Fab Find of The Week: Dr Harris Anti-Wrinkle Sleep Mask
About six weeks ago, a flat box plopped through Sarah’s door. Inside was an elegant black silk mask and a handwritten note from our friend and colleague Alice Hart-Davis, saying basically ‘do try this, it’s fab’. So Sarah did and it really truly is ABSOLUTELY FAB! So much so that she makes sure it is by her pillow every night without fail, at home or on the move.
So what’s so special and why would you pay 90 quid for a sleep mask? As the name suggests, aesthetic practitioner Dr. Steven Harris developed it to combat frown lines, particularly the bunch he sprouted on plane journeys. There’s a pattern of teeny raised silicone pimples on the inside, which press gently on ‘mechanoreceptors’ in the skin and help to soften vertical frown lines – in Sarah’s case the furrow bang in the middle of her forehead, with a couple of smaller trenches either side.
The softening effect is not just being hopeful, by the way; an award- winning clinical trial showed that, after wearing it for 15 minutes, the mask relaxed the muscles controlling the lines for up to five hours. Wear it longer, as Sarah and Alice both do, and the effect lasts – through the day Sarah’s found. Also: Sarah’s big joy is that it somehow relaxes and rests the eye zone so her screen-tired, dry peepers look really refreshed and happy, with smoother skin around them (the silicone pimples extend round and under the outer corners of the eyes).
For Alice, the huge bonus is the proven relaxation response from wearing the mask (also validated in the clinical trial). ‘I’ve found its mind-soothing powers are even more exciting than its wrinkle-relaxing ability,’ she says.
At 58 and still struggling with postmenopausal symptoms notably disrupted sleep, Alice has an armoury of things to encourage peaceful sleep – from replacement hormones to supplements, wide open windows to meditation and ‘Sleepcast’ stories. ‘Yet, even with all this, I struggled to get back to sleep when I woke up between 1 and 4am – every night,’ she says. ‘Now I keep the mask under my pillow, clap it on when I wake up and nine times out of ten, I’m back to sleep almost immediately.’
‘When people ask me if it’s worth £90?, I say, you’ve no idea just what this mask can do!’ says Alice. (Sarah completely agrees.) And yes, Alice is bestknown as founder of The Tweakments Guide; this is separate but she stocks the mask on her site.
Dr Harris Anti-Wrinkle Sleep Mask /£89.99 - buy here
