My beauty sleep is a necessity. I need it. There is very little in this life that’s more important to me than sleep, and I would sacrifice most things for a tight 8 hours. There’s just something about luxuriating in bed that feels so unbelievably indulgent to me. In the morning, I stay in bed until the last possible minute, giving myself juuuust enough time to take a quick shower, brush my teeth, and give my hair a quick zhush with some dry shampoo. At night, I’m rarely in bed past 10:30 PM.
Nighttime is also the best time to soak in allll the goodness from my skincare products. I’m a light sleeper and sensitive to light and noise, so I’ve picked up my fair share of tricks over the years to optimize my beauty sleep and prevent tossing and turning. Let’s get into it.
Don’t drink caffeine after 4pm. Cutting your caffeine intake off will let you fall asleep faster and ease nighttime anxiety. I mostly try to stay away from coffee, but if you’re a big caffeine person (coffee, in particular), stop drinking it after 4pm. Coffee also is a notorious diuretic, which dehydrates your skin bigtime. Try to limit your coffee-drinking to before 4pm (or even earlier) and you’ll be shining bright like a diamond in the AM.
Apply skincare 30 minutes before bedtime. When it comes to skincare, giving the products time to soak into your skin is a necessity. You already know that if you’re applying multiple skincare products (such as a toner, serum, and moisturizer) that you should allow each product to fully soak in before applying the next product. The same rule applies for going to sleep. The last thing you want is for your pillowcase to absorb your night cream instead of your skin, so be sure to allow at least 30 minutes for the products to soak in before lights out.
Sleep with separate blankets. If you share a bed with a blanket hog (or if you are one, like meeeee), get separate blankets. What now seems so simple took a long while to figure out, hah. Once you have your own blanket, you’ll never wake up shivering in the middle of the night because your blanket has been savagely torn off by your blanket-hogging significant other.
Try aromatherapy. I am obsessed with the smell of lavender, so this trick is easy for me. I spritz a little bit of pillow spray on my pillow, which smells like lavender, patchouli, ho wood, and vetiver. You can also get an aromatherapy diffuser and rotate a few drops of essential oils. I recommend lavender (obvi), eucalyptus, and sage.
Switch to a silk pillowcase. I’ve been sleeping on a silk pillowcase for about a year and have definitely noticed a difference in the shininess and softness of my hair. Gone are my Medusa mornings – I now wake up to healthy, bouncy waves and I’m not kidding. Silk reduces the amount of friction on your hair as you toss and turn throughout the night, so you wake up to less breakage, dullness, and frizziness.
Sleeping on silk also does incredible things for your skin. We spend 8 hours a night with our faces pressed against a pillow. Sleep wrinkles are real and they’re coming for ya. Silk helps the delicate facial skin retain its moisture. Unlike cotton (an absorbent fiber that draws moisture), silk will not absorb natural moisture from your face (and hair!). Bonus points if you sleep with a silk eye mask, too! I’ve been waking up to healthier, more luminous-looking skin, and I know it’s simply not just to the credit of my skincare regimen.
Download the Sleep Cycle app. Did you know that there’s an app that tracks your sleep patterns? What a time to be alive. Do you ever wake up to your alarm in the morning and feel like you’re Rip Van Winkle waking up from a 100-year nap? That’s because you were probably in delta sleep, the deepest level of sleep. With Sleep Cycle, every night you turn on the app, set your morning alarm and place your phone face-down near your pillow (but not underneath). The app detects your movements throughout the night and can determine which type of sleep you’re in (there are 5 types of sleep determined on your brain waves: alpha, beta, theta, delta, or gamma!). Then, in the morning, the alarm will wake you when you’re in the lightest type possible to make getting up easier (alpha or theta). It tracks your sleep patterns over time and compares you to others using the app. Incredible.
Try a humidifier. Okay, this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but for the past few months or so, I’ve been snoring at night. I don’t know what’s causing it, but I’m convinced that it’s partially due to the extremely dry California climate. I recently bought a humidifier for our bedroom and I do think it is helping, if only just to wake up with a slightly less dry mouth in the morning. Humidity is also great for your skin! Combined with a silk pillowcase and hydrating night cream, a humidifier will help lock moisture into your skin all day long.
I hope these tips help you get some much-deserved beauty sleep!
