We all know that aside from age, there are a lot of environmental factors that can damage our skin and increase the signs of aging. Wrinkles are definitely not a girl’s best friend, and it’s always in our best interest to know what factors can influence their appearance. We all know to avoid the sun, smoking, and squinting, but apparently we need to avoid our pillowcases too!

Woman sleeping on her side

For some reason, I’m very late to hearing about this beauty myth. I never knew until last week that sleep wrinkles exist, so of course I had to look into this! Apparently, if you sleep on your side the action of pressing your face against your pillow will result in wrinkles while you sleep—literally making your skin age overnight. That means that if you sleep on your stomach or on your side, you might be in trouble! If you’ve ever woken up with some crinkly imprints from your pillowcase left over on your face, you can see how these wrinkles might be brought on.

Experts suggest that you avoid these wrinkles by sleeping on your back, but that much easier said than done. I don’t know about you, but when I’m asleep I have no control over how my body positions itself—with the way my arms and legs like to sprawl, I can hardly get myself to sleep in any position resembling normal, nevermind trying to stay put on my back! There are also many beauty sleep pillows on the market that claim to help, while others say that silk pillowcases will do just fine. Silk is smooth and doesn’t wrinkle, so that means your face won’t either.

Other people are torn on whether this is a beauty myth or reality. While many dermatologists swear that it is true, a recent study led by Dr. Brett Kotlus, a plastic surgeon from Michigan claims the opposite. In the study, an expert observer compared the left side of women’s faces with the right, without knowing which side they slept on. When the women were polled about which sleeping position they favor, the researchers found there was no correlation between wrinkles and the way the women slept. While it seems that experts are torn, there is one thing that I do know—sleeping with a silk pillowcase definitely won’t hurt. On the off chance that this beauty myth is true, I think I’ll be investing in some silky sheets.