Finding the best sleep mask for travel
It was our first overseas trip together. I thought we had done everything right. We’d been traveling together for nearly a year without any trouble. We paid up for economy comfort seats to give us extra room. After dinner we settled into our seats, snuggling up to sleep. He can sleep anywhere so naturally he fell asleep immediately. Meanwhile, in the seat next to him I tossed and turned, draping myself over him and then moving a few minutes later. Neither one of us slept much. For me it was the usual course, for him, it was disastrous. We had a few tense moments when we landed in Barcelona. Luckily we were able to get into our hotel immediately so we napped the afternoon and our cranky attitudes away. Over a glass of sangria while noshing on yummy tapas, we talked about the flight over. He couldn’t have kinder about it but I knew that I needed to get better at sleeping on planes. I’ve developed a number of good habits and found some solid tools since then. The last one to fall into place was a sleep mask.
When I was younger I never used mask, at home or on a plane. I still managed somehow to get some sleep. As a lifelong insomniac, I’m the kind of person who needs to be lying down flat to get any sleep. Given this, sleeping well on a plane has never been my strong suit. I didn’t know what sleeping well at home was like so I resigned myself to wandering around half awake after overnight flights. I figured that I’d just have to deal with insomnia forever. Plus I’m pretty serious about what goes into my travel carry on. It has to be incredibly useful to make it into that bag.
I started using sleep masks when in Sweden during the summer when the sun was in the sky well into the early morning. Even with black out curtains, having a sleep mask was essential. I got really good sleep while in Sweden, despite being in a different time zone and traveling. Since then I’ve become pretty serious about my sleep mask.
I started with the one in the goody bag you get from the airline. It works in a pinch but is definitely not the most comfortable. Then I went to this Dream Zone mask which is much softer, and adjustable. It has some pretty good reviews all over the internet and it’s relatively affordable so I brought it along on an overnight flight to Berlin. It’s quite nice but I don’t love the smell or the look of it honestly. Those stars are just not my thing and the patterns doesn’t feel restful to me.
After that, I tried a mask that looked like the one Audrey Hepburn wears in Breakfast at Tiffanys. You know the one. It’s super cute. The problem was that it just didn’t have enough cushion. I probably could have searched for another similar mask in a more cushy fabric, but I just didn’t have the energy for trial and error. I wanted a mask that was made my professionals, or at least people who thought about how people get good sleep, rather than just being fashionable. I wanted it to be super comfy, even better if I could find one that felt like a cloud on my face.
How do you find your perfect sleep mask?
While you could just slap any old thing over your eyes, the more you travel and especially if you have issues sleeping, taking your time to find the right mask will really pay off. Here are the four things I consider:
1.Purpose. This might seem pretty obvious but this actually more important than you might think. Do you want your mask mostly for travel or do you want to use it at home? The other thing to consider is whether you want your mask to do more than just cover your eyes. There are masks that offer compression, has a cooling effect or offers full coverage that’s almost like black out curtains for your eyes. There’s also this mask muffles sound and is supposed to help you increase your blood flow. While this sounded great to me, I tend to wear noise canceling phones so I’m not worried about noise. The other reason I didn’t get this pair is because it’s cotton and I want something I know my skin won’t be sensitive to and this one is cotton which sometimes bothers me. Before you go shopping, get clear about what’s the most important thing you need from your sleep mask.
2.Size. Yes, this matters — especially when it comes to something that will live in your carry on bag. My smaller carry on is usually at it’s capacity. My husband constantly tries to zip my bag and gives me a look when it’s so overstuffed that I can’t zip it shut. If you’re like me, every inch of your smaller carry on bag matters. If you’re getting a sleep mask that you’ll wear primarily at home, you might consider a bigger mask like the one I described above.
3. Adjustable. This is one I go back and forth on. I’m a big fan of being able to adjust something to fit me perfectly so initially I thought the kind with an adjustable strap was the way to go. It was nice to adjust my mask but I found that I spent a bunch of time trying to get perfect, rather than sleeping. These days I’m leaning on the side of non-adjustable. One thing to consider is the size of your head. My head is pretty average sized so most masks tend to fit me. If your head size leans much smaller or much bigger, a mask with an adjustable strap might be for you.
4. Fabric. I have very sensitive skin on my best day. On my worse days, I have a condition called allodynia which causes pain and sensitivity. I have tactile Allodynia which means I’m highly sensitive to touch, for me particularly with fabric. This makes finding anything with fabric much tougher, including ordering over the internet. Generally I’m safe with silk so even though it’s more expensive, it’s a fabric I trust.
After plotting out the criteria for my mask, in the end I didn’t have to look much to find it. Perhaps it was because I was prepared that I knew the right one when I saw it? Since I have a bunch of longer haul trips coming up, I’ve been thinking about upgrading my sleep mask. It was in the back of my mind until I got a catalog from Lunya whose tagline is: sleepwear for the modern woman. Oh hello, this is me.
The best part was the coupon code included. Like an good coupon clipper, I looked for something affordable to buy so that I could check out the brand without spending too much. I quickly found the Lunya washable silk sleep mask. It could be my holy grail. Soft, fluffy, silky, a color that makes me feel calm and it’s washable! This last part is key because eye health is so important and things can get seriously dirty when you travel. The company has a generous return policy, they offer free returns and it was relatively affordable for silk so I felt safe ordering it. The other thing that’s great about silk is that it feels cools on the face. I don’t know about you but something cool on my face definitely helps me get to sleep faster, and stay there. I’m planning to use it for my upcoming trip to Colorado so I’ll let you know how it goes.
What do you look for in a sleep mask? Do you have a favorite? Tell me, tell me.