The sun turns off at 5 p.m.. The sky is dull, grey and the bitter weather makes me want to sleep in. Yet, deep sleep still feels like the splurge item on a wish list I’ll never get. As we shed 2025, end-of-year burnout is showing all over my face, but at a time where we all feel tired, prioritizing beauty sleep during the busy holidays somehow feels forbidden.
So, I spent mine in a sleep lab to catch up on some much needed beauty rest. Blocking out all the noise that tells Black women to hustle through our under-eye bags, I spent the night at New York’s Equinox Hotel in a research-backed room (equipped with a “PM Ritual” guide) optimized for helping me sleep deep.
Between stress, anxiety, and family commitments, 56 percent of Americans say they have trouble prioritizing sleep over the holidays. But, instead of falling victim to dark circles, red eyes, dull skin, and fine lines, here’s how I used the guide to turn deep sleep into my holiday beauty ritual.
Contrast Therapy Shower
The first step in my holiday beauty ritual was washing the day out of my hair. But, the secret to deeper sleep? Steam. I usually shower in hot water only, but this time I used a steam head with a slot to add a few drops of sleep blend oil. I like the Virtuvi Rest Essential Oils to start off my PM ritual, which helps relieve muscle tension and lower my cortisol levels as I wind down before bed.
Meanwhile, I massaged my scalp as the steam opened up my hair cuticles so the shampoo and conditioner could penetrate, soften, and hydrate my coils. When I felt myself getting too hot, I turned the shower ice cold for 30-seconds to cool down while tightening my pores back up as I rinsed my hair.
Finally, I used a calming body cleanser that smelled like restorative sleep: chamomile, Tasmanian pepper, and tangerine. While the Grown Alchemist x Equinox PM cleanser is exclusive to the Equinox Hotel, Cyklar’s Sacred Santal Sensorial Body Wash has a warm, sleepy aroma that comes with a body contour tool in the gift set I use at home.
PM Skincare Ritual
After my shower, I put on my robe and transitioned from my body to skincare ritual. I just cleared my adult acne (finally), but I still use La Roche-Posay’s Effaclar Medicated Gel Face Cleanser which has prevented new breakouts. The star of the show, however, was my Biologique Recherche Masque Vivant which is a soothing, regulating, and pore-tightening mask for acne-prone skin.
Then, I followed up with the famous exfoliating toner, Lotion P50T, which I apply with dental gauze to avoid wasting what feels like liquid gold. After my topical skincare, I used the 12-minute LED therapy device that’s been on my entire family’s wish list to close out my skincare ritual: the TheraFace Mask Glo.
PM Body Scan
I can’t sleep well without feeling clean. And, while sleep hygiene, like a shower, hair washing, and skincare, help me sleep deeper, so does taking time to relax my mind before bed. I did the sleep lab’s 14-minute PM Body Scan Ritual, which was a series of eight targeted stretching and breathing exercises that helped me calm my mind and body, and increase circulation in the most tense parts of them.
Circadian Color Meditation
After stretching, I turned on a circadian color meditation. In the sleep lab, this looked like a pulsing red glow on the TV screen to unwind to. Meanwhile, a night time soundscape developed by neuroscience and music psychology reverberated throughout the dim-lit room.
If you have a colored light at home, turning on a red setting and taking deep rhythmic breaths can help slow your heart and breath rate. Inhale for a count of three, then exhale for a count of six, before repeating again a few more times. You can also lie flat on your back and take six deep inhales and exhales, which helped me let my day go.
The Sleep-Inducing Menu
A teaspoon of honey, strawberries, raspberries and a drop of ashwagandha are a sleep-inducing combination, as suggested in the sleep lab’s PM Ritual. That, and natural sources of melatonin, like tart cherries, cherry juice, kiwis, walnuts, and almonds a few hours before bed worked wonders for me. On the actual room service sleep menu, bone broth, adaptogenic tea, and even a holiday-forward hot cocoa with dark chocolate and ashwagandha were on standby.
It’s also worth noting that the holidays often coincide with a higher consumption of alcohol, which can significantly impact your sleep quality, so the guide recommends you have your last drink at least two hours before bed.
Dark. Quiet. Cool.
After showering, stretching, breathing, and having sleep-inducing snacks, it was time for bed. “Dark. Quiet. Cool.” was the optimal deep sleep setting, which means blackout shades, soundproof walls and windows, and sleep’s ideal temperature—66 degrees.
30-minutes before I went to bed, the room gradually transitioned to this science-backed setting, which gave my body time to wind down. But, not just on any mattress. The adaptive mattress had personalized temperature controls, which means if you’re prone to hot flashes throughout the night, the mattress automatically cools down. Similarly, the mattress warmed up and gave a gentle shake as I woke up (which replaced my alarm).
The Results
The morning after, I woke up feeling more refreshed than I have all season. The dark circles that lived under my eyes were fading, I felt less fatigued, and most importantly, I did something that all Black women deserve over the holidays: revolutionary rest. Now, returning home, I’m bringing what I learned about sleep back to my bed.