Do Anti Wrinkle Pillows Actually Work?

Author, Zoe Griffin

I’ve always found it slightly ironic that a good night’s sleep can leave my face looking worse.

There’s nothing quite like eight solid hours in bed, only to wake up with a crease running down your cheek. These days, I don’t even need a mirror to know it’s there. If I’ve slept on my side, face pressed into the pillow, I can feel it before I see it.

Sleep wrinkles, technically known as pillow marks, seem to linger longer as I’ve gotten older. In my twenties, they disappeared by breakfast. Now, they hang around just long enough to make me question the idea of “beauty sleep”.

I’ve tried most of the usual anti-ageing fixes. Retinol. Expensive night creams. Even a bedside humidifier in an attempt to draw moisture into the skin. Some helped a little, none stopped the morning creases entirely.

So when anti wrinkle pillows kept appearing in search results and skincare forums, I was sceptical. If carefully formulated skincare couldn’t work miracles, how exactly do anti wrinkle pillows work?

Still, curiosity won out. I looked into how they’re designed and eventually tried one myself.

The Science Behind What Causes Sleep Wrinkles?

Before asking do anti wrinkle pillows work, it helps to understand what causes sleep wrinkles in the first place.

Sleep wrinkles are largely caused by pressure and friction. When your face presses into a pillow for several hours, the skin is compressed in the same position. Side and stomach sleeping increase that pressure, especially if your cheek or forehead is bearing weight all night.

Unlike expression lines, which are caused by muscle movement, sleep wrinkles are the result of external forces acting on the skin for long stretches of time. Add friction from rougher fabrics and repeated compression, and you have the perfect conditions for temporary creasing. As skin naturally loses elasticity with age, those lines can take longer to fade.

It’s at this point that many people start wondering, can sleep wrinkles be reversed? The honest answer is that temporary pillow marks usually fade once circulation returns to the skin. But deeper lines formed from years of repeated compression are harder to undo completely.

This is where anti wrinkle pillows come in. The aim is simple: reduce pressure, minimise friction and avoid prolonged facial compression.

What Type of Pillow Is Best for Wrinkles?

When researching anti wrinkle pillows, three things tend to come up repeatedly: fabric, shape and support

Silk pillowcases

Silk pillowcases are often recommended because they reduce friction. Unlike cotton, which can grip slightly against the skin, silk allows your face to glide as you move during the night. Less drag can mean fewer pronounced creases in the morning.

Silk is also less absorbent than cotton, meaning your evening skincare is more likely to stay on your face rather than soaking into the pillowcase.

Contoured pillows

Some anti wrinkle pillows focus on shape. Contoured designs aim to reduce direct facial pressure by supporting the head and neck in a way that prevents your cheek from being fully flattened against the pillow.

They can take some getting used to, but the principle is straightforward: less compression equals fewer lines.

Cotton drawbacks

Cotton isn’t inherently bad, but it’s not particularly skin-friendly compared to silk. It can create more friction and absorb both moisture and skincare products overnight. If you’ve ever woken up feeling like your skin is slightly drier than when you went to bed, your pillowcase fabric could be part of the reason.

Do Anti Wrinkle Pillows Actually Work?

An anti wrinkle pillow won’t erase existing lines overnight. It won’t replace good skincare or sun protection either. But it can help in a small way that adds up over time.

Reducing nightly friction and pressure can help prevent deeper sleep creases forming over time. Think of it less as a dramatic transformation and more as removing one of the small, repeated stressors your skin experiences every night.

When looking at options, I came across the Groove Skincare Pillow and silk pillowcase. What sets it apart is that it combines contoured support with a silk surface, meaning it addresses both pressure and friction at the same time. Rather than just swapping fabric, it also considers how the face is positioned during sleep.

Real-World Experience

I’ve been using the Groove Skincare Pillow with its silk pillowcase for a while now, and what I’ve noticed most is reduced pressure on my face overnight. The contoured design supports my head and neck in a more neutral position, which means my cheek isn’t pressed flat into the pillow when I sleep on my side.

The result is fewer deep sleep creases in the morning. My skin also feels less dry, which makes sense given silk creates less friction and doesn’t absorb skincare the way cotton can.

It hasn’t transformed my skin overnight, but it has made mornings feel noticeably smoother and a little less lined.

Final Words

So, do anti wrinkle pillows work?

They won’t perform miracles. But they can reduce friction and pressure, two key contributors to sleep wrinkles. That makes them feel less like a gimmick and more like a practical, preventative upgrade.

If you’re curious, starting with a silk pillowcase is an easy first step. And if you want something designed specifically with facial compression in mind, a contoured option like the Groove Skincare Pillow may offer more targeted support.

It won’t stop time, but it might mean fewer morning creases and a slightly smoother start to the day.