Buying new bed sheets may seem like a mundane decision, but your sheets’ quality influences your sleep quality more than you may think.
After a long day of work or an exhausting adventure, nothing feels better than sliding between fresh bed sheets. The soft touch of high-quality bedding has the power to soothe your skin, promote relaxation, and ultimately help you drift off to restorative sleep.
However, sleeping with the wrong ones can have an equal and opposite effect. Low-quality or worn-out sheets can irritate your skin, make you sweat, and leave you feeling hot and sticky in the morning instead of refreshed and ready to take on the day.
If you need new, don’t just grab the first set you see on a department store shelf or online. It’s worth it to research your options and take the time to find that will support your unique sleep needs and provide the ultimate comfort at the end of the day.
While comforters, duvet covers, blankets, and other bedding also contribute to a welcoming bed, your skin makes contact with your bed sheets the most. For that reason, this guide will only explore sets, which typically include a fitted sheet, flat sheet, and two pillowcases.
Factors To Consider When Buying New Bed Sheets
When buying a new sheet set, you have to consider costs, sizing, and your desired color or pattern. But aside from logistics and aesthetics, you can also compare your options based on the following qualities.
1. Texture, Feel, And Friction
Many people can’t fall asleep without a blanket or bed sheet, even during the hottest nights of the year. It’s hard to explain why, but the touch and weight on your skin feel good and help you relax.
Depending on your personal preferences and the climate you live in, you likely seek out the ones that either feel soft and smooth like silk or fuzzy and cozy like fleece. Either way, you’ll want to avoid any material with a rough texture and stiff feel. Even if you plan to order it online, you may want to head to a store that sells bedding to get a feel for the most common bed sheet materials.
You’ll also want to consider the friction you’ll feel as you move around in your sleep or while lounging in bed. Too much friction can irritate sensitive skin, and when it comes to pillowcases, it can cause frizzy hair. The smoother the material, the less friction your movements will create. Find your duvet sheet right here at bedbathandbeyond.com.mx.
2. Thread Count And Construction
How the fabric is made contributes to a feel, weight, temperature regulating capabilities, and durability—all critical factors covered in this list.
Unless you do specialized work with textiles regularly, you don’t need to know too much about how manufacturers turn raw materials into familiar fabrics. However, understanding these three key characteristics of different fabrics may help you choose the bed sheets that are right for you:
Thread Construction
To make fabrics, manufacturers first spin the raw materials into threads. Fabrics can feature one-ply threads, two-ply threads, or multi-ply threads, “ply” referring to the number of fibers or yarns twisted together to create a single thread.
The length and diameter of the threads used to construct the fabric contribute to how soft the final product feels and how long it lasts. Generally, woven fabrics with longer threads tend to last longer and have a smoother texture.
Thread Count
Thread count refers to the number of threads in one square inch of fabric. This metric alone doesn’t determine how a fabric feels, but a higher thread count typically yields a softer bed sheet.
The Knit Or Weave
Knitting and weaving are two ways to construct a fabric from threads. While knits interloop a continuous thread to create a fabric, woven fabrics interlace multiple horizontal and vertical threads. You often see knit sweaters and blankets, but bed sheets (except jersey sheets) typically use woven fabrics.
3. Thickness And Weight
Many prefer heavier, cozier bedding in the winter and lightweight bedding during the warmer months. If you live in a cold climate but don’t like thick sheets, you can always opt for standard ones paired with a heftier comforter. If you often feel frozen at night and need maximum warmth, you can double down with thick sheets made with a heavy material like flannel or fleece.
4. Wrinkle Resistance
While some materials naturally resist wrinkles, others require chemical treatment to prevent creasing and crinkling. You can also opt for the ones that don’t naturally or synthetically resist wrinkles—you have to wash them more often or accept a less polished appearance.
5. Allergen Protection
As previously mentioned, bacteria thrive off moisture trapped in your sheets. Mold, mildew, dust mites, and more can all crawl into bed with you, emitting odors and setting off allergies.
Fortunately, many bed sheets can resist microbes. While some materials are naturally hypoallergenic, antibacterial, and antifungal, others are chemically treated to possess this property.
6. Pocket Depth (Fitted Sheets)
Fitted bed sheets have pocketed corners that wrap around the edges of the mattress and keep your sheets in place. Pocket depth determines what mattress thickness the fitted sheet can accommodate.
There is no uniform sizing across brands, but generally, standard fitted ones work for mattresses up to 12 inches thick. Deep-pocket fitted sheets can fit mattresses up to 14 inches thick, and extra deep-pocketed fitted sheets work with beds up to 25 inches thick.
7. Durability
Bed sheets go through the typical wear and tear of nightly use and frequent washing. Unless you want to replace your sheets with new ones every year, you should opt for sheets made with durable materials and quality construction.
8. Care Requirements
Tempting as it may be to skip laundry day, you need to keep your sleep environment clean to protect your skin and immune system. However, some luxury sheets are hand washed or dry clean, so they may not fit a busy lifestyle.
Comparing Bed Sheet Materials
Now that you know what to look for in a set, choose the right one for your needs, like cotton, microfiber, bamboo, and more.
