When did women stop wearing bonnets in North America?

Starting in the late 1800s, many women—especially younger, more fashion-conscious ones—began to adopt fashionable hats as part of their daily outfits. However, older women and those living in rural areas continued to wear bonnets well into the early 20th century.

Sleeping caps remained popular among women until the late 20th century, primarily for practical reasons: they helped keep curlers in place and protected hairstyles. During the 1970s and 1980s, sleeping caps began to fall out of favor with younger women, largely due to modern advances in hairstyling tools, such as blow dryers, curling irons, and hot rollers. They stopped using them because they were no longer considered necessary. And this is probably why younger white women are CLUELESS about sleeping caps or ‘bonnets’ and think it’s ‘cultural appropriation’ to wear them. They grew up in a household where no one wore a bonnet.

I can speak from personal experience because my mother wore a sleeping cap nearly every night of her life. I also had one when I was a child because she sometimes rolled my hair in sponge curlers (despite the fact that we had more modern styling tools): there was a time when all white women wore bonnets as part of their daily attire and even to bed before the late 1800s. Interestingly, men also wore them to bed, as they helped keep heads warm in homes that lacked central heating. Women not only used bonnets for warmth but also to protect their hairstyles.

Hello, I have a question about astral projection. I started to get interested in this a little while after my mum passed in april. I thought I may be able to see her and speak with her if I managed to achieve astral projection. Since this interest, every time i sleep on my back I go into sleep paralysis. However, I cant progress into astral projection because it is very scary for me as I feel like I'm suffocating when this happens. I panic and force myself to wake up. This only ever happened about once a year before this. It sometimes lasts a long time. This has happened about 3 times per week since my mum died, as mentioned on a previous post. I no longer try to go into it anymore(due to the suffocating feeling), but it still happens. I read that sleep paralysis is the pathway to astral projection. Why has this started to happen so frequently since simply taking an interest in it? Is this connected to the afterlife? I am concerned about it as I now cannot seem to stop this happening. Could it be my mum trying to communicate? Im asking due to more knowledge around this in this group.

But I have noticed that black women still use them—probably because their hair has unique needs. Natural black hair often requires more time to dry and set, and wearing a bonnet can help preserve hairstyles, reduce frizz, and protect the hair from breakage. This is why they remain a part of African American culture. BUT they are European in origin and white American women certainly continued to use them during the last century. Some still use them.