I Have Never Slept Better

By Dave Johnson
I have just had the most luxurious experience of my whole entire life. Actually, the experience I had, transcends luxury and borders on heavenly. Last night, I had the privilege of sleeping on 1,000 thread-count, Egyptian cotton sheets from the Egyptian Cotton Collection which is located right in our community in Fort Mill, SC. Somia Schell, the owner, is Egyptian and one of the warmest and most generous people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Her passion is Egyptian cotton and all things made from it. Although her primary product is high thread-count sheets (400-1500), she also sells, towels, duvets & duvet covers, bathrobes, organic Egyptian Cotton children's clothing and scented Egyptian Candles. If you are looking to give that special someone a very special gift for the holidays, you should definitely visit her showroom in Fort Mill or shop from her website at EgyptianCottonCollection.com. The best part of shopping with Somia is everything is reasonably priced.

Contrary to what most people think, the quality of bed sheets is not about the thread count-it is about the material used to manufacture them and there is no better material than Egyptian Cotton. Grown along the banks of the Nile River, the long staple or long fiber of Egyptian-grown cotton means that there is more continuous fiber to use when creating threads or yarns. This yarn is smaller in diameter yet stronger than other cottons. Smaller yarn means that more threads per square inch can be used to create stronger fabric which is light in weight yet breathes well.

More threads per inch mean that the thread count on the bedding label will be higher. Many buyers think that choosing high thread count sheets is the only gauge of quality. This is not true, but in the case of cotton grown in Egypt, the higher thread count means the fabric will be incredibly strong and will last for years and years. If cared for properly, Egyptian produced cotton fabric used for creating bedding products can last for decades.

The sheets from Egyptian Cotton Collection come prewashed and can be put on the bed right out of the package. Unlike most sheets that pill as they get older and washed more, with every single laundering, the cotton sheets from Egyptian Cotton Collection become softer and softer. Like a fine wine, age improves the Egyptian fiber cotton bedding and, unlike many products, you will prize your Egyptian cotton sheets more and more as they age and become soft and cuddly. Cotton grown in the Egyptian fields will also produce less lint and therefore will not pill after repeated washings as some materials may do.

Unfortunately, there are companies that advertise their sheets as Egyptian Cotton that are not. Be very careful and read the labels carefully. But if you want to be certain, simply shop with Somia. She visits Egypt at least three times a year and since she is a native, she knows the business inside and out.

Now, back to my heavenly night's sleep. First, you need to know something about me. I am not going to endorse a product or business just because they do business with me. Similarly, I will not refer to a baby or child as cute if the are not. I will find some other way to compliment the parent like, nice tennis shoes or great hair cut or something. If a business, product or service is not worthy of my endorsement, I simply won't say anything at all about them. I follow the "mom rule" which states, if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all. I also do not embellish. I call it how I see it or experience it. Understand that this is my personal experience. In other words, it may not be the same for you but, in this case, I would be very surprised if it wasn't. Truth told, if you are unaffected by sleeping on 1,000 thread-count Egyptian Cotton sheets you either already use them or you don't have the ability to appreciate the finer things in life.

Like most men, I am content with just about any type of bedding. I don't really care if the colors of the sheets match the comforter or if they even match each other. I am usually so tired when I finally get to bed that I could fall asleep on broken glass. On the big list of thing I would spend money on, sheets don't even make the top 1,000. That is, until yesterday.

I am not the indulgent or status oriented sort. I drive my car (a 2007 Honda Element SC) because it gets me from point A to point B, it looks different than most cars and because it is anti-status and very easy to figure out (I am also not a rocket doctor or brain scientist). I like simple things but I also like quality and I am not afraid to spend money on things that I know are going to last a long time. I am also not a typical consumer. That is, I have everything I need and I can't (honestly) think of anything I want. So, now you know, if I take the time to endorse a product or service, it is exceptional in every way to say the least.

My wife was very psyched when I brought the sheets home. In fact, she was giddy with excitement (something I clearly did not understand). She immediately stripped our bed and put the new sheets on. For the next six hours all she talked about was how anxious she was to try them out. I figured her reaction was a female thing and I chalked my lack of enthusiasm up to being a guy who doesn't get excited about much unless it has a 900 hp engine, Goodyear racing slicks and has the number 14 on the side and travels around the track at just under 200 mph (you NASCAR fans know what I am talking about).

So 12:30 am rolls around and I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open. I had been working since 6:30 am (the beauty of owning a business is the 18-hour days...NOT!) and I was ready to call it day. Since my wife had gone to bed a few hours before me, I had not heard a word about how great it was going to be to sleep on 1,000 thread-count sheets for a while and had forgotten all about them (one of the great things about being ADD).

I climbed into bed and noticed something a little different right away. I am like a cat in the sense that I toss, turn and roll around for a while before I find the perfect sleeping spot and position. As I was doing this the sheets became more and more comfortable. I was a little taken aback because I wasn't really expecting there to be a noticeable difference. It wasn't a little difference either, it was a huge like the difference between Yugo (for those who don't know, a Yugo was a really crappy car made in Yugoslavia-hence the name-now revered as the worst car ever manufactured) and a Ferrari. I am not kidding, the difference was THAT noticeable.

I don't remember anything after that realization other than having the best night's sleep in my entire life. I woke up completely rested feeling like a Pharaoh and I did not want to get out of bed. The downside to this experience is I will not be able to sleep on anything else and I have a feeling Somia knew this when she gave me the sheets to try. Overnight, I have become a 1,000 thread-count, Egyptian cotton sheet addict. In fact, as I write this, I am "Jonesing" (Urban Dictionary definition- the act of needing something badly. Usually related to chemical dependency) for the feel of those wonderfully luxurious sheets and the phenomenal night's sleep they provided me.

Contrary to what you may have heard, these sheets are not expensive. I have seen them in boutiques that I was dragged into for hundreds of dollars and they are worth millions (maybe even more). You can get them from Somia at www.EgyptianCottonCollection.com  for the low price of $119.95 with free shipping. Do me, and yourself, a favor and give your loved one a set or two of these sheets for the holidays. It will be the best gift they have ever gotten and for guys like me, the benefits (wink, wink) are endless.

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Why is Egyptian cotton considered the best cotton available? Cotton has been used throughout history but the recent popularity of Egyptian cotton brings up a valid question. Is it really better?

In one word, yes. Thread count has traditionally been the means by which we judged the quality of cotton bedding but evidence shows cotton from Egypt is in fact superior to other cottons grown around the world. But what is the difference?

Egyptian cotton has a different make up from other cotton in that it’s fibers are longer than other cottons and therefore creates more continuous fiber to use when creating threads or yarns. While smaller in diameter, the yarn is stronger and more threads per square inch can be produced. The result is bedding that’s lighter, softer and breathes better than comparable cotton bedding – and it actually becomes softer with time. This also makes Egyptian cotton bedding a better value in the long run than cheaper, less comfortable cotton bedding.

Please keep checking back!

Sincerely,
ECC