Caring for Your Silk
Silk asks for a gentler hand than most of what lives in your laundry basket, and very little of your time. Silk thread is a protein, closer to hair than to cotton, so it responds best to cool water, a soft touch, and shade. Treat it the way you would treat something you plan to keep, and it will hold its softness and luster for a long time.
Everything below follows the care printed on your box. We have gathered it in one place, with a little more of the why.
One rule covers almost everything: cold water, no bleach, no wringing, no dryer, no direct sun. The rest is detail.
How to hand wash
Hand washing is the safest path for your scrunchies and your eye mask, and it takes about ten minutes.
- Fill a clean basin or sink with cool to lukewarm water. Cold is best. Heat is what dulls silk and loosens color, so keep it under body temperature.
- Add a small amount of a gentle, pH-neutral detergent. A wool or delicate wash is ideal. Skip anything with brighteners, enzymes, or bleach.
- Submerge the piece and swirl it softly. Let it soak for no longer than ten minutes. Silk does not need agitation to come clean, and scrubbing is what causes pilling and thread pulls.
- Rinse in clean cool water until the water runs clear and you feel no slip of detergent left behind.
- Press the water out gently between your palms or between two pieces of towels. Never wring or twist. Twisting stretches the weave and, on a scrunchie, tires the elastic before its time.
Washing your pillowcase
Your pillowcase is the one piece built to take a machine, because it is a simple envelope with no elastic or fill to protect. You have two options, and both are correct.
The easy way is a machine wash: cold water, the gentle or delicate cycle, and a mesh laundry bag so the case cannot twist around a zipper or snag another garment. Use a gentle detergent, and wash silk with silk or with other soft, light pieces rather than towels and denim. If you prefer, hand wash it exactly as you would a scrunchie.
A silk pillowcase sits against your skin and hair all night, so a regular rhythm keeps it fresh and keeps the color even.
How to dry
Air drying is the whole secret to silk that lasts.
Lay the piece flat on a clean, dry towel, or hang your pillowcase on a line or rack. Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from radiators or heat vents. Sun is lovely and also the fastest way to fade a dyed silk, so a shaded, airy spot is what you want.
For the eye mask, reshape it gently with your hands while it is still damp so it dries in its proper form. For scrunchies, a light reshape helps them dry round rather than creased.
Never use a tumble dryer. The heat and the tumbling together are hard on both the fiber and the elastic.
How to smooth
Silk relaxes as it dries, so most pieces need nothing at all. If a crease bothers you, use the lowest, coolest iron setting, turn the piece inside out or iron on the reverse, and place a thin cloth between the iron and the silk. Iron while very slightly damp for the easiest result. A handheld steamer, held a little away from the surface, is a gentle alternative and is especially kind to pillowcases.
Between washes
Silk stays fresh longer than most fabrics, so you do not need to wash after every wear. A scrunchie can go several wears before it needs a wash, or sooner if you have used styling product or oils. An eye mask picks up the natural oils and creams from your skin, so give it a wash when it starts to feel less fresh, and let it air out between nights in the meantime.
A few habits that add up:
- Take scrunchies out before you wash your hair or apply product, and let hair oils or serums absorb before you tie silk over them.
- Keep your pieces out of direct sun when you store them, the same as when you dry them.
- Store scrunchies flat or loosely coiled rather than stretched over a bottle or hook, which tires the elastic.
- Keep your black and deep-color pieces with other darks, especially for the first few washes.
Spills and spots
Act while it is fresh. Blot a spill with a clean, damp cloth, working from the outside of the mark inward so you do not spread it. Do not rub, and do not reach for a stain stick or bleach, which can leave a pale ring on silk. For anything stubborn, a short cool soak with a gentle detergent is safer than spot scrubbing. When in doubt, a specialist cleaner who handles silk is a sound choice for a piece you love.
A few honest notes
On elastic. The elastic inside a scrunchie is the one part that is not silk. Cold water, no wringing, and flat drying are what keep that elastic springy. Heat and twisting are what wear it out.
On momme and weight. Our pillowcases are 22 momme, a weight chosen to feel substantial against your skin and to wash well over time. Heavier silk is more forgiving of regular laundering.
On what silk does for you. Because silk holds less moisture than cotton and lets your hair and skin slide rather than drag, it helps reduce the creases, frizz, and tug that rougher fabrics leave behind. Caring for it well is simply how you keep those qualities.
Piece by piece
Scrunchies. Hand wash cold, press dry flat, store loose. The larger the scrunchie, the more silk there is to reshape while damp, so give the larger sizes an extra moment to dry round.
Sleep eye mask. This is the piece that touches your face nightly, so wash it when it stops feeling fresh, reshape it damp, and dry it flat in shade. Let it breathe between uses.
Queen pillowcase. The workhorse of the set, and the easiest to care for. Cold gentle machine wash in a mesh bag or a hand wash, line or flat dry in shade.
