Beauty editor Ashleigh Cometti has some honest thoughts about the viral TikTok trend, which, at the time of writing, had amassed 24 million views online.
A night-time mouth breather with the propensity to snore when drunk or tired — my husband really hit the wife lottery when he married me.
While we’ve always managed to sleep in relative harmony, I have remained slightly self-conscious of the way in which I snooze — slack-jawed with a little trail of dribble on my pillow. Sleeping Beauty? I think not.
That said, it’s hardly surprising then that my interest piqued when I spotted the now-hotly contested mouth taping trend on TikTok last year. I was heavily pregnant at the time, so decided to shelf the idea for a later date.
Turns out that date was this Monday night, and I have some honest thoughts.
What is mouth taping and why has it gone viral?
It’s quite self-explanatory, really: by taping your mouth shut, your only choice is to breathe through your nose. The practice calls for a piece of micropore tape (you want to steer clear of duct tape or cellotape) placed over the centre of the mouth at night before you sleep, sealing your lips together.
The so-called beauty hack has amassed 24 million views on TikTok, with thousands of creators demonstrating how they tape their mouths closed as part of their nighttime beauty routine.
In a video shared by TikTok user @Isabelle.Lux, the creator claims that by taping her mouth shut, she slept longer and better, and that it helped her feel and look her best.
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Advertise with NZME.Her clip is not in isolation, with hundreds of others claiming mouth tape promotes better sleep and improved oral health, eliminates dreaded morning breath, and strengthens the immune system.
But it begs the question, is mouth taping safe while you’re drifting in and out of consciousness actually safe?
What do the experts say?
According to Dr Raj Dasgupta, a sleep specialist from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of California, mouth taping can be dangerous for those who have undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea.
The condition causes the complete or partial collapse of the airway and remains one of the most prolific and dangerous of all sleep disorders, Dr Dasgupta explains.
“There is limited evidence on the benefits of mouth taping, and I would be very careful — even talk to your healthcare provider before attempting it,” he says.
A study published in 2019 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine Journal revealed that more than 1 billion people aged 30-69 are likely to have the condition, with millions more yet to receive an official diagnosis.
My take on the trend
Armed with a roll of Nexcare Micropore Gentle Paper Tape, and safe in the knowledge that sleep apnea is not an issue for me, I got to work quite literally zipping my lips.
Much to my husband’s delight, my taped shut mouth meant I couldn’t chew his ear off like I usually would right as he’s drifting into sleep. But I did feel instantly claustrophobic in my own body, as if taping my mouth shut made me instinctively want to breathe through my mouth even more.
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Advertise with NZME.After a short moment of panic, I managed to retain control of my breathing and prepare myself for sleep. I must confess I did lie awake for a while (I’m usually so exhausted at the end of each day that I’m asleep the second my head hits the pillow) so this was slightly unnerving.
But when I eventually did, I didn’t wake up till morning. I woke to my alarm in the same position I fell asleep in (on my right side, arm under the pillow, always) rather than on my back like I usually would (cue snoring). While the tape had lifted slightly on that side, it had stayed on all night.
I was grateful for being fussy when it came to tape selection, as I can easily see how some formats can rip at delicate lip skin or unintentionally wax off the peach fuzz of the surrounding lip area. This tape peeled off quickly and easily, although I did find I reached for my lip balm almost instinctively to rehydrate the area.
Would I do it again?
Probably not, despite what TikTok says — I didn’t find the benefits to be that impressive. Yes, I did sleep soundly once I was asleep, and didn’t wake up with nasty morning breath in the am, but with little scientific evidence to support beauty claims, I wonder if lying awake for an hour was actually worth it?
It’s definitely not something I would have tried if I’d had even the inkling of a cold or flu, and the thought of a cough being muffled by tape feels like some form of awful hostage situation over a beauty hack. Not to mention trying to only breathe through a clogged nose would be torturous, to say the least.
Instead, I’m open to paying closer attention to my nightly oral hygiene routine — like investing in a new toothbrush and using a water flosser in the shower to thoroughly clean my gums and mouth before I jump into bed. If my concern over my inability to breathe through my nose all night grows, I’ll look into a nasal dilator or nasal strips (under the guidance of my doctor) to help open up my nasal airway while I slumber.
