Is The Morning Shed Really Worth It? How Beauty Sleep Became An Extreme Sport

Something fun about me is that I have a very particular sleep routine because without my nighttime bath, ten minutes of meditation, five-minute stretch, and sleepy spray, I just don’t sleep the same. That being said, after seeing the morning shed trend go wild again on TikTok, some of y’all are making my ritual look like an afterthought. I mean, I get the concept of beauty sleep, but this is basically turning beauty sleep into an extreme sport.

If you’ve seen the videos of skincare fiends waking up with a chin strap, mouth tape, face masks, hair curling rods, and several other beauty enhances making them look like a pretty bitch version of Hannibal Lecter, then you’ve already witnessed shedding culture. But who TF taught the girlies to do this, and do the results justify the regimen? For all the curious kiddos out there, I’m asking the hard questions: What is a morning shed, and is it really worth it?

What is a morning shed?

The morning shed refers to the unlayering of an extensive number of skincare and beautifying products worn overnight to wake up, well, like this, every morning. The product roundup often includes a chin strap, a face mask, mouth tape, a lip stain, and hair styling tool like a heatless hair curling rod, sock curls, or, at a bare minimum, a bonnet. Some ladies take their shed below the neck, including castor oil wraps on their stomachs. I’ve also seen many videos that include dental care, like Invisalign (okay, normal) or teeth whitening strips (I didn’t know this was legal???). The “shedding” part is the dramatic removal of all of these layers after, hopefully, though I can’t imagine how, a restful night’s sleep.

Is the morning shed worth it?

Certain elements of a typical morning shed routine, like wearing a face mask all night, can actually do more harm than good, depending on your skin type. Plus, the effectiveness of some of these practices, like castor oil, for example, is still up for debate in general.

Getting good-quality sleep is the most important part of your day and night, let alone your beauty regimen. So, anything that threatens is worth reconsidering. Like, if the comment section is worried you just got into a major accident because of the lengths, you’re willing to go to avoid a few wrinkles, maybe reconsider, girl! It doesn’t mean you can’t apply some of the skincare topicals and tools to your routine. But maybeeee you don’t need to sacrifice a comfy, carefree sleep to do them all at once.

To be fair, there’s a huge crowd of devoted shedders who stand by their path to perfect skin, which is why they keep doing it. As long as you’re looking into the potential side effects (mouth tape, especially!), to each their own, I guess.