What to Wear to Bed to Cover up Hair Loss

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You ladies have seen my hair loss, so you know what level of loss I have.

You know I glue my topper to my head (which looks ever-so-lovely when I take off my topper at night).

You know I have a husband.

So what do I wear to cover up my hair loss at night? What magical adornment do I wear to bed that makes my hair loss look 10x better than it is?

I’m sure you know the answer, and that answer is… nothing.

Most nights, I don’t wear anything to cover up my loss to bed.

My husband sees me in all my glory – big ol’ balding area (with overall thinness all over), complete with a dried on blob of glue on the top of my head.

Well, I should clarify – he doesn’t really “see me” in this state. Typically, he’s in bed as I finish up my bedroom routine, so he might make out a bit of my situation before I literally hop into bed, or in the morning since he usually wakes up first.

Leading up to bedtime, I might just keep my topper on all day, or sometimes I throw on a stretchy headband to wear around the house.

I know my routine doesn’t work for everyone, though. Many of you want to feel presentable around the house and in bed, even with supportive partners.

So, I have four suggestions if you’re not wanting to go bare-headed.

#1: Wear a headband

This is typically my solution of choice since it’s quick and easy. I have these exact headbands (thank you, awesome purchase history detail on Amazon!), as well as a similar multi-pack from the drugstore (or was it Target?). They are as basic as they come, but they do the job.

I did come across these vintage headbands today and I swooned a bit. I may have to get one of these as they are just too cute to pass up, and they come as a 4-pack. You could leave the front untwisted if you need wider coverage, or twist it to make it more interesting.

#2: Wear a breathable, super-soft head covering

While Jon Renau’s Softie is typically worn by those with no hair, there’s no reason why you couldn’t put your bio hair into a ponytail and tuck it up into this head covering.

I like that this comes in a ton of colors and is made of bamboo. That’s what makes it soft and breathable.

You could mix-and-match with your sleepwear (if you’re big on coordinating), or just pick up one color and wear it all the time.

#3: Find some “spare hair” you love

While everyone should run, not walk, to purchase a backup piece to have for day-to-day (trust me, you just NEVER know and it’s good to have one on stand-by just in case), you can do the same for nighttime hair.

Find an inexpensive wig you love and rock it in bed.

I wouldn’t recommend doing this with a topper since sleeping with clips on your bio hair will cause bald spots (and not be very comfortable!). Of course, if you’re on vacation or something a few nights won’t kill you, but don’t make this a habit.

For wigs, I find both Raquel Welch and non-lace front Freetress wigs to be extremely comfortable. While Raquel Welch wigs are a premium synthetic brand, Freetress is super-cheap.

The hairlines might not be extremely realistic, but we’re not trying to win an award here, right? We’re just going to bed, after all. 🙂

#4 Go the concealer route

It’s a little bit of a pain in the rear to think about, but you can absolutely wear concealers to bed.

For many years, I used a spray-in hair loss concealer to hide my hair loss. I didn’t apply it at night, but I certainly didn’t wash it out before bed. If you need a little concealer help to hide your hair loss at nighttime, feel free!

Some concealers might rub off on light-colored pillowcases, so you’ll need to be careful of that. When I used to faithfully conceal my hair loss, it was mostly on the top of my head (rather than the sides), so I didn’t run into that problem too often.

#5 Tie up a headscarf

This one might take a little practice, but if you have a beautiful headwrap at home, you can twist and tie it up into many different styles to hide your hair loss. This video shows 7 techniques in under 7 minutes – while she doesn’t have hair loss, she shows some full-head techniques that are really cute!

They look pretty simple, too!

(Skip to about :45 as the intro is long.)

These may be more for lounging than for actual sleeping, but you could probably sleep in a few of these. Some of these styles could be cute, too, with a wig or topper underneath.

I’d love to know – what do you do to cover your hair loss at night, if anything?

Oh, and if my husband could choose ANYTHING on this planet for me to sleep in, he’d choose Freetress Mizzy every single time.

P.S. Off topic, but I wanted to let you know that I finally, FINALLY did a video review on the Noriko Milan hair topper. Check it out if you’re interested – it’s about half way down the post. You can’t miss it. 🙂

35 thoughts on “What to Wear to Bed to Cover up Hair Loss”

  2. If you ever want to sell your Almond Rocha topper that you used in your review. I’m definitely looking for one. Looking to go lighter this summer. 🙂

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  3. I have a completely bare scalpand findwigs difficult to wear as the wigs fall off my head Wgats your advice Should I use glue and if o what type of glue should I use Should I get my scalp tested for sensitivity

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  4. Thanks for the great tips, Lauren! I love the headband idea for around the house/bedtime. LIke you I normally leave my topper on until I turn the light off to go to sleep, at which point I whip it into my night table drawer. It would be nice to wear the headband or cute scarf/bandana instead.

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  5. Hi Lauren,

    I just wanted to share a trick that helps me. When I put my bio hair up in a thin ponytail, there is a shiny patch right behind my hairline in middle of my scalp. However, I’ve found that when you use a boar-bristle brush to brush through the shiny patched area, it somehow takes the shine away and closes up the hairs over the bare scalp. I imagine it’s because the little bristles redistribute the oil on your scalp through the rest of your hair (kinda gross, I know). Anyway, it then makes me look like I have an almost normal, if just ultra thin pony.

    Not sure how well it will work with women with a bigger patch of loss, but for those with medium loss like mine, bringing this along for when I go to the physiotherapist’s office (where I can’t wear hair because they touch your scalp– which I learned the hard way), has been a godsend. I think it could work for going-to-bed hair!

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  6. How do you get the glue off your head/topper? I bought some of the kind you recommended but I’m kind of scared to use it. I don’t have any large bald spots yet so it would be in my hair. The clips are really uncomfortable to me. If I’m sitting at home with just my family, my topper is off. I just try not to look in the mirror and I don’t think about it.

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  7. Hey Lauren I didn’t know that you glue your topper on what glue do you use I am currently looking for something as I need to take the plunge and just go for it anyway great advice about what to wear to bed may I say it’s a little more difficult when you’re dating and when you have perhaps a new guest sleeping over and that whole review is a difficult thing any suggestions ?!

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  8. You should make a post on hair loss and sexy time, lol! Nobody ever talks about that. I want to know who else has had to pick their wig up off the floor afterwards. lol!!

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  9. Such a great post. Your blog is so inspirational for the struggle of feeling confident with thinnning hair. I just ordered the vintage head bands too-so cute.

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  10. I have had hair loss for over 20 yrs and started wearing toppers about 2.5 yrs ago, what a great ego boost! I tend to put my bio hair, which is now past my shoulders, into a very thin pony tail at night, somehow it hides most of.my loss and I will sometimes do the tinted dry shampoo to fluff it before hand. My husband was hospitalized for 6 wks last yr and sleeping in the topper was very uncomfortable for me, so I started rocking the ponytail and got comfortable with it in a hospital setting.

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  11. I’ve gotten something from Headcovers Unlimited, which is completely dedicated to head coverings for people with hair loss issues. The material is lightweight which makes it comfortable. I’d also like to find something that has a bit more substance. They might have it and I didn’t yet find it. I wear the lightweight brown head covering, and I feel like it kind of replaces my hair, which is brown.

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  12. Hello Lauren….I have always had thin hair but noticed more thinning after menopause to where it was almost impossible to cover my scalp. I had fought this battle and decided to give up the bottle of hair color and highlights. I thought what do I have to lose so my sweet hubby buzzed my hair down to less than an inch to get the color off faster, I had prepared in advance and purchased a cute wig that was my best friend for a little over 4 months. I started using women’s Rogaine foam over 6 months ago hoping for a miracle, I have been pleasantly surprised that even though my hair is my no means thick a lot of it has grown back. I am now wigless and feel so much more confident and free with my gray pixie. Hair loss especially for women is such a devastating thing. Just wanted to share my story.

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  13. Hello! Im pregnant for the first time and sometimes i worry about little things women without hair loss never have to think about, including: 1. As my child gets older, How open should i be with them? I don’t want to keep it a secret and think it would be really hard to do that given the fact I often walk around my house with what’s left of my bio hair. However I feel like little kids might blurt out the fact that their mom takes off her hair to family/friends/strangers who don’t know my situation. How have you handled this? And 2: if I end up having a little girl will she be afraid of having the same problem or even resent me for passing on these unlucky genes?

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    • Hi there. I am a mother of three, a boy and two girls. My son is 15 and he just saw me with my hair loss when he was 10. I started loosing my hair after the birth of my second daughter and they never grew back like they use to be before so i am wearing a topper.

      My son has been so supportive and really pushed me to accept my thinning hair and telling me how beautiful i am. He is the one who pushed me to wear hair and be confident about it.Trust kids to be honest.
      My girls have always seen me with or without hair and it is so normal for them that they don’t even think to talk about it to other people. They are 4 and 3! It is like getting dressed for them. It is part of my ritual in the morning.
      If they see you being confident about it and open, they won’t even think twice about it.
      I’m surprise every day with the way they handle it. They even play with my toppers and pretend to be me.
      My advice is be free, be who you are and your child will respect you for it. Act as if it is normal because it IS normal for us to wear hair or not.

      wishing you a wonderful pregnancy!! 🙂 Hope it helped.

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    • I’ve thought the same while I was pregnant, you are not alone. Kids do say the darndest things – mine are 6 and 3 and they haven’t mentioned anything yet. But, they don’t know that what I do is “abnormal”, they probably think all Moms do it. 🙂

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