Sleeping masks

1) Generic sleep masks- These fuckin suck. They are uncomfortable and apply uneven pressure. The straps often slip and fail to stay in place. They also fail to block all of the light. The only benefit I can imagine is that they are very light weight, small, and cheap. Regardless, and even if recieved for free, I'd toss these immediatley. 

2) Contoured and padded sleep masks-  Now these are the next level. Purchased usually with intent and much excitement. Simply upon looking at them plenty of benefits are intuitively discovered. The additional padding takes the pressure points off the eyeballs and the contour does a great job at keeping light out. The strap (and this will vary a bit between models) while wider and better at pressure distribution, still slips and causes awkwardness and abrasion against the ear. Strap slippage is a particularly common issue for those of us that move in our sleep a lot, and side sleepers especially. Other than slippage, as the mask contours around our face, at the edges near where the strap connects, side sleepers will experience discomfort. The padding is equally think all around so when sleeping on your side, its compressed into your face adding more pressure than you might otherwise have felt if it had no padding at all. 

3) Weighted sleep masks- I thought these would be nicer than they ended up being. For side sleepers these are totally useless. They immediately slide off your face. They let light in defeating their primary purpose and way too often their straps are wholly useless. The model depicted is particularly egregious, that strap is hilarious. Now again, there might exist a model that solves some of these issues, but good luck finding one that solves all of them. Calling these sleeping masks is a misnomer, maybe if you desire the cold compress of glass beads on your eyes while being totally awake and conscious, then and only then should this be considered. But don't you dare turn your head or else find this “sleeping mask” flying across the room you're presumably in. 

4) Wrap around sleep masks- Ok, this is the shit right here. It not the conventional shape one would expect from a sleep mask but let me tell ya, it works wonders. Number one, it totally blocks out 99 percent of light. On occasion the smallest amount manages to sneak its way in, but it might just me as a result of my big nose. If it wasnt already obvious from the design, pressure is about as distributed as it possibly could be. The strap isn't elastic and the band is very wide and goes over the ear preventing irritation above it. Much to side sleepers delight, while it has padding, its thin where it matters and exceptionally soft because rather than some higher density foams, its just filler material. The only issue, and its pretty minor, is that the strap uses velcro and since the padding is thin, you can just feel it. Not enough to truly irritate you. But just enough to know its there. Sliding the mask to the side just a bit helps alleviate it.