Snatched whilst you sleep: Are restorative beauty routines just exhausting us?
As Kim Kardashian reveals her new face wrap in response to the TikTok 'nighttime shed’ trend, we examine how real rest is achieved and address the backlash that beauty and wellness are facing.
If you are in the wellness and beauty sphere, you probably saw the buzz around Kim Kardashian’s brand Skims’ new Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap. “Just dropped: The Ultimate Face. A must-have addition to your nightly routine,” read the reality star and business mogul’s Instagram story.
The shapewear brand has introduced a collagen-infused facial compression tool designed to support the lower jaw and face while you sleep. Stylish, sculpting… and sparking lashes of controversy on the internet. What started as a fringe practice among wellness hackers (taping your mouth shut to encourage nasal breathing, that is) has now collided with the beauty world, thanks to celebrities like Kardashian. It prompts the discussion as to what wellness even means any more, and how we curate sleep as a space for performance now.
It’s all part of a growing trend where sleep isn’t just for rest anymore, it’s for snatching your face to the gods before sunrise. But whilst the media whips up a frenzy of narcissistic Gen Z and consumerism gone wild, we want to ask if this is just another pressure-packed routine wrapped in satin, or an actual wellness breakthrough that we should pay more attention to.
Ten years ago, a night routine might’ve meant brushing your teeth, washing your face, and maybe putting on a little night cream. Now? It’s a full production. Scroll through TikTok, and you’ll find nightly shed videos (where users spend 10 minutes taking off all their sleeping accessories) featuring ice rollers, gua sha, LED masks, mouth tape, eye patches, scalp serums, melatonin mocktails, and now, face wraps. The morning shed is a visual transformation to showcase the ultimate night of R&R, laden with beauty gear designed to mould and reshape the body and face into the best version of itself.
What’s driving this shift? On one hand, it’s rooted in self-care culture and the idea that investing in yourself is empowering. But on the other hand, it reinforces the idea of a deeper pressure permeating the digital sphere to always be optimising: your skin, your sleep, your jawline, your energy. Sleeping used to be a restorative exercise to let go of the day, but now it is a scheduled window for transformation.
Mouth taping isn’t new in wellness circles. Advocates say taping your mouth shut during sleep encourages nasal breathing, which may improve oxygen intake, reduce snoring, support oral health, and even enhance sleep quality. Some claim it can also help define your jawline and reduce facial puffiness.
But as with many viral trends, the pseudoscience is skewed, and many experts also warn of the very real risks. Sleep specialists (such as Kim et al. 2021 in Healthcare) found whilst their may be short-term benefits, they warn that mouth taping can be dangerous, especially for those with undiagnosed sleep apnea, deviated septums, or even seasonal allergies like hayfever. Blocking the mouth during sleep can interfere with breathing, and for some people, it can cause more harm than good.
But as we hark it back to the Skims Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap, we are moving away from health and wellbeing-related face taping, and look to the aesthetics behind the science. Unlike mouth tape, this isn’t about changing your breathing, but about changing your face. The wrap uses sculpting fabric and collagen yarns to gently compress the jawline, claiming to support facial structure overnight and enhance definition. While it avoids the medical risks of actual mouth taping, it taps into the same aspiration: waking up looking sharper, tighter, and supposedly, more snatched.
Whether or not it works, it’s undeniably part of a movement that is one where nighttime is no longer neutral ground for rest. These ‘restorative’ routines are steeped in irony because none of them support your need to switch off. Deep, uninterrupted sleep, framed by a proper wind-down routine, is important for so many reasons. To regulate hormones, stabilise mood, support immune health… the list is endless. But strapped into the Hannibal Lecter-style of headgear, worrying about checking off your nighttime routine checklist is working against the very thing we are trying to gain, which is restoring our energy.
Culturally, we’ve shifted from letting go at night to locking in. There’s something disturbingly symbolic about compression wear for the face. Beauty ideals permeating the wellness sphere mean we have mastered blending clinical health language with high beauty ideals. TikTok follows suit, with creators transforming elaborate night routines into aesthetic vlogs that feel both aspirational and exhausting. It’s no longer about doing what feels good. It’s about doing what looks good, even if no one’s watching.
To truly disengage with this culture, we should be asking ourselves: is my nighttime routine supporting my wellness and rest, or is it another form of pressurised ideals I feel the need to pertain to? Wellness should nourish your life, not add more stress. Don’t feel like you are falling behind because your routine doesn’t include collagen yarn and sculpting tape, because real rest and resetting your nervous system come from various other practices (all free and achievable) to do so.