The great top sheet debate: do you need one if you have a duvet?
There’s a new debate brewing between generations. Last week, Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) declared war on my beloved ankle socks. This week, the battle has moved into the bedroom. Millennials and Gen Z have teamed up to take on the top sheet. You know, that basically useless thin sheet that goes in between your fitted sheet and duvet/comforter. What’s the point of it? According to Gen X and the Boomers, that silly little flat sheet is absolutely necessary for hygiene. They claim that it keeps your duvet from getting dirtier quicker by acting as a barrier for dead skin cells and body oils. Those of us born after 1981 agree that eliminating the top sheet is really just sleeping smarter, not harder.
The debate is on the use of top sheets, also known as flat sheets. They’re the sheets that keep your body from touching the comforter, most Gen X and Boomers are firmly for the use of top sheets as a hygiene practice. The idea being that the top sheet keeps your dead skin cells and body oils from dirtying your comforter, causing you to have to wash it more often.
Apparently Millennials and Gen Zers are uninterested in using a top sheet while sleeping. In fact, they’d rather just get a duvet cover, though they may be cumbersome. A duvet cover can be washed fairly frequently, while some may opt for a cheeper comforter that they don’t care is washed often because their distain for a top sheet is that strong.
But why on earth do Millennials and Gen Zers hate top sheets? It turns out it’s mostly about practicality. Many Millennials are on the move holding a full time job and a side hustle or two to make ends meet, adding and extra step when making the bed seems unnecessary.
“For a younger demographic, eliminating that step when making the bed in the morning really gives you a jump start on the day,” Ariel Kay, CEO of Parachute tells Wall Street Journal.
Parachute is a company that offers bedding sets sans top sheets for folks that just don’t like them and boy has Kay heard everyone’s unsolicited opinions on the matter. She told WSJ that people will stop her on the street to get into debates about the importance or unimportance of top sheets. Yikes.
In a since deleted tweet, @JesseLynnHarte writes, “People say millennials “killed” chain restaurants, marriage, & napkins… But WHEN will they acknowledge our greatest take-down yet?? TOP SHEETS. I don’t know a single millennial who uses one. Top sheets are archaic. This is just the truth.”
It would seem that Millennials and Gen Z would much rather wash their duvet covers weekly than to add a flat sheet into the mix. One big complaint about the flat sheet that adds another con to the list is they get bunched up or tangled around your legs if you’re a restless sleeper. Not everyone likes hotel tucked corners on their sheets because it can feel confining.
But if you run hot, Boomers and Gen Xers have got the thing for you–a top sheet. It would seem that that thin piece of material that irritates some people can act as a sort of temperature control according to USA Today. Even if you don’t tend to need the cooling effect of a top sheet, what Mary Johnson, Tide Principal Scientist at Procter & Gamble has to say in a USA Today follow up article, just may make you rethink ditching the top sheet.
Simply by existing, “people produce one liter of sweat, 40 grams of sebum, 10 grams of salt, and 2 billion skin cells. All that stuff that happens below the waist [and] up by your head—skincare products, hair care products, ear wax, snot, drool, lots of really gross stuff—is transferred to your sheets,” Johnson tells the outlet.
So whether you’re team top sheet or not, it may be a good idea to at least wash whatever you use to cover your bed at least once a week.
I’m an Elder Millennial. I’ve solely used a comforter for literally as long as I can remember. I don’t think I’ve ever used a top sheet unless I had no other options available. I always found them kinda pointless. When I was a kid, I just pushed it down to the end of the bed. If it’s too hot, I’ll sleep with my feet or legs poking out. If it’s cold, I’ll add another blanket on top. Psychologically, having that extra top sheet just feels like excess. Also, comforters just make me feel comfortable and comforted. Plus, you can just throw ‘em in the laundry without having to take the cover off and then reassemble.
We have a duvet in our guest bedroom, where my parents and FIL will each stay several times a year when they come to visit. Whenever their visits alternate, I’ll wash the duvet cover. It’s super annoying to put it back together, which is why I have firmly been on #TeamComforter for a while now. When Mr. Rosie and I moved in together almost two decades ago, we were given the advice from newlywed friends to get separate comforters. This was golden advice that we have never regretted heeding. You have to wash them anyway. So, yeah, ditch the top sheet, y’all! Repeat it with me: It’s okay to just duvet.
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