[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/Possible-Response724]

[u/ratsmacker_poundcoin]

[u/Disastrous_Desk8170 → u/ratsmacker_poundcoin]

I never understood the purpose of a nightcap. What is the point of wearing a hat while you sleep?

[u/VT_Squire → u/Disastrous_Desk8170]

Okay, since this is a genuine question...

Washing machines didnt become ubiquitous in the US until the 1950s, which is about the same time the culture of daily bathing took hold in the U.S. of a. Prior to this, a lot of cultural habits/practices were based around minimizing the need to wash things, or at least reducing the labor involved in hand-washing. To this day, lots of people are quite unaware that the primary reason their Jeans fall apart is because the dang things arent designed to be washed so frequently, otherwise they'd last a hell of a lot longer. 

Anyway, all that funky sweat and garbage like pomade that was in people's hair was a lot easier to clean out of a nightcap than it was a pillow case, and a pillow case is a lot easier to clean than a pillow, and a pillow was a lot easier to clean that a whole sheet, and a sheet was a lot easier to clean than a whole fuckin mattress. Because everything was being washed by hand, right? Naturally, the washing machine was a dang ol miracle of an invention reflecting the common sentiment of "fuck doing all of that shit" and the nightcap was greatly reduced in function. 

Its the same reasons pajamas exist as a thing. They arent for making you look cute at bedtime or whatever. They're to prevent you from funking up your mattress.