Best Sleep Mask Reviews: Our Top Choices for a Good Night’s Rest

I recently had the opportunity to check out a selection of eye masks to determine their comfortability, durability, and overall use. Out of 10 different masks we purchased, I choose my top 5 for various reasons, as explained below, and was surprised to find that the more costly purchases didn’t always live up to the price tag.

Best Sleep Mask Reviews: Our Top Choices for a Good Night’s Rest

You may want to read: Cooling Eye Masks

Sleep Mask Uses

There are a lot of reason why you might consider using a sleep mask because quality of sleep isn’t all they are capable of, even though that is their main purpose. A variety of different masks are on the market today to aid in everything from setting your sleep cycle, to aiding in migraine pain relief.

Sleep Aide

Using sleep masks help to regulate your melatonin levels. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that is produced during times of darkness and serve as a natural sleep aide. Melatonin can be thrown off by sleep patterns that infringe upon daylight, house lights, or by ‘screen time’ and the light that is produced by your televisions, tablets, and phones.

Masks may not be able to change your melatonin levels directly, but indirectly they do provide a source of darkness, so if you are a daytime sleeper due to a night time job, they are certainly something to consider for a deeper, more restful sleep.

Reset Sleep Cycle

Have you been traveling across time zones? Working a night shift? Been feeling under the weather? Sleep cycles can be thrown off for so many reasons, and therefore it can be difficult to recover your normal sleep patterns.

Because of it’s effectiveness as a sleep aide due to the light blocking factor, masks can help reset your internal clock and get back into the sleep schedule your body craves for your overall health.

Check out our article about: Jet Lag and The Effects it Has On Your Sleep

Heal Body Damage with Sleep

You probably have heard a friend or two jokingly mention that they need to “get their beautyrest”, but they truly aren’t kidding if they are aware that sleep heals body damage. Not only is sleep the best remedy for sickness and body strain, it also improves the texture and quality of skin, brightens your complexion, reduces breakouts, and lightens dark under eye circles.

Pain Relief

In recent years sleep masks have evolved to include a bit more of a personal preference range concerning materials, and overall usage.

If you suffer from sinus pressure, migraines, or other fatiguing events that leave your face feeling strained and puffy, there are a few choices on the market to choose from to help alleviate your suffering, and improve your water retention in your face to get you back to your old self in no time.

Sleep Mask Materials

The most popular lightweight material used in sleep masks is silk and silk blends, although breathable cotton, foam polymers, gel filled plastics, and poly-beads are all materials used often in various products labeled as a ‘sleep mask’ to fit your various needs.

Silk

Silk is the threads spun by mulberry silkworms which is then woven into cloth for use all over the world. Although it used to be a very expensive product, faux silk, and silk blends have helped to drive down the cost.

This is a very lightweight, soft material that is often difficult to wash since it can easily show water spots on lighter toned cloth. Silk is a popular choice due to being hypoallergenic and very gentle on sensitive skins.

Cotton

Cotton is another all natural material derived from the cotton plant. This is a very breathable, light material that can be woven in a variety of ways to enhance softness and lower material heft. Like silk, cotton is hypoallergenic and is another excellent choice for sensitive skin.

Gels and Beads

The use of gels and beads are often sealed in a polymer covering for insert into a silk, or cotton casing. The use of these products have become popular due to the their versatility concerning heating and cooling to aide with headache pressures, and facial puffiness.

Sleep Mask Drawbacks

First and foremost it might be difficult to get used to having something on your face and around your head at first. Even though almost all masks are adjustable and lightweight, it can still be an odd sensation to have anything touching your face if you aren’t use to it.

Cortisol is produced when light levels begin to rise and is registered in your brain. This is what begins to wake you naturally, and if the darkness of a mask is too much for you, you may have trouble waking if you are a natural sound sleeper.

How to Choose the Best Sleep Mask For Your Needs

Where do you plan on using your sleep mask?

Is this an aide for getting a good night’s rest? If so, consider your sleeping positions for the best fit possible. Side and stomach sleepers may find certain masks too cumbersome, or that they slip due to gravity. Pain relief masks that have beads or gel, in general, are too heavy for anyone not sleeping on their backs or in a reclined position. Part of the reasoning behind their use is to have gravity used to provide the relief needed through pressure points.

Masks made of thicker materials, such as the Tempur-Pedic Sleep Mask, falls into this category as it is impossible to turn sideways and laying your head against a surface without it causing interference.  For sleep only masks, consider lightweight materials and thin masks that are more capable of staying in place through your nighttime movements.

Do you travel?

If using a mask during travel, either to block out the extra light hotel rooms always seem to have, or to catch a few extra z’s on a plane, using a mask that also helps to muffle sound might be a consideration. Although they didn’t make the cut of my final choices, the Dream Sleeper Sleep Mask, and the Warmhoming Ultra-Sleep are perfect choices for this as it feels as if your head is muffled by a cool cloth that helps reduce sound.

Combine this, or any mask, with a set of foam earplugs (many masks come with these) and you will have created a peaceful area for your rest away from home. The Drift To Sleep is also a great travel mask.

Consider the overall fit

The fit of your mask is going to be important. Not all are made the same, or to head size despite adjustability. You want a nice, close, but non-restrictive fit. You also want to make sure light is blocked out, and you may want to consider a mask that isn’t snug up against your eyelids. Many masks are contoured around the eyes or nose for the best fit possible, but these are also subject to facial structures and one size doesn’t always fit all.

A few that didn’t make my cut include the Bedtime Bliss and Living Pure Sleep Masks. Although not uncomfortable, their more rigid structure for contoured fit allowed more light to seep into my viewing area. I found I preferred a softer material against my eyelids than the contoured shape for sleep purposes only.

Is makeup protection important to you?

A snug mask might be great each night, when your eye makeup has been removed, but it might be problematic if you are catching a few hours rest on a connecting flight to a business meeting, or to to meet that special someone. No worries – there are masks on the market that address this problem rather well.

As mentioned above the contoured masks to allow you to open your eyes are an excellent choice for this. My top pick in this category is the Drift to Sleep, and is detailed more below, but the Bedtime Bliss and Living Pure masks are also better choices than those that rest against your eyelids.

Do you suffer from migraines, or sinus pressure?

Pressure from head pain is just that, a pain. But if you are trying to catch some rest to alleviate the pressure, consider using something to counteract the pain during your rest. Cooling gel packs, and massaging lightweight beads can often help provide the much needed relief you crave to go about your day.

The Fitglam gel inserts, and Imak Pain Relief Mask are both top choices and are listed in my top choices below. Although ANY mask can help alleviate or block light, which can be a pain trigger for migraines and other eye sensitivities, these masks use temperature and pressure points to help get you back on your feet faster.

Sleep Mask Reviews And What Each Is Best For

In searching for the perfect sleep mask I became somewhat overwhelmed with the variety of choices presented to me, and consequently read hundreds of best sleep mask reviews, tried on, slept in (for multiple nights), stored, folded, washed and dried, and traveled  with a plethora of choices to try and determine the best masks on the market for the many needs out there.

I also wanted to test out how easy it was to heat, or cool, certain masks, sleep reclining, and how well my eye makeup lasted through mask use. All in all, I tested ten different masks: Soniworks, Warmhoming, Alaska Bear, Dream Sleeper, Termpur-Pedic, Bedtime Bliss, Imak, Drift to Sleep, Fitglam, and Living Pure.

Conclusion

When looking for the best sleep mask the answer is not as clear cut as I originally thought. There are plenty of choices to choose from, and a lot of reasons to purchase one over the other. If you need a good night’s’ sleep and only a need a simple solution, then an uncomplicated silk mask might be your best choice. But if you suffer from any of the above-mentioned ailments, you might want to consider the choices that combine a few worlds into one, like I have.

My best rated eye mask is the Fitglam Silk Sleep Mask with Hot and Cold Gel Eye Set since it comes with the simple silk mask I love for a good night’s sleep, but also has that amazing gel insert I am enthusiastically using for puffy eyes and sinus pressure.

Do you have a favorite eye mask, or are looking to replace one? Perhaps you have always wanted to try one, but didn’t know where to start? Hopefully the above information is a great start to your own search for the perfect mask! Comment or question below!