Back in my own home I had control over the curtains, windows, and doors to make my room dark. Even so, light infiltrated and eventually I gave in to the luxury of covering my eyes with something more than my blanket or pillow over my head.
When you travel, you don’t get to control the darkness in your room. A good hotel will have blackout curtains but even they always seem to have a gap that lets in unwanted blindingly bright light. A hostel or a room that someone else decorated, including buying the curtains for, is not typically conducive to sleep.
Additionally, we all have electronics to charge overnight now, and each typically has its own blue, green, or flashing light that’s shines quite brightly in the dark of night. And then there are the lights on the air cooling/heating units, smoke detectors, and clock faces… You might get used to these things in your own room (or not) but you don’t stay in any traveler’s room long enough to get used to them — and you certainly can’t go around turning everyone’s bright lights toward the walls or tossing a shirt over them all.
My sleeping mask. My former sleeping mask.
So I travel with a sleeping mask. In fact, on this one-year leg of my trip, I started traveling with two: one from JetBlue and one from Air Berlin. Both are airlines I happen to love, and it was very nice that they gave them to me. But these typical sleep masks, although they look nice, and were good for the flight, and take up very little space, they are not great long term. First, the obvious: they are flat so you can’t open your eyes with it on. But more, they leak light like crazy, around my nose and at the sides. They slide from side to side as I lay on my side. But the worst part is what they’ve done to my eyebrows. I’m starting to look like a clown!
I love my handy sarong, and have resorted to it as an eye cover, but it’s not as good as a great sleep mask.
So… with someone soon traveling from home to Israel, I did some research to find the best possible mask, and best value for my money, so I could have it brought to me.
I am very happy to have found the Nidra Deep Rest mask
The Nidra Deep Rest sleeping mask, both from the outside and the inside.
The Nidra Deep Rest mask is dual layer of light blocking black fabric with a thin layer of foam to further block the light.
The eye area is curved so the sides make good contact with your face while — (drumroll please) — preventing eyebrow and eyelash mashing!
Now, about that curve…
We’re not talking about just a slight curve. I can really open my eyes fully and comfortably with this sleep mask still on tightly.
That IS great at blocking out the light — and it’s also very comfortable as well.
If you’re a woman who needs to sleep on a plane, train or bus you’ll also love that you’ll be able to have darkness without smudging your eye make-up so you can arrive feeling refreshed and looking your best as well.
Hoping you can see the great curve. (No, this isn’t me.)
ANYONE who wants to sleep well will love this mask!
I also liked that this Deep Rest Mask: is described as “lightweight.” When you’re traveling, every fraction of an ounce or gram counts! Now that I have this sleep mask I can tell you that it truly is light weight — and yet sturdy. The perfect combo.
I actually once had a shaped sleep mask, but it didn’t hold up well. This one is to be better constructed so I expect it to hold up well. I promised that once I have mine, I’ll let you know how I like it — and how I continue to like it as time goes on. I can tell you now that so far, this is the case.
When I first posted this, I wrote: “I don’t normally talk about products I don’t know, but I won’t have mine for about 5 weeks and if you’re heading out on a trip I’d hate for you to miss having a great mask, so I want to share it all with you as soon as possible.” It took me a lot longer to actually get mine once it was brought to Israel for me, but I am very happy that I told you all about it earlier. This sleep mask really is the winner. (Of course I’ll keep you apprised. I expect that one year from now I’ll be writing that I am still using mine.)
The Nidra Deep Rest mask and box.
Good factory conditions
I also love that the woman behind this sleeping mask checked out the worker conditions at various places before choosing a factory of manufacture for her mask. She found her factory of choice — a high-quality American-owned facility — in Sri Lanka and tells me the workers and employees are all treated really well there. I was also impressed to learn that she is starting to do nice things for the people of Sri Lanka.
Easily Washable
I am sharing these instructions with you to give you an idea of the care, but mostly so I have them handy for myself as I do not carry paper when I travel.
The insert says: Caring for your mask
Hand wash gently in lukewarm water. Do not use soap or harsh detergents. Hang to dry. Do not machine wash or machine dry.
A special discount just for reading Tales
As a special offer, if you want to buy one yourself, you can purchase it at Amazon using this link, enter the code R8QH9KKT at checkout and you’ll receive a 10% discount — just for knowing me.
NOTE: I hope it’s ok to say this.
As I update this on June 23, 2015, it’s on sale for $11.95!
NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY THIS SLEEP MASK. Seriously.
This is not an affiliate link, by the way. I don’t receive anything if you purchase one. I’m just sharing this with you because we all need all the good sleep we can get.
More info
If you’d like to know more, the best places to learn more about the Nidra Deep Rest mask are at NidraGoods.com and at facebook.com/nidragoods.
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Thanks for this tip. I’ve tried several kinds, but haven’t found “the one”. I’ll give this one a go.
There are now several similar to this one although I liked this best. Travel Smart by Conair now makes one that has a full nose cover but I haven’t gotten to try it yet.
Thanks for this review. I have one and also really like it. I wondered how you pack it when you travel? I understand it is washable, but I do not wish for it to get crushed… Do you have a case for it? How do you protect it when not in use and traveling? Thanks.
Hi Elizabeth. You ask a good question about protecting it. A hard case would take up too much room in our travel bags where every millimeter counts. Having now had that one and a similar one but with fabric covering the nose as well (by Travel Smart), I think I’ve learned a good lession.
I have either rested my sleep mask flat in my handiest zipper pocket or I’ve put it on top of or between my clothing either directly in my bag or inside a packing cube. Or I’ve folded it in half and tucked it on top of everything for easiest reach. A few times I have rolled it. I think folding and rolling were mistakes. Also kind of making it fit it into a zipper pocket in a rush was an abuse because there’s too much misc stuff in there. The issue for me has been that on both models the fusing tends to separate over time starting at the edges — and I suspect that the roll or fold have started the separation issue. For sure, putting it into a pocket full of other stuff wasn’t good for the edges. I believe flat is best, so the between-clothing trick is the best way to handle it.
(Bear in mind that I am traveling for 6 months to a year at a time.) With my next mask I am going to hem stitched the edge as soon as separation starts to happen and that should contain the separation.
At night I sometimes lie it flat under my pillow. I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not.