Rachael Shtifter stitched the first Sleepy Tie herself when a blowout would not last the night. Here is the satin double scrunchie in its sizes, plus the bonnets, silk and overnight helpers that sit around it.
Rachael Shtifter: The Sleepy Tie Scrunchie She Sewed at Home
Rachael Shtifter did not set out to invent a hair accessory. She owned a salon in Boston, the pandemic shut it in 2020, and suddenly she could not get her own blowout done. So she taught herself to sew and stitched two scrunchies around a band, a double scrunchie that she could wrap her hair through and sleep on. By her account it worked, and the Sleepy Tie reached customers in 2021. What I like about the story is how unglamorous it is. Shtifter had opened a salon called Beauty Parlr in 2010 and grown it into the 11,000 square foot Parlr by 2018, so she had years of watching clients leave with a perfect blowout and wake up to a flat one. The tie is that observation with a needle and some satin. Below are the tie in three sizes, matched to your hair type and length, plus the Curly Tie, the brand's tool for heatless curls. Start there.
Bonnets, caps and silk
Shtifter's own range grows outward from the tie, and the LuxeBonnet in Cocoa and the Shower Cap in Bloom are the two other pieces the brand now builds around it. The bonnet is for nights when a bun feels like too much, and the cap is for keeping a blowout dry in the shower, which is the step people forget. Then there is Slip, the Australian label that says it launched the first silk pillowcase branded and marketed as a beauty product. Founder Fiona Stewart went looking for one in 2003 on her dermatologist's advice, could not find a good one, and sourced silk herself and, with her partner Justin Dubois, launched Slip in 2004, and its global headquarters are still in Brisbane. The Queen pillowcase with the scalloped edge is the classic, and the small scrunchies are the skinny, low tension option for a low ponytail. My tip: put the pillowcase on first, and let the bonnet or tie be the backup on the nights your hair is freshly done.
Balm, serum and rollers
The last grid is where I get practical. Oribe started in 2008 with Daniel Kaner and the Cuban born stylist Oribe Canales, and the Hair Alchemy balm is the heatless styling product here, a light balm for defining air dried waves. Crown Affair came from Dianna Cohen, who launched it in January 2020, and the Overnight Repair Serum is a leave-in meant to go on before bed, next to the silk scrunchie set for anyone who wants a gentler everyday tie. Drybar, which Alli Webb opened in Brentwood, Los Angeles in 2010 as a blowout only salon, brings the High Tops self grip rollers: six rollers in two sizes that add lift at the crown without clips. What I would skip is tying anything up on damp hair, whichever piece you use. Wet strands stretch and dent, and the point of the exercise is to keep a dry style, not to set a new one. Dry first, then wrap.
Before you put the lamp out
It is easy to treat these as gadgets, but I think of them as a small argument for doing less to your hair. Every piece here either keeps a style in place or lets you skip a round of heat, and that is a decent argument. Pick the tie in the size that matches your hair, put a silk case on the pillow, and see how many mornings you can go without plugging anything in. The Sleepy Tie asks very little of you, and that is exactly the appeal.
