The complete guide
How to Choose a Long Silk Bonnet for Long, Thick or Curly Hair
The problem with most bonnets
Most sleep bonnets are made for average hair. They are short, round and cut to sit on the crown of the head. If your hair ends somewhere around your shoulders, that works fine.
If your hair is long, thick, curly, braided or locked, it does not. You end up coiling the length into a bun just so it will fit inside the cap. That bun sits right where your head meets the pillow, so it gets squashed all night. The cap strains at the opening, creeps backwards and ends up on the floor by morning. Then you wake up, find the bonnet beside the bed, and wonder why you bothered.
A long silk bonnet solves that in the most obvious way possible. It is simply longer. This one is cut 80 cm (31.5 in) from the opening to the tip, which means the hair goes in and lies down instead of being folded up on itself.
What the fabric actually is
The material here is 100% mulberry silk at 22 momme.
Mulberry silk is silk from silkworms fed on mulberry leaves. The filaments come out long and even, which is why mulberry silk has that smooth, uniform surface people associate with good silk. It is the standard most silk bedding and sleepwear is made from.
Momme is how silk weight is measured. It is an old unit based on mass per unit area, and it tells you how dense the fabric is. Very light silks sit around 12 to 16 momme and feel airy, almost fragile. Heavier silks climb towards 25 or 30 and feel dense. At 22 momme you are in the middle of the range most people pick for pillowcases, sleep masks and caps. It has body, it drapes rather than floats, and it does not feel papery between your fingers.
That weight matters for a bonnet. Too light and the cap collapses around your hair and does nothing. Too heavy and it feels like wearing a hat to bed. A 22 momme silk sleep cap for long hair sits in a comfortable place between the two.
How silk behaves against hair
This is the part worth being plain about. Silk is smooth. Cotton is not.
Look at a cotton fibre and it has a rough, slightly fuzzy surface. Multiply that by a whole pillowcase, add seven or eight hours of head movement, and hair is dragged across texture all night. Silk has a far smoother surface, so hair slides over it instead of catching. That is a straightforward property of the fabric, nothing more exotic than that.
A bonnet takes it one step further than a pillowcase. A silk pillowcase only protects the surface your head happens to be touching. Turn over, slide a bit, let your hair spill off the edge onto the sheet, and the benefit stops. A cap travels with you. Wherever your head goes, your hair is still against silk.
That is also why a mulberry silk bonnet is useful for travel. You cannot control hotel pillowcases. You can bring your own cap.
Who this length suits
The 80 cm cut is aimed at people whose hair does not fit comfortably in a standard bonnet. A few situations where it earns its keep:
Long hair past the shoulder blades. The length can lie down inside the body of the cap rather than being gathered into a ball at the crown. That means no lump behind your head and less strain on the opening.
Thick or high-volume hair. Volume needs somewhere to go. A long cap gives the hair vertical room so it is not compressed sideways.
Curls and coils. Curl shape does not survive being crushed. A roomy cap lets the hair sit loosely rather than being pressed flat.
Braids, twists and locs. These styles have real length and weight. A silk bonnet for braids needs a body long enough to hold them without folding them double.
If your hair is short or chin-length, this will be more cap than you need, and a standard size will sit better.
Why pull-on rather than a tie
The closure on this one is pull-on. There is no drawstring, no clip and no adjuster stated.
There is a real trade-off here. A tie or elastic band lets you tighten the fit, which some people like. But a band also presses on the hairline all night, which is exactly where a lot of people do not want pressure. Pull-on caps avoid that. They hold by shape and friction instead.
Practically, it also means less to do at bedtime. Gather your hair, pull the cap on, lie down. In the dark, with tired hands, that simplicity counts.
A tip worth knowing: a pull-on cap tends to stay put better if you gather your hair low and loosely rather than piling it high at the front. A tall pile at the crown gives the cap something to slide off.
Picking a colour you will actually use
Dusty pink is a muted rose. It is not bright, not candy, not fuchsia. It reads as a greyed-down blush, which is a quiet enough tone to sit next to white, grey, oatmeal, navy or charcoal bedding without shouting.
That matters more than it sounds. A bonnet you are happy to leave on the bedside table is a bonnet you will use. One that clashes with everything ends up in a drawer and stays there.
Looking after it
The stated care is hand wash or dry clean, and that is worth following.
For hand washing, fill a basin with cool water and add a small amount of detergent made for delicates. Swirl the bonnet through the water with your hands. Do not scrub it, do not twist it and do not wring it out. Rinse in clean cool water, then lay the bonnet flat on a towel, roll the towel up and press to push the water out.
Dry it flat, somewhere out of direct sun and away from a radiator. Heat and strong light are what dull silk over time. If it needs pressing afterwards, a cool iron on the reverse side, ideally with a cloth in between, is enough.
Keep it away from bleach and aggressive stain removers. Those are hard on protein fibres like silk.
How often to wash depends on you. If you use heavy oils or leave-in creams before bed, more often. If you go to bed with dry, clean hair, less. Every week or two covers most routines. Letting any product absorb for a few minutes before you put the cap on helps keep the inside cleaner.
What is not stated
Being honest about gaps is more useful than filling them in. The maker gives the material, the momme weight, the colour, the 80 cm length, the pull-on closure and the care instructions. Head circumference, opening width, packed weight and country of origin are not stated.
If an exact fit is important to you, measure a cap you already own and compare it to the 80 cm length given here, and get in touch if you want help working out whether it will suit.
The short version
If your hair is long, thick, curly or worn in braids or locs, a standard bonnet is always going to be a compromise. This one is cut 80 cm (31.5 in) so the length has room to lie flat instead of being folded into a knot at the back of your head.
The fabric is 100% mulberry silk at 22 momme, a mid-weight silk with enough body to hold its shape and a surface smooth enough that hair slides over it rather than catching. It pulls on, so there is nothing to tie or adjust. The dusty pink is quiet enough to live on a bedside table.
Wash it by hand in cool water or send it to the dry cleaner, dry it flat, and keep it out of the sun. That is the whole routine.