Your pillowcase is ruining your skincare routine
Happy Friday!
Now what I’m about to tell you might shock you, but there is, in fact, skin on your body other than your face. There is skin all the way from your scalp to the bottoms of your feet and that skin is covered in millions of mostly microscopic pores and responsible for many of the functions that enable us to exist. I know, I know. Shocking. I forget about this skin a lot of the time, as I’m sure many of the cracked soles of your feet can also attest to. There’s a lot to cover about your largest organ, so this series will span more than one newsletter. We’ll start at the literal top of the body, with a question that inspired this all, and work our way down. Welcome to Part 1 of “Body Talk” (cue Robyn).
I also want to be sure to manage expectations. All of your skin shares many of the same properties, but there are distinct differences that can result in different conditions and types of maintenance. It’s also so intertwined, in ways you probably don’t even realize and that can’t be covered in a newsletter. There are many, many, many, things that can impact your skin, from genes, hormones, sleep, stress, autoimmune disorders, pregnancy, sun exposure and so on. Some of these things I can offer advice on, but I’m not going to talk about skin conditions that I can’t help with. If you’re left with lingering, specific questions, have a rash that won’t go away, a bunch of stubborn bumps, or anything else on your body that you can’t get rid of, don’t send me picture. Make an appointment with a dermatologist. For this, I recommend Zocdoc.
P.S. All product recommendations and exclusive discount codes are at the bottom of this issue!
Am I realllllly supposed to change my pillowcase once a week?
You know I always encourage people to continue doing what works for them, but since you asked... yes, you sure are! I change my pillowcase at least once a week, twice if I’m having a bad break out. This news may come as a surprise to my boyfriend, whose pillowcases are subject to the same schedule.
You are smart people, you understand how sleeping on a pillow works. Your face is literally smushed into the fabric (ideally) for hours. You also know that throughout the day, your face and hair are exposed to tons of microscopic particles like dirt, oil and all of the tiny pollutants in the air that surround us daily. Your hair also has residue from products or, between washes, even more oil. Oh also, do you sweat while you sleep? While you’re blissfully rolling around night after night, this build up of irritants and dead skin cells is providing the perfect breeding ground for bacteria that can clog pores, inflame the skin and exacerbate existing acne or skin conditions. You’re sleeping, the invisible bacteria are thriving.
Esthetician Lara Kaiser told me “there’s more bacteria than a toilet seat” and shared that she changes her pillowcases every 3 days. Yolanda Mata, the literal glowing facialist and esthetician known as @yoliglo for her signature glowing facials, advised once every 4 days and flipping your pillow to the other side each night. The general consensus from experts is that once a week is a solid guideline for everyone, but more often if you’re having a bad breakout or other irritated skin condition, like eczema.
I wrote the two paragraph answer to this question almost two months ago, but cut it for space, and I’m so glad I did.
Sometime after writing the above, I was introduced to and sent products from SEEN, a haircare line with skincare benefits. I’ll admit, it didn’t quite click to me at first. I rarely breakout on my body or hairline – the majority of my acne is on my cheeks and jaw. Sure, I thought, that’s a really smart idea for someone who struggles with that. But SEEN was founded by a dermatologist, Dr. Iris Rubin, and I trust dermatologists, so I went to the website to learn more. Here’s what I saw:
I read on, looked at the studies, and felt increasingly...I don’t even know the word...gobsmacked? Here I was preaching the importance of pillow hygiene, explaining how the build up of bacteria and irritants from dirt, oil, and hair products can cause problems, but I was missing a crucial part of the picture. What goes in your hair gets on your pillow. No matter how careful you are to rinse your back and avoid your face, there is still *product* in your hair. Hair products deposit residue that stays on your head – that is literally how they work. Not all of that product is created equal. It doesn’t matter how often you change your pillowcase if you’re still rubbing your face around in the same pore-clogging products.
Your scalp is covered in tons and tons of pores, which hair grows out of, but also, as we now know, produce oil and shed dead skin cells. Those behaviors are natural and necessary, but when not taken care of can result in any variety of things, like itchiness, dryness, redness, pimples, dandruff, excess oil which extends down the hair shaft and so on. Some of these conditions are isolated to your scalp and it is important to make sure you are regularly giving your scalp, not just your hair strands, some TLC. But, as Dr. Rubin realized, there is more to consider and I sure wanted to consider it and wanted you to consider it, so I reached out and asked her some questions. You can read the whole interview here.
How did you come up with the idea for SEEN? How long was it between your idea and when you were able to launch your first product?
I noticed a few years ago that when I would get my hair done my hair would look great, though my skin would breakout. For me, hair care products were a surprising and significant source of my breakouts. Amazingly as a Harvard trained dermatologist I had learned very little about the impact of hair care products on the skin. I found myself having to choose between beautiful hair and beautiful skin, and thought why not have both? That was the start of SEEN, hair care that respects the skin. What’s on your hair is on your skin. It just makes sense to use hair care products that will love your scalp and skin, and won’t clog pores or irritate skin.
It took us 4 years to formulate our products and get them just right. Unfortunately, there is no magic list of what ingredients clog pores and which don’t – and it’s not as simple as that. There is some data from animal studies, though those results don’t always translate to humans. I created a spreadsheet with 400+ ingredients in personal care products to better understand their characteristics, though for many ingredients there is no information on comedogenicity. To add further complexity, some ingredients may be “safe” and not clog pores on their own, but when combined with other ingredients they can become problematic and lead to clogged pores. I actually put our hair care products on my face (and my twin sister's face!) for years, as a first screen to make sure our products were good for skin. SEEN also delivers a luxury hair experience. Our goal was to create products that deliver amazing hair care AND are good for skin. No compromises.
I looked at the studies on the site and they were pretty shocking! It seems like the evidence is pretty clear, so why do you think the relationship between hair & skin has been overlooked?
You literally can’t put something on your hair without it getting on your skin - and not just your scalp. Try it! I think most people would not knowingly put many of the ingredients in hair care products on their skin, though they do so every day. It turns out hair care products can leave a residue on the skin for hours, including on your scalp, face, and back! That residue has the potential to clog pores, leading to breakouts, or to irritate your skin.
Hair products can make their way onto the skin as they rinse down your face, and body in the shower, or they can transfer to skin from your hair, a towel, or a pillowcase.
She said the magic word! Everyone needs to change their pillowcase at least once a week, but obviously not everyone needs to be as mindful of pore-clogging hair products (lucky you). There are, however, other reasons to think about what you are sleeping on. Here’s a scary quote I found from celebrity esthetician, Renee Rouleau:
Source: Byrdie Beauty
Ironing! Wrinkles! Into! The! Skin! Say it outloud and shudder. I don’t know about you, but I have no control of where my face goes once I’m asleep. I’ve considered buying this Beauty Pillow many times, but I’m 99% sure my unconscious self will reject it and throw it on the floor. Luckily, I’ve been able to find other solutions that don’t require back sleep training: better, skin-friendly fabric.
In general, you want to focus on fabric absorbency and friction. Being less absorbent means it absorbs less of the nasty stuff and also absorbs less of the hydration from your skin, which you likely just spent time lovingly applying during your nighttime routine. Especially important to keep in mind if you tend to wake up dry (and another plea to buy a humidifier immediately). Less friction means less pulling and tugging on your skin throughout the night, especially for side and stomach sleepers. Any pulling on your skin has the potential to irritate existing skin conditions.
I'm not kidding! Buy a humidifer immediately!
Silk is a very popular option for “beauty” pillowcases, but there is a popular misconception about why. Silk pillowcases are breathable, temperature regulating and hypoallergenic, but they don’t have antibacterial properties or provide any nutrients to the skin. What makes silk beneficial is that compared to most other fabrics it is particularly less absorbent and causes less friction, potentially reducing the opportunity for wrinkles and fine lines to form. However, the most agreed upon and much extolled benefit of silk is decreasing hair frizz and breakage. Sleep on silk and you’ll wake up with nicer looking hair and no pillowcase creases on your cheeks.
A less ubiquitous, but equally luxurious-sounding material is silver, which has natural, well-researched, antibacterial properties. Pillowcases woven with silver repel acne-causing bacteria. I’ve been sleeping on Silvon pillowcases for a few weeks, and though of course it is impossible to rule out everything else, I swear my breakouts have gotten better. The fabric is a blend of silver thread and Supima cotton and clinically proven to reduce acne-causing bacteria by 99.97%. I like these pillowcases so much and want every acne-prone person to try one, that the kind people at Silvon gave us an exclusive discount for Hotline Skin subscribers! Thanks, Silvon! Find the code below.
But what if your body is gravitationally opposed to back sleeping and you don’t want to become the type of person whose pillowcases have their own wash cycle? Got you covered. During the course of my pillowcase investigation, I came across déjà, which is one of the inventions you can’t believe you didn’t think of first. déjà has flippable “pages” of fabric that you flip each night for a clean sheet. Available in 100% cotton or silk, one pillowcase gives you 8 nights of clean sleeps, then just wash and repeat. Brilliant! The founder, Kelsey, told me:
Silvon
Use code: GEETHANKS15 for 15% off your entire purchase
(one use per customer)
Silk Pillowcases:
Slip Silk Pillowcase
Alaska Bear
déjà
Restock coming in mid-April!
Pre-order discounts available now.
Scalp Care:
Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt
Act + Acre Scalp Detox
Briogeo Scalp Revival
Neutrogena Healthy Scalp
Anti-Wrinkle Beauty Pillow
Once again,
Buy a humidifer immediately!
Before I wrap up, I need your help! I'm applying to be part of the Sephora Squad – a year long partnership with Sephora where I'll work on a variety of campaigns, marketing initiatives and product launches, as well as receive mentorship and access to industry leaders. As part of the application process, I need testimonials from my community about why you like my content or what you've learned from me. Whether you’ve been here for a long time or a short time, it would mean everything if you could take a few minutes to write a testimonial for my application. The more I get, the stronger my application becomes. It’s one question, 500 characters max! Thank you, thank you! You can write one here.
See you in two weeks for more Body Talk!
xoxo, Jolie
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