After testing an additional three masks this year for a total of six, we still think the $26 Sleep Master Sleep Mask is the absolute best eye mask for a dark night’s sleep. The comfortable Sleep Master works well for both side sleepers and back sleepers, blocking light without scalp irritation or skull squishing.
The Sleep Master is plush and wide (about four inches tall) with a satin cover. It stays cool overnight without overheating. Last year, I tested the Sleep Master against two other popular, well-reviewed masks on Amazon, the Bucky Luggage 40 Blinks and the Dream Essentials Escape. This year, I called in three more competitors: The Alaska Bear, Earth Therapeutics, and IMAK Eye Pillow. It wasn’t even a competition—the Sleep Master outperformed them all.
The key to the Sleep Master’s comfort is that its band is thick and uniformly sized around the entire head. That means there are no irritating straps digging in behind your ears. I found that the strap easily stayed in place all night, and I never woke up to ear irritation. All of the other masks we tested had skinny straps that failed in one of two ways: Either they were too tight and dug into my scalp, or they didn’t provide enough support, causing the top and bottom of the mask to fall out of place. The Alaska Bear, Bucky, and Dream Essentials eye masks all felt too flimsy—like they might fall off your face. Conversely, the IMAK is giant, making it impossible to wear if you’re a side or stomach sleeper.
If the Sleep Master’s $26 price tag seems a little stiff, or if you’re one of the minority of people who dislike the width of the straps, we did like the Earth Therapeutics. It only costs $8 when purchased through Earth Therapeutics’ website, and second to the Sleep Master Silk Eye Mask, was the most comfortable thanks to its plush polyfill mask. Its strap is skinnier than we’d prefer, but it kept the mask on tight and it was still an improvement over the thin, useless straps of the other sleep masks.
Origin THeWirecutter
