CPAP Mask Breaking Your Hair? How to Protect It
Wearing a CPAP mask with long hair leaves a band of breakage where the strap sits. Wearers have a cheap fix, and a trick to stop the mask slipping over it.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The breakage runs in a line. Split ends across the back of your head in a band that matches the headgear strap. In the morning the hair under it is flat and smushed, with tufts jutting out at odd angles. The person who started a thread about it in r/CPAP had already worked out the strap was the cause. The reply describing the flattened morning hair was one of several saying the same. One of them had blamed their hairdresser at first.
The fix that thread keeps naming comes from the hair aisle rather than the pharmacy: a silk bonnet, a satin one or a satin-lined cap, worn under the straps. If you sleep in a CPAP mask with long or fine hair, the band at the back is the strap, and this is the cheap way round it.
A satin bonnet or cap under the straps
The people recommending a silk or satin bonnet under the headgear wear one themselves. One says theirs works really well. Another finds their hair softer, shinier and less tangled since they started.
A third had their hair stylist ask what was happening at the back of their head, and the stylist suggested a bonnet too. Someone with super fine hair says that without one theirs is a rat's nest by morning.
Months later the person who started the thread came back:
Yes, I ordered a pack of silk lined bonnets off Amazon and they have stopped the issue!
u/Aware_Tangerine1683, in r/CPAP
A satin-lined slouchy sleep cap does the same job in a shape that's less of a bonnet and more of a hat. A wearer with a satin-lined knit beanie says it's not as slippery as a satin bonnet, so the mask doesn't move around as much. They recommend one with an elastic band so you can set how tight it sits.
Someone who tried three bonnets before settling on one got a bonus. The straps that used to cut into their ears now sit on cloth, and their ears don't hurt anymore.
How to wear a bonnet with a CPAP mask
A second thread asked exactly that, and the answers add up to a routine.
- Hair up on top of your head first. A bun with a silk scrunchie, then the bonnet, then the mask. The bun helps hold the mask for one wearer whose hose comes off the top of the head. Another twists a loose bun high on the crown so the straps land above and below it.
- Pull the bonnet low on your forehead. Someone in a full-face mask puts their hair in low pigtails inside the bonnet and says it has to sit low, or the mask slides off.
- Smooth it under the straps. A wearer with fine, wavy hair tugs the bonnet until no hair is trapped, then tightens the mask. They brought the bonnet to their mask fitting so they could try masks with it on.
- Keep a second headgear for bonnet nights. Someone who finds loosening and tightening the velcro every night a pain is thinking of keeping a separate headgear adjusted for the bonnet.
Does the mask still seal over it?
It can, but satin is slippery, and that's the thing to know before you buy. One reply found a silk bonnet made the mask slip off too much. The fix is the routine above: hair up, bonnet low, straps snug over smooth cloth. A wearer with long hair adds one more trick: pull the back of the bonnet up through the back strap to hold it. Theirs still moves a little some nights, though.
The lined cap is the other answer, the one the knit-beanie wearer picked for slipping less. Whichever you choose, put the mask on over it and check the seal before you turn the lamp off.
Too hot in a bonnet? Cover the straps instead
A bonnet is a hat you sleep in, and some heads can't take it. One wearer found a silk bonnet too hot and switched to a satin cover that goes over the headgear straps instead, which fixed it for them.
Someone with hot flashes couldn't sleep in a bonnet or a beanie either. They put their hair up in a ponytail on top while the mask goes on, then let it down over the headgear.
Satin covers for the straps are the hot sleeper's version: the cloth is on the headgear rather than on you. One reply uses a set of them on their headgear. Another buys silk ones on Etsy from a seller who makes them to measure for your mask, so only a small part of the headgear is left bare.
The retailer cpap.com's own guide to the problem lists a cap, scarf or strap covers among its fixes.
Order a satin-lined cap, put your hair up in a bun on top, pull the cap down to your eyebrows and set the mask over it. Then do your usual seal check. The strap covers are for the wearer who wakes up hot, though a bonnet already in the drawer costs nothing to try first.
