I'm going to be honest with you — I used to think wrinkles were just something that happened to your face as you got older. You fight them with retinol, maybe Botox if you're serious, and you hope for the best.
That's what I did for years. I had a full routine. Serums, peptides, SPF every single day. I even started Botox in my late twenties because I noticed these lines forming on the side of my face — right along my cheek and near my eye.
The Botox helped with my forehead. My "11s" between my brows softened up. But those side-of-face lines? They didn't budge.
I brought it up to my injector. She looked at them closely and said something that honestly changed my whole perspective:
"Those aren't expression lines. Those are compression lines. Botox can't fix those."
I didn't even know there were different kinds of wrinkles.
The Wrinkle Nobody Talks About
Here's what I learned: there are two completely different types of facial wrinkles, and most people — even people who are serious about skincare — have no idea.
Expression Wrinkles
Caused by muscle movement
Smiling, squinting, frowning — repeated movements crease the skin over time. This is what Botox treats.
Compression Wrinkles
Caused by physical pressure
Your skin being pressed and distorted against a surface. No muscle involved. Botox cannot fix these.
And when does your skin get smushed for hours at a time, every single night? When you sleep on a flat pillow.
If you're a side sleeper — and roughly 74% of people are — your face is being pressed into your pillow for 6–8 hours straight. That's not a crease from smiling. That's your skin being folded and compressed against a flat surface, over and over, night after night.
No serum fixes that. No Botox fixes that. You're not treating a muscle — you're treating skin distortion. The only fix is to stop the compression from happening in the first place.
How I Actually Fixed It
Once I understood the problem, I went looking for solutions. I tried sleeping on my back — lasted about two nights before I gave up. I'm a side sleeper. That's just how my body wants to sleep.
Then I found an anti-wrinkle pillow designed specifically for side sleepers. It's called NapBae, and the design is completely different from anything I'd seen.
Instead of a flat surface that your face smashes into, it has raised cushions on either side that cradle your head while keeping your face completely suspended. Nothing touches your cheeks, your jaw, your eye area — nothing.
The first time I laid down on it, I actually couldn't believe it. I rolled to my side and my face was just... open. Fully open. No contact with anything.
I remember thinking there's no way I'll actually sleep like this. But I did. And I kept sleeping on it. Every single night.
3 Years Later — The Results
I want to be real about the timeline because I think people expect overnight miracles and then give up.
Week 1
The morning lines were gone. You know those creases you wake up with that take an hour to fade? Gone from day one. I'd look in the mirror and my face was completely smooth. No lines, no puffiness on one side.
Month 1
The deeper lines I'd developed from years of side sleeping started softening. Not because of any product — because the compression just stopped happening. My skin was finally getting a chance to recover.
Year 1
My facialist asked me what I changed. She said my skin texture on my cheeks looked noticeably different — smoother, more even. I told her I switched my pillow. She literally didn't believe me at first.
Year 3 (now)
I haven't slept on a flat pillow in three years. Not at home, not traveling — I bring my NapBae everywhere. I have zero compression lines. Zero. The ones I had before have faded almost completely. My Botox injector even commented that I don't need as many units in certain areas because there's less damage to correct.
"I spend less on Botox now than I did before. Think about that."
The Part Nobody Wants to Hear
Your skincare routine isn't the problem. Your products are probably great. But if you're spending money on serums and treatments during the day and then pressing your face into a flat pillow for 8 hours at night — you're undoing your own work.
It's like going to the gym every morning and then sitting in a position that destroys your posture for the rest of the day. The workout isn't the issue. The 8 hours of damage after it is.
I'm not saying throw away your skincare. I'm saying stop ignoring the 8 hours where your skin is being physically compressed against a surface.
Your flat pillow is working against everything else you're doing for your face.
If You're a Side Sleeper, Try This
I don't say this about many products, but NapBae genuinely changed the trajectory of my skin. Not a serum. Not a treatment. A pillow.
If you're a side sleeper and you've noticed lines forming on the side of your face — especially lines that don't respond to Botox or retinol — this is probably why.
The compression is the cause. Remove the compression, and you remove the problem.
I wish I'd figured this out five years earlier. I would've saved thousands in Botox trying to fix something that wasn't even a muscle issue.