The complete guide
The Honest Buyer's Guide to a 22 Momme White Silk Pillowcase
The small annoyance nobody talks about
Most of us never think about the pillowcase. We think about the mattress, the pillow, maybe the doona. The pillowcase is the thing we buy in a four pack and forget.
Then one morning you look in the mirror and there is a crease running down one cheek, and your hair looks like it lost an argument. That is friction. Every time you turn your head on a cotton weave, the fabric grips a little and drags. Over seven or eight hours, with maybe thirty position changes, that adds up.
A silk pillowcase changes the surface your face and hair spend the night against. That is all it does, and that is quite a lot.
What 22 momme actually tells you
Momme is an old unit from the silk trade. It describes how much a set area of fabric weighs, so it is a direct measure of density. Cotton uses thread count for a similar job, though thread count is far easier to fudge.
Silk bedding usually runs from about 16 momme at the light end to 25 momme at the heavy end. Sixteen is thin and translucent. Twenty five is lovely but expensive and can feel almost like a heavy liquid over the pillow. Twenty two sits in the sweet spot, which is why so many shoppers hunting the best 22 momme silk pillowcase keep landing on that figure.
Heavier silk does two useful things. It lasts longer through washing, because there is more fibre doing the work. And it drapes rather than clings, so the surface stays flat instead of puckering around the pillow.
This case also lists a 600 thread count. Treat that as supporting information. With silk, the momme weight is the number that tells you most about how the fabric will feel and how long it will hold up.
The zip is not a minor detail
Pillowcases close one of three ways. An open end, an envelope flap, or a zip.
Open ends are the cheapest and the worst. The pillow creeps out by three in the morning and you wake up with a corner of bare pillow under your ear.
Envelope flaps are better, but on a firm or well stuffed pillow the flap can gape. You also get a visible fold line across the back of the case.
This one uses a concealed zip set into the seam. The pillow goes in, the zip closes, and that is the end of it. The outside stays smooth with no flap or opening on show. It also makes washing less of a chore, since you are not fighting to drag a damp case over a stubborn pillow.
The zip sits on one edge rather than across the face, so it is not under your head in normal use. If you are particularly sensitive to that sort of thing, just point the zip edge towards the foot of the bed.
Does the size really matter that much
Yes, more than most people expect.
This case is cut to 66 cm by 50.8 cm, which is the standard pillow size. If your pillow is smaller, the extra fabric gathers into ridges under your cheek, which rather defeats the purpose of a smooth surface. If your pillow is larger, the seams carry tension every night and the fabric stretches at the corners.
So measure. Lay the pillow flat on the bed, do not squash it, and run a tape along the long edge and then the short edge. Compare those numbers to 66 by 50.8. Standard pillows in Australia are usually very close to that.
Queen pillows are longer, around 76 cm, and king pillows longer again. Those will not fit this case.
Who this suits, and who it does not
It suits anyone who wakes with sleep creases, anyone with longer hair that tangles overnight, and anyone who finds cotton pillowcases warm against the face. It also suits people who simply like nice things in bed and are happy to pay once for a fabric that feels better.
It suits gift buyers too. White in a standard size is about as safe as homewares gifting gets, and the best white silk pillowcase choices are neutral precisely so they drop into any bedroom without clashing.
It does not suit someone who wants to throw everything in a hot wash with the towels. Silk needs a gentler hand. It also does not suit deeply contoured orthopaedic pillows, which need a case shaped for them.
And to be clear about what silk is not: it is a fabric with a smooth surface, not a treatment and not a remedy. We will not make health or cosmetic promises here. What we can say is that hair and skin move across silk with less resistance than across cotton, and that is why people keep coming back to it.
Choosing between silk, satin and the rest
Walk through any bedding aisle and you will see satin pillowcases at a fraction of the price. It is worth knowing the difference.
Satin is a weave structure, not a fibre. You can weave satin from polyester, and most cheap satin pillowcases are exactly that. They look shiny and they are smooth, but polyester holds heat and tends to build static, especially in dry weather.
Silk is a natural protein fibre spun by silkworms. The strands are long and continuous, which is where the smoothness comes from. It breathes, it does not hold static the way synthetics do, and it feels cool when you first lie down.
If budget is the deciding factor, satin will give you some of the slip. If you want the fabric itself, this is the one.
Looking after it
None of this is difficult, it is just different from the rest of your laundry.
Wash in cool water, either by hand or on a gentle machine cycle with the case tucked inside a mesh laundry bag. Use a mild detergent made for delicates. Skip the bleach, skip the fabric softener, skip anything with optical brighteners in it.
Never tumble dry. Heat and tumbling are hard on silk fibres. Instead, lay it flat on a towel or hang it in the shade. It dries fast because there is not much fabric to dry.
If you want it pressed, use the lowest iron setting on the reverse side, ideally while it is still a touch damp. Most of the time you will not bother, because creases tend to settle out once the case is stretched over a pillow.
Wash it every week or two. Buying two cases and rotating them is the easiest way to keep that up, and it roughly doubles how long each one lasts, since neither is in constant use.
Delivery and getting it wrong
Orders go out from Australian warehouses and normally land in 3 to 7 working days. Returns are open for 14 days from delivery as long as the case is unused and unwashed, in its original packaging.
The one thing that causes returns is size. So do the measuring before you unwrap anything. Thirty seconds with a tape saves a postage trip.
The short version
A 22 momme white silk pillowcase in a standard 66 by 50.8 cm cut, closed with a concealed zip. The weight is substantial enough to drape properly and survive regular washing. The zip keeps the pillow where it belongs and keeps the look tidy.
Silk gives your hair and skin a surface with far less drag than cotton. It is light, breathable and easy on the face.
Measure your pillow, wash it cool, keep it out of the dryer, and it will be the nicest part of your bed for a long time.