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5 Ways To Sleep With Long Hair
Why You SHOULD Protect Your Hair When Sleeping
It can be a mess to sleep with long hair. If you’ve ever woken up to a tangled frizz ball after tossing and turning all night, you know what I mean. But the damage can go much deeper than just tangled hair. Over time, not protecting your flow while snoozing can lead to weak hair and breakage.
Below you’ll find five methods to comfortably sleep with long hair without damaging your locks, so you can rest easy and snatch forty winks. First, a few tips before bedtime that can help set you up for success.
Brush Before Bed
Brushing before bed will detangle and spread oils evenly throughout your hair. This is a great way to be proactive about any frizz you might otherwise develop overnight.
Use A Silk Or Satin Pillowcase To Sleep With Long Hair
When you toss and turn at night, your hair rubs on your pillowcase threads. Cotton is rougher to the touch, which leads to more friction on your cuticles, stressing them out, and potentially leading to breakage.
A smooth silk or satin pillowcase reduces that friction, which also leads to less frizz in the morning. They’re also hypoallergenic, as opposed to cotton.
Don’t Sleep With Wet Hair
Hair is weakest when wet. Even a small amount of moisture and movement can tangle your tresses regardless of your pillowcase. Make sure your hair is 100% dry by bedtime.
Never Too Tight
Avoid sleeping with your long hair in a really tight bun or ball, which puts heavy strain on your follicles for hours on end. Over time this can weaken the blood flow to that follicle, and eventually cause those hairs to shed prematurely.
5 Ways To Wear Your Long Hair When Sleeping
The YOLO Method
If you don’t want to bother with a bun (or a "high ball"), you can leave your hair down, but don’t let it fall to your shoulders. Throw it up over the top of your pillow so it hangs off the front of the bed.
This method isn’t foolproof, especially if you’re an active sleeper, but if you’re exhausted and don’t want to worry about your mane, this is the quick and easy way to sleep with long hair.
Use A Sleep Cap For Your Long Hair
A sleep cap is a great way to keep your hair in place throughout the night no matter how much you toss and turn. A satin-lined sleep cap is preferred to minimize friction.
This is a great option in place of a silk or satin pillowcase, and if you happen to have wet hair for any reason, one of these caps will help protect your long hair while you sleep.
This is also a great option for men with curly hair. It helps keep your curls intact and you won’t wake up with a frizzy mess in the morning.
The Forehead Bun For Sleeping With Long Hair
Basically it’s a backward bun, located on your forehead instead of your crown. Again, any time you tie your hair up for sleeping it should be as loose as possible (not loose enough to fall out, but just tight enough to hold your hair in place without pulling or straining your follicles). For me, Hair Ties For Guys are the perfect hair tie for this method.
The Twist & Clip
For this style, gather all your hair like you’re about to make a high ball, but instead, twist your hair from roots to ends, then twist it around in a circle on top of your head. Use a claw-style hair clip to hold it in place.
If these instructions are confusing, you can see it in action right here. This loose method without the use of hair ties is effortless to release. When done correctly it should look something like this image.
The Loose High Ball
For this method, you’re going to gather your hair like you did when making the forehead bun, but instead of being on your forehead or on your crown, it’s on the very top-middle of your head.
Again, the key is to keep it loose. You don’t want your hair pulled tight when sleeping.
When it’s finished it should look something like this.
Sleep Happy
With any of these methods to sleep with long hair, you can be confident your locks are protected and safe from damage, assuring optimal rest for all the hairwhips and high fives you have planned for the next day.
THE MAN IN MANNERED MANES
Travis is a men’s style & grooming expert with a passion for helping guys look & feel their best. The founder of Mannered Manes, he believes that, like hair growth, life is a journey, and you’re most fulfilled when you’re always growing.
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Lastly, with a slightly more dramatic approach, how to sleep with long hair from El Rubio’s perspective, circa 2017.
Don’t Risk It Another Night
If you have long hair, and you do, then you understand. Sleeping with long hair is risking your life. Whether by strangulation, suffocation, or asphyxiation, there is a real chance you’re not waking up tomorrow.
You need survival tactics for sleeping with long hair. So watch this video, or risk suffocating in your sleep tonight.
Comments
My Hair is extremely strong, thick, dry and natural curly. I use tons of leave in conditioner with silk proteins, at least a couple palms full, my hair is pretty long, its past my butt, it’s been growing 17 years from behind the neck shaved. Hair ties just don’t cut it for me, my hair gets tangled in them, and i end up stretching them out I found using a spiral lock hair tie works the best for me while i sleep. Do you plan on making spiral lock hair tie’s anytime in the future?
Not in the product forecast for the near term.
As one of the long-haired ladies who supports your mission in encouraging folks to live their best hair life (and also loves your hair ties!), in addition to the styles you’ve suggested, I would like to add that if your hair is long enough, a loose braid (either singular plait down the back, or two braids on either side) is also a protective style for sleeping, or just day to day functioning.
My normal long hair routine for day to day is to keep my hair braided, undoing the braid only for washing and daily combing (natural curl = wide tooth comb), and curling the braid into a bun on the back of my head during the day, to eliminate friction from the hair rubbing on my back or against chairs and the like. My hair reaches down to my thighs these days, and length = increased risk of breakage with normal activities. The longer it is, the more risk of breakage.
Yes great advice and stoked that you love the ties!
I haven’t bought a satin sleep cap yet. Still using the YOLO method. Problem is that, before each time I reposition my head on the pillow, I have to keep throwing my hair onto the top of the pillow. And since I sleep on my side, that’s where my hair goes when I wake up.
Great tips / info – thx!
Awesome read. Check out Sheex for a silk pillowcase!
No thanks snowflakes
Thanks for reading bubba!
Gotta snag me a sleeping cap. And maybe a candle…. with some ghosts with chains. Sick article guys, keep it up.
Thanks!
This is such a great, informative piece. Thank you, Trav!
Great article. Excellent suggestions. When are the sleeping caps going to be available in your product line. They should go hand in hand with Hair ties and well,……all of your products. How’s that for a recommendation?
Not a bad idea, Thomas! But for now, checkout what El Rubio uses when he sleeps to this day: https://blog.thelonghairs.us/sleeping-long-hair/
My hair has been growing for longer than 2 years & I can’t a stylist who will look over & give an opinion on what style would suit me best. Any suggestions?
I live in Buffalo NY if that’s of any help for possible guidance
Yo Michael! We have tons of hairstyle ideas you can choose from right here: https://blog.thelonghairs.us/long-hairstyles-for-men/
Sleep caps! Where are these on the site?
We don’t have any at the moment, but El Rubio has a great replacement idea right here: https://blog.thelonghairs.us/sleeping-long-hair/
i’m an integral heretic: i don’t use any method: simply, after i untie my hair from my bun, i put my mane over my shoulder, between my arm and my body
You are a free spirit, Chamane! Good on ya.