Benefits of Silk

It’s a little-known fact that cotton absorbs 27 times its weight in water, an ideal choice as a towel, but when it comes to your bedding, it is absorbing the moisture out of your skin and hair causing it to lose lustre and hydration.

Silk on the other hand, has a similar pH level to your skin and absorbs very little (0.3 times), maintaining your skin and hair health and hydration.

There are various properties of silk, particularly Mayfairsilk with our unique finishing process, that makes it the best textile in the world for bedding and an exquisite night’s sleep.

1. Reduce Signs of Aging

Widely recommended by dermatologists and leading skincare specialists to assist in maintaining healthy skin.

Hydrated, plump skin cells show fewer lines, wrinkles and greater luminosity.

"Did you know the second leading cause of wrinkles is sleeping? After sunlight/UV exposure, squishing your face into a pillow for approximately 2,500 hours per year is like ironing wrinkles into the skin. In fact, by the time someone is in their mid-40s, I can usually look at their face, neck, and chest and determine if they are a side or back sleeper! Trust me, it shows.”
- Renée Rouleau, Celebrity Esthetician & Skincare Expert

“Long the secret of film divas, silk pillowcases prevent facial skin from creasing during the night. Silk allows the skin to glide along the pillow so the face rests comfortably without placing pressure on creased skin, effectively ‘ironing in’ wrinkles.”
- Dr. Sobel, NY Magazine's Top Dermatologist 5 years in a row

Cotton also draws the moisture out from your skin into your pillowcase and bed linen, drying your skin overnight as you sleep wrapped in it for 6-8hours. This is less of an issue in your younger years, but as we age our skin naturally becomes drier and elasticity reduces.

If you invest in a nightly skincare routine with creams and serums, silk has an additional benefit. Mayfairsilk absorbs far less moisture than cotton, so the serums you apply are absorbed by your skin and not the pillowcase as you sleep.

Laura Dyer, PA-C at Dr Amy Wechsler Dermatology, explains:

“The moisture pulled into the pillow can also draw in allergens and bacteria, causing damage and reactions to your hair and skin. Sleeping on a silk surface means less moisture will be taken from your skin and hair."

Mayfairsilk has tightly woven, smooth, completely natural protein fibres, which are kind to the skin, even the most sensitive. Our fabric is fast drying as it ‘wicks’ away any excess moisture. Whilst, maintaining your skin's natural moisture levels.

2. Smoother, Shinier Hair

Regular use of Mayfairsilk preserves your hairs' natural moisture and oils, making it appear more lustrous. The smooth cling-free properties allows your hair to glide across your bedding without tugging or pulling. Many women have found sleeping on Mayfairsilk can extend the life of their blow-dry by a few days.

“You can avoid waking up with bed head by sleeping on Silk Pillowcases, cotton causes more friction and disrupts the hair cuticles.”
– Charles Worthington, London

“A silk surface also reduces the friction between your skin and hair against the pillow, which can result in less breakage when it comes to your hair.”
– Laura Dyer, PA-C

"Whether your hair is straight or curly, high quality silk pillowcases reduce friction, so your trip to the hairdresser lasts longer. Silk keeps straight hair straighter and blow-dries last longer."
– Ellin Lavar, Stylist, InStyle

3. Hypoallergenic & Anti-Bacterial

Mayfairsilk is hypoallergenic and highly resistant to dust mites, whose excrement is known to be one of the leading causes of household allergies.

“People are very rarely allergic to silk. This is because silk is free of any potentially irritating added chemicals and contains natural substances that ward off various environmental allergens (and resulting skin conditions)”
- Neal B, Schultz, MD New York City Dermatologist

Allergy and Asthma Care say the following:

"For people with skin allergies, silk is also an excellent material alternative because it has long, smooth fibres that do not rub or irritate areas of the skin. Most people suffer from clothing dermatitis, which is a condition that causes your skin to develop a rash after being exposed to a certain material. Textiles that have shorter, coarser fibres are more likely to cause friction against your skin, which will ultimately lead to rashes and irritation. As a result of silk’s long, nonabrasive fibres, it provides long lasting comfort to the wearer’s skin.

Another major culprit of skin allergies are the chemical treatments used to die, stain, and style different types of fabric. Many of these chemicals are harsh and are hard to completely wash out of the material. Trace amounts of these chemical agents can cause severe skin reactions that are often uncomfortable and painful. Silk is a material that does not require any chemical treatments to make it softer or more wearable. It is a natural wonder that has a smooth feel, without any chemical additives.

Lastly, silk is a material that resists the growth of mould, mildew, and fungi."

4. Temperature Control

You know how everyone loves the cool side of the pillow? This will be a thing of the past when sleeping in Mayfairsilk.

It's climate control for your bed and it's quite remarkable. It naturally regulates your temperature into the ideal sleeping zone, so you are cosy and comfortable across all seasons.

This is partly due to its low heat conductivity and lattice structure that traps air to keep you warm in the cold and venting excess heat when you're hot. This is just one of the properties of silk undergoing scientific research to better understand.

At the end of the day, when it’s time to rest, you’ll be wrapped in a cocoon of luxury that's unparalleled in comfort and pure enjoyment.

5. Easy Care

We leverage both traditional techniques and the latest modern technology to produce a tightly woven strong fabric in 25 momme for pillowcases and 22 momme for bed linen. Providing an elegant matte lustre with a smooth, supple feel. Our products are machine washable on a delicate cycle - see more care instructions here.

Despite its appearance, silk is the strongest known natural fibre and is actually stronger than steel of the same diametre.

The quality of Mayfairsilk will care for you for many years to come.

6. Sustainably Produced & Biodegradable

All of silk’s by-products are integrated back into the ecosystem and economic system. Mulberry trees grow with mostly rainfall, the fruits are eaten, the leaves are eaten by the silkworms (moth pupa really), the wood is used for timber or fuel and the leaf stalks and leftovers are fed to cattle. The extra waste is used as fertiliser, and lower quality silk is used as filling in silk products like duvets. Sericin, which is recovered from the wastewater, is added to food, cosmetics, textiles, and pharmaceuticals. Even the silkworms are savoured as a delicacy in Asia after the silk is made.

It truly is a circular and sustainably produced textile.

Further, recent studies have found that silk production, when taking into account the carbon sequestering properties of the mulberry trees, produce 814x less carbon than cotton. 1360x less carbon than wool and 620x less carbon than polyester. In fact it only produces 34kg CO2 / tonne of silk fabric.

7. Free-From Harmful Dyes & Chemicals (Standard 100 by OekoTex)

Mayfairsilk products are Certified Oeko-Tex Standard 100, meaning it passes the highest standards in textiles to be completely free of all harmful dyes and chemicals. Toxic chemicals, bleaches and formaldehyde that are found in cotton production have no place in our production.

Our silk is a natural product that is gentle on you and the environment.

8. Quality of Sleep

Mayfairsilk bed linen is an investment in your health, rejuvenation, sleep and a powerful natural aid in your beauty regimen.

Have you considered for a moment that you spend 1/3 of your life in bed?

Stop and think about that for a moment. Over the next year, 2500-3000 hours of your life on this planet will be spent in your bed, wrapped in your choice of bed linen.

Sleep is incredibly important, as that is when your mind and body rests, repairs and rejuvenates itself.

The choice of material you choose to sleep in during those hours makes a tremendous difference to the quality of your sleep. Polyester/synthetic fibres in both your linen and choice of duvet, reflect heat and don't breathe, trapping airflow. This causes fluctuating temperature throughout the night, overheating and sweating. High thread count sateen cotton sheets cause a similar effect in trapping heat and causing overheating.

The effect of this is a restless sleep as your body has to 'wake up' enough to toss and turn, trying anything to get back to a comfortable temperature. This may even mean putting one leg, or arm out of the bed sheets to cool down, often in a semi-conscious state. If this is you, it could be either your sheets or choice of duvet filling that is the culprit.

Mayfairsilk is all natural. Crafted from the finest grade 6A long-fibre Mulberry Silk with a unique weave, rich lustre and matt finish. Our products are hand cut by artisans for a superior, long-lasting finish.

When your skin touches silk at night, the exquisite softness immediately begins to calm your senses calm as you melt into the feeling. It's a nurturing retreat that supports a deep rejuvenating sleep, every night. As the temperature is regulated throughout the night, you sleep through without disturbance or the discomfort of fluctuating temperature.

Recommended by top Harley Street doctors, dermatologists and skin specialists, Mayfairsilk has been featured in press internationally.

Start your journey into the world of silk. Your first step might be a set of pillowcases, or a sleep mask. As you feel it against your skin and the difference it makes you might look into a fitted sheet, flat sheet or duvet to complete the set.

A little bit of self-care, goes a long way. Go on, treat yourself.

We offer a wide range of colours in Silk Pillowcases (Standard 50x75cm and Super King 50x90cm) and in our Silk Bed Sheets (Flat Sheet, Fitted Sheet, Duvet Cover, Duvet Sets in sizes Single, Double, King, Super King and Emperor).

Shop the Collections

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Further Reading • The Science Behind Silk

Mulberry Silk is a remarkable natural material, comprised of 18 amino acids including Glycine (45%), Alanine (29%), Serine (12%), Tyrosine (5%), Valine (2%), Aspartic Acid (1%), Arginine (1%), Glutamic Acid (1%), Isoleucine (1%), Phenylalanine (1%), Threonine (1%), Cystine (0.5%), Histidine (<0.2%), Lysine (<0.1%), Methionine (<0.1%), Proline (<0.1%), Tryptophan (<0.1%).

Silk has been well studied in the past decades due to its outstanding mechanical durability, stable chemical properties and good biocompatibility.

The fiber thickness is 10-30 micrometers. Being a long-strand fibre, the length of one thread from the cocoon is 700-1500m. Before dying (which is Oeko-Tex 100 Standard certified) the filaments are white or cream-colored, smooth and soft to touch. It has similar structure to hair. The iridescent/shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre. This means that incoming light is refracted at different angles, producing beautiful colour variation.

Silk fibroin (the part of the cocoon used to create our fabrics) a major protein component of cocoon spun by silk worm, has diverse applications in the biomedical field which can be attributed to its high tensile strength controllable biodegradability, haemostatic properties, non-cytotoxicity, low antigenicity and inflammatory characteristics.

Bombyx mori silk fibroin is characterized with a unique amino acid sequence of GAGAGS, a hydrophobic block which contributes to the formation of β sheets in the fibroin structure. The high tensile strength of silk fiber is attributed to the β sheets while the hydrophobic block contributes to its elasticity.

The amino acid compositions of the silk proteins are shown below. B. mori silk fibroin contains a high proportion of three α-amino acids, glycine (G; Gly, 45%, R=H), alanine (A; Ala, 29%, R=CH₃), and serine (S; Ser, 12%, R=CH₂OH), in the approximate molar ratio of 3:2:1, respectively. Tyrosine, valine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, etc. make up the remaining 13%.

The high proportion (45%) of glycine, which is the smallest amino acid, allows tight packing and the fibers are strong and resistant to breaking. The tensile strength comes from the many interseeded hydrogen bonds, and when stretched the force is applied to these numerous bonds and they do not readily break.

Silk is one of the strongest natural fibers but loses up to 20% of its strength when wet. It has a good moisture regain of 11%.[2]

Silk fibroin has been manufactured into nanofibers, particles, scaffold and film that can be widely used in biomedical field and healthcare industry.

Regenerated water-based silk fibroin suspension have been coated onto fruits which can effectively modulate the gas diffusion to help manage fruit freshness during the transportation and in developing regions without refrigeration. Additionally, silk fibroin has been manufactured into particles as a drug carrier that can realize controllable drug release.

Sources:

[1]. Quantitative profile Analysis of Mulberry Silkworm Bombyx mori. (CSR2XCSR4), International Letters of Natural Sciences 7 (2015).

[2] Chemistry of Garments: Animal Fibres

[3] Fraser, R.B.D. and MacRae, T.P. Conformation of Fibrous Proteins and Related Synthetic Polypeptides, Chapter 13. Silks. Academic Press: New York, 1973; 293-343.

Silk industry and carbon footprint mitigation

Vepari, C.; Kaplan, D.; Silk as a Biomaterial. Prog Polym Sci. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 Jun 1

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Najjar, R.; Luo, Y.; Jao, D.; Brennan, D.; Xue, Y.; Beachley, V.; Hu, X.; Xue, W. Biocompatible silk/polymer energy harvesters using stretched poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)(pvdf-hfp) nanofibers. Polymers 2017, 9, 479. [CrossRef]

Rockwood, D.N.; Preda, R.C.; Yücel, T.; Wang, X.; Lovett, M.L.; Kaplan, D.L. Materials fabrication from bombyx mori silk fibroin. Nat. Protoc. 2011, 6, 1612. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Xia, X.-X.; Xu, Q.; Hu, X.; Qin, G.; Kaplan, D.L. Tunable self-assembly of genetically engineered silk–elastin-like protein polymers. Biomacromolecules 2011, 12, 3844–3850. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Keten, S.; Xu, Z.; Ihle, B.; Buehler, M.J. Nanoconfinement controls stiffness, strength and mechanical toughness of β-sheet crystals in silk. Nat. Mater. 2010, 9, 359. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Li, C.; Vepari, C.; Jin, H.-J.; Kim, H.J.; Kaplan, D.L. Electrospun silk-bmp-2 scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Biomaterials 2006, 27, 3115–3124. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Lammel, A.S.; Hu, X.; Park, S.-H.; Kaplan, D.L.; Scheibel, T.R. Controlling silk fibroin particle features for drug delivery. Biomaterials 2010, 31, 4583–4591. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Liu, H.; Fan, H.; Wang, Y.; Toh, S.L.; Goh, J.C. The interaction between a combined knitted silk scaffold and microporous silk sponge with human mesenchymal stem cells for ligament tissue engineering. Biomaterials 2008, 29, 662–674. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Marelli, B.; Brenckle, M.; Kaplan, D.L.; Omenetto, F.G. Silk fibroin as edible coating for perishable food preservation. Sci. Rep. 2016, 6, 25263. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

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