When I saw model-turned-Strictly-presenter Tess Daly with a taped mouth, I had the epiphany that a taped mouth might be just what I was looking for.
I snore so bad that a boyfriend once went to sleep in a bedroom on another floor of the house, and I realize that turning into a slack-jawed mouth breather is not good.
In Tess Daly’s Instagram caption, she claims that taping her mouth gives her deeper, more restful sleep, and she said in an interview that breathing through your nose is better for your skin and stops you from having baggy eyes in the morning .
I could certainly use this, and when I look it up online, I see that Hollywood A-lister Gwyneth Paltrow is also rumored to be a fan of mouth taping.
If it’s good enough for Gwyneth, it’s good enough for me, and the experts seem to agree that breathing through your nose is better. Benefits include filtering dust and feeling more relaxed due to the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system.
But when it comes to taping the mouth, experts are divided – not everyone thinks it’s a good idea, and to be honest, I have some reservations myself. namely:
- What if I literally can’t breathe? I’ve become so addicted to breathing through my mouth that I’m honestly not sure if I’ll be able to breathe through my nose all night (or even for a few minutes).
- What will happen when I wear fake tan to bed? Will removing the tape leave me with weird lines on my face?
- Am I losing my ability to just fall asleep without more and more essentials at night? I used to just go to bed, but now I use earplugs, eye masks and silk turbans. Do I really want to add a mouth band to this seemingly endless list of sleep accessories?
I decide to find out.
Night 1: X-shaped mouth band (portrait)
It was my first night with duct tape. I was nervous about wearing it because breathing through my mouth had become such a habit, even during the day, that I wasn’t sure I could make it through the night breathing through my nose. I thought it might be hard to breathe and imagined I should take the tape off – but actually my breathing was fine. It turned out that I was completely able to breathe through my nose and I slept very well.
The only time I came close to wanting to take the tape off was at night when I woke up to use the bathroom. I am a perpetual water drinker and usually reach for water by my bed when I wake up at night. Not being able to do that was a bit AARRRGH and I thought about taking the band off to get a drink of water but resisted.
When my alarm went off at 7am on Sunday morning, I removed the tape. Pulling it off hurt my lips and skin a bit and I wouldn’t want to do that every day. I’m already slightly dreading having to do this every morning and I’m not sure how it would work if I was wearing fake tan.
I drank some water then took a nap and noticed that my mouth stayed closed without the band so it looks like wearing the band might help me get into better habits.
Night 2: Purple lip tape
For my second night of wearing the lip tape, I try a different brand and when I put it on, I cringe when I see that it looks like I’m wearing a mannequin.
It doesn’t look good and I wouldn’t want a partner to see me like that. Amazon says this mouth band is for adults, but it reminds me of something that is ABDL [Adult Baby Diaper Lover] the fetish community can wear along with a diaper.
I play the tape before I go to bed – I scroll on my phone and while wearing it I have to stifle a yawn. It’s not long before I have to stifle a laugh when I read something funny on Twitter/X. The mouth tape is not conducive to either yawning or laughing.
With this particular product, the strip is mostly around the outside of the lips, with two thin strips running over the lips themselves. This gives me confidence that I will be able to breathe through my mouth if I have to, but I’m also worried that the thin strips might break.
It turns out they don’t, and when I try to stretch the band in the morning, I find it’s tighter than it first appeared. But the little lines on the lips aren’t enough to keep them closed and I think my mouth is opening slightly.
Removing this tape is horrible – definitely worse than removing the X-shaped mouth tape I wore the first night, and it leaves a slightly sticky mark on the skin around my mouth.
Night 3: Hostage Strip
Unlike the first two strips I tried, this completely covers my lips and the area around my mouth. It’s literally a black bar, like you’re actually being held hostage. It looks creepy and I’m worried that I won’t be able to breathe through my mouth if I have to.
The brand also makes nosebands. They apparently help with nasal breathing, so I wear one of those along with the band. I’ve never tried nasal strips before and I’m not sure if I’m just very open to suggestions, but they seem to make nasal breathing clearer from the moment I put them on.
As I scroll through my phone before falling asleep, I have to stifle a yawn – because of course I can’t open my mouth.
The lip tape is not pleasant to take off and I definitely wouldn’t want to do that every morning. The nasal strip is really hard to remove and I have to put some Bio Oil on a cotton pad to make it easier to remove. The difficulty of getting it off will make me use it again.
Night 4: X-shaped mouth band (portrait)
I’ve been a little out of breath during the day. I think I might have a cold, so I was a little worried about not going ahead with the mouth strip tonight. Turns out I’m fine though. I slept very well and when I dozed off a bit after the alarm went off and I had removed the tape, my mouth remained closed.
Wednesday, November 1
Night 5: Wearing the X-Shaped Mouth Band (Landscape)
Tonight I wore a landscape style with an X-shaped lip liner, not a portrait style, so it was just on my lips rather than on my skin above and below my mouth.
This was in view of how I would handle the lip tape when wearing fake tan to bed. This will be problematic with a strip on my skin, so I’ve been trying to find a way to only wear it on my lips.
Unfortunately, wearing an X-band in a landscape style doesn’t work so well. The band stayed on but didn’t keep my mouth completely closed while I slept. I experienced the dry mouth that I usually experience with mouth breathing at night, and I didn’t sleep as well as when the mouth strip was fully functional.
Night 6: X Mouth Tape (Portrait)
Tonight I went back to wearing the X-shaped portrait style with a mouth band. I woke up several times during the night.
It was as if I had tried to open my mouth in my sleep and found I couldn’t – I think I must have been trying to take a big breath. Each time I fell asleep again and kept breathing through my nose.
Night 7: X Mouth Tape (Portrait)
I put the band on my mouth and just as I was about to fall asleep, I remembered that I hadn’t opened my bedroom window. I like to have the windows open when I sleep – even in November – and I knew that if I didn’t open them now, I’d have to get up in the night to do it.
While I was putting off getting up, I dozed off and when I woke up about half an hour later, I felt that despite my mouth tape my lips were slightly open and my mouth was dry on the inside – a clear sign that d was a mouth breather.
Maybe I hadn’t placed the tape correctly? After opening the window, I removed the mouth tape and applied new tape. I could feel that it was slightly off to one side, not in the center, but I was too tired to deal with it, so I just went to sleep.
When I woke up in the morning, my lips were slightly parted and my mouth was dry on the inside, so I was obviously a mouth breather.
It might be because I didn’t tape it right, but as winter comes I’m starting to get tight.
This means I have difficulty breathing through my nose and the side effect is an increased need to breathe through my mouth.
I think the sheer need to breathe outweighed the power of the mouth tape – which is actually quite comforting when you think about it!
