your responses. Oh, Arctic_Mama, I think you just sound smart! As I was reading your post I was thinking, hmmm, do we have anything silk anywhere in the house I could cut up....:D

[Tapioca]

All I know is that satin pillowcases on satin sheets is a PITA. Whoops! There goes the pillow again! And the sheet slithers off the bed whenever I try to make it. Grr. Pillowcases, yes. But I'm never getting satin sheets again.

[Missie]

just had to add one more thought..
I bought a little soft feather pillow from Ikea for my silk pillowcase.. the little one works better for me than a big pillow.. its something to do with being able to scrunch it up to mould into your neck I think.. I have other big pillows with cotton covers on the bed but the little silk pillow is the BEST

[Arctic_Mama]

All I know is that satin pillowcases on satin sheets is a PITA. Whoops! There goes the pillow again! And the sheet slithers off the bed whenever I try to make it. Grr. Pillowcases, yes. But I'm never getting satin sheets again.


Yup! Like a greased bowling ball, that amount of slip can be REALLY problematic for other things too :o Unless you like inching off the bed accidentally, I recommend silk/satin pillowcases ONLY, save your pennies on the sheets!

[Anje]

I haven't tried silk pillowcases, but you can get them for fairly cheap at Dharma Trading (http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1384272-AA.shtml) if you don't mind white being the only choice. (They sell supplies for tie-dye, etc., so most of what they sell is white.)

I can say that my home-made polyester satin pillowcase doesn't get much love. It feels sticky against my face -- the thing doesn't really breathe. It was rather awful in the summer. I may have to dig it out and give it another try now that it's getting cold out, but I don't relish the idea. I've been wearing cheap polyester satin sleep bonnets instead, which contain the hair while still letting my face enjoy cottony coolness.

[cocolover]

Anje, that thing about sticking on your face has just swung my vote. I don't even like to sleep on cotton/poly blends, so I bet I will not like the satin either. I found a pretty one on ebay, from feeling pampered, anyone ever bought from them? It is pretty cheap with free shipping.

[happymommy]

I got my satin pillowcases as Linens n things on sale, then found them for half that at Sally's beauty. But I really wanted silk.

Kohl's sells silk ones in the Daisy Fuentes bedding collection.

[Deborah]

I have bought several different ones over the years. For good acetate ones (infinitely better than polyester in my opinion) our own Lisa Janey makes nice ones. I bought one from Dharma Trading, but am not crazy about it. I have a couple others as well, but my hands-down favorite is this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350105588684

With $2 shipping it is $24, and worth every penny. The one I have already is midnight blue. I have a silver one on order. These are great silk, and wonderfully made. They are the kind where the back panels overlap, and you slip the pillow in that way. This type of closure keeps the pillow from sliding out of the case, and just looks nicer. I love mine. This lady is nice to work with too, and sends the pillow case out either that day or the next, so they get to you shockingly fast.

I machine wash mine, and have been tossing it into the warm dryer for 5 minutes, then letting it hang to finish drying. I may skip the dryer with the new one. The blue one has developed a very nice but not shiny finish, somewhat suede-like, but still quite smooth. I like it, but I'm going to just hang the new one to dry, and see if I like that surface even better. I think I have managed to create my own 'sueded silk'.

When I first used a satin pillowcase, I did have trouble with it shooting off the side of the bed, due to the slipperiness. I have since found a solution. You know that rubbery stuff that looks like a very loosely woven fabric that you can buy in rolls to line your cabinets with? I somehow found that I had a piece of that cut about 8 inches by 12 inches. I put that between the pillow and the sheet. Voilà! No more slipping around.

I'm sure you can find other good silk suppliers, but I have had great success with the one I mention above; that's why I describe her producct so fully. Sorry to be so lengthy in my reply. I must just be in a chatty mood. :o

[wendyg]

I wouldn't consider polyester for a second. Doesn't breathe well. About the cheapest silk pillowcase I could find when I was looking was the Dreamsack pillowcase for sale at LL Bean (www.llbean.com), which has held up very well to daily use.

There are several sellers on eBay UK who supply silk satin pillowcases and sheets direct from China, where all this stuff is made, after all. I bought a satin fitted sheet from alisilk recently (and it's held up well to its first washing), and the prices are considerably better than most retailers.

wg

[robinjoy68]

I find it's hard to sleep on satin. I slip around too much. :) I will try the silk. Thanks for asking this question as I was wondering if silk would work.

[Medvssa]

I wouldn't sleep on anything synthetic. Heavywheight satin silk is difficult to come by and expensive, so I made myself some pillowcases out of medium weight lining satin viscose (derived from vegetable fibers, breathes well). I am very happy with them. That wasn't very cheap at €10 the meter, but I do really notice a difference in curl preservation (more) and frizz (less). My boyfriend who has 1C hair or so gets less tangles.

[cocolover]

Deborah, that is the exact seller I was looking at, so it is good to hear a good review from someone one here. Here feedback is 100% positive on ebay, which is pretty amazing. Linens n'Things is going out of business, so I think I check them first, as things should be getting pretty discounted, and then if I can't find one buy the one ebay. thank you for all the replies!

[Ice~Cold~Wind]

I have a satin pillow case that I got from Wal-Mart. It works just as good as silkwould, atleast to me. My hair is so prone to tangles and breakage. Switching pillowcases really helped to decrease both of those problems.

[saff.cel]

And yes, you can totally go Holly Hobby like moi and hack something up yourself... you have no idea how close I was to cannibalizing something like my wedding dress, instead (that things made me look like a snow beast) but thought the better of it at the last minute :lol:

Oh my god, Arctic Mama is my hero. Ahahahahaha. <3 <3 <3

[Groovy Granny]

I love my satin pillowcases; bought from a shop on Amazon (2/9.99)

[saff.cel]

I have the Spasilk one, I got it from Amazon, and I just hand-washed it and hung it to dry. I use "Soak" handwashing detergent, mostly because I have it around for my hand-knitted items. I've had this pillow case for a few years now and it's stood up well.

[papillon]

I really cannot believe how soft my silk pillowcase is. I wake out without hair sticking up all over the place. It's great!

[meteor]

My thoughts about pillowcases and hair wraps or bonnets are the same as about smoothness of combs and brushes - that is, ideally, you'd want to handle the material before buying. :flower: It's just that the smoothness of different silk products can be quite different. I've found some rough silk, even when it was charmeuse... so I'd recommend checking it out in person, especially if it's relatively expensive. (Personally, I've found some super-slippery polyester better for my needs, just because it was so smooth.)