The complete guide
How to Choose a Mulberry Silk Pillowcase, Simply Explained
The problem with waking up untidy
Most people do not think much about their pillowcase until they catch sight of themselves in the mirror in the morning. Hair pushed into a shape it never asked for. A crease line across one cheek that takes half an hour to settle. Both of those come from the same thing, which is friction between your face, your hair and the fabric you spent seven hours pressed against.
Cotton is a brilliant fabric for a lot of reasons, but it is not smooth. Up close the surface is made of short, slightly rough fibres that grip. As you turn over in the night, your hair catches on those fibres and drags. Your skin does the same.
Silk is built differently. The fibre is long, continuous and naturally smooth, so there is far less to catch on. That is the whole idea behind a silk pillowcase. No magic, just a surface that lets things slide instead of pulling.
What 22 momme actually tells you
If you have shopped for silk before you will have run into the word momme. It is the traditional Japanese unit used to measure the weight of silk fabric, and it is the single most useful number on any silk listing.
Here is the rough scale. Silk at 16 to 19 momme is on the lighter side. It feels delicate and it works, but it is thinner in the hand and less forgiving over years of washing. Around 22 momme you get something noticeably more substantial. It has body. It falls into folds rather than floating away when you shake it out. Above 25 momme silk starts to feel quite heavy and the price climbs steeply.
This pillowcase is 22 momme, which is why so many people treat that figure as the default for bedding. It is dense enough to feel genuinely good quality without tipping into stiff or overpriced.
You will also see a thread count quoted, 900 in this case. Thread count is a cotton measurement that got borrowed by silk marketing, and it is far less meaningful here. If you only look at one number, look at the momme.
Why both sides matter
A detail worth checking on any silk pillowcase is whether it is silk on both faces. It is common to find a pillowcase with a silk front and a cheaper cotton or polyester back, which keeps the price down and is not always made obvious.
This one is 100% mulberry silk on both sides. In practice that means you do not have to think about orientation when you put it on the pillow, and you can flip it halfway through the week without the feel changing. It is a small thing that saves a small annoyance every single night.
Mulberry silk, for the product details, simply refers to silk produced by silkworms fed on mulberry leaves. It is the standard for fine silk fabric and produces long, even fibres.
The case for a zip
Pillowcases close in two main ways. One is an envelope flap, where a long tail of fabric folds back over the pillow end. The other is a zip.
Envelope flaps are fine in a still bed. The trouble shows up if you are a mover. Over a few hours the pillow works its way towards the opening, and by morning there is a bare corner of pillow poking out past the fabric. Not a disaster, just untidy, and it means the exposed part of the pillow gets dirtier.
A zip solves it. The pillow stays fully enclosed from the moment you zip it up. Because this one is hidden in the seam, there is no visible pull tab sitting on the surface and nothing hard where your head goes. The only thing to remember is to close the zip before washing, so the teeth cannot catch the fabric.
Getting the size right
This is where most pillowcase disappointments happen, and it takes two minutes to avoid.
The UK standard pillow is 50 x 75 cm, which is 20 x 30 inches, and that is the size of this pillowcase. The large majority of pillows sold in British shops match it. But not all of them do. Continental pillows are square, usually 65 x 65 cm or 80 x 80 cm. King size pillows run longer, around 50 x 90 cm. Some memory foam and contoured pillows have their own odd dimensions.
So before you order, pull the pillow out of its current case and measure it flat with a tape. Width first, then length. If you land near 50 x 75 cm you are sorted. If your pillow is a bit smaller than that, this will still fit and simply sit a little loose, which is normal and perfectly comfortable. If it is noticeably bigger, you need a different size.
Who it suits
If you have long hair, this is probably the strongest reason to try silk. Long hair has more surface area dragging across the pillow all night, so it feels the difference first.
If you wear your hair in any kind of set style, or you have curls you would rather not disturb, the lower friction helps keep things where you left them.
People who just want their bed to feel a bit nicer are also well served. Plain white silk is one of the easiest upgrades to live with. It goes with every duvet cover anyone owns and it looks tidy on an unmade bed in a way cotton rarely manages.
The group this suits least is anyone who wants to throw everything in a hot machine wash and forget about it. Silk needs a gentler routine, which brings us neatly to the next bit.
Looking after it
The care here is hand wash or dry clean, and it is easier than people expect once you have done it once.
Fill a basin with cool water. Add a small amount of detergent made for delicates. Put the pillowcase in with the zip closed and move it around gently with your hands for a couple of minutes. Do not scrub it, do not wring it out. Rinse in clean cool water, then lay it in a towel and press down to take out most of the moisture.
Dry it flat or hang it somewhere with air moving, away from radiators and away from direct sunlight. Heat is the main enemy of silk, which is why tumble drying is off the list. If it needs a press afterwards, use the lowest iron setting on the reverse while it is still slightly damp.
Bleach is also out. It attacks the fibre rather than just lifting the stain. For spills, get to them quickly with cool water and a gentle detergent.
The practical tip most silk owners give is to buy two. One on the bed, one clean and folded. It turns washing day from a scramble into a swap, and the pair wear more slowly than a single pillowcase in constant use.
Realistic expectations
It is worth being plain about what a silk pillowcase does. It is a smoother surface than cotton. That means less dragging on hair and skin while you sleep, and a fabric that feels pleasant to lie on. That is the honest description.
People who switch tend to notice the feel on the first night and the hair difference over the first week or two. If your main complaint is sleep temperature, pillow height or neck support, a pillowcase is not the fix for any of those. The pillow underneath it is.
The short version
This is a white pillowcase in 100% mulberry silk, both sides, woven at 22 momme, in the UK standard 50 x 75 cm size, closing with a hidden zip. It is sold singly.
Measure your pillow before you order. Expect to hand wash or dry clean it. Consider buying two if you want an easy laundry rotation.
If smoother hair in the morning and a bed that feels a notch better are what you are after, that is exactly what this is for.