I Tried the $13 Bedtime Hack Katy Perry Swears By — And It Was Bizarre

I never skip a “what’s in my bag” video. A satchel-sized tour of your life? Pulling each item out one by one and telling a little story? That’s ASMR to me. So of course I watched Katy Perry’s recent video for British Vogue. It was pretty standard — wellness supplements, skincare products, a miniature red light wand that I want to try — until she pulled out a lint roller. 

“I swear by my lint roller. I will lint roll the bottom of my feet before I get into bed,” Katy says in the video. “Is that weird? Do we all have weird things like that? I think we do. I just shared mine with the world.” She moves on swiftly to the next item, a game she keeps in her bag for her daughter, but I found myself unable to move on from the foot thing. 

When someone brought it up in a meeting of editors at work, it was a room divided. Why would you not just take a shower before bed? Some wondered. But still, little fuzzies and fibers can cling to your soles when you pad from the bathroom to bedroom, others countered. Others argued, isn’t that what slippers were invented for? Most of us agreed, though, that lint rolling our feet would simply never come to mind as a solution. 

But I’ll admit that I was curious. I already keep a lint roller in my nightstand (more on that later), so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try 13-time Grammy nominee Katy Perry’s nighttime routine. 

For context, I am a nighttime showerer and a slippers owner, but I don’t tend to wear them until the fall or winter. I also have a cat, so I vacuum my apartment a lot. So, when I sat on the edge of my bed the first night and rolled that sticky cylinder across the bottoms of my feet, it picked up a mere few particles. Satisfied, I slipped into bed and slept just as well as I normally would. 

I tried it again for the next couple of nights, just to see if I’d learn to love it. The sensation is a little odd — ticklish feet beware — but totally bearable, and each night I’d pick up a few fuzzies that had clung to my feet post-shower. Personally, getting into bed like that wouldn’t bother me, so this lint roller hack really had no effect on my sleep life, besides making me laugh at myself a little each night because of how bizarre it felt. 

That said, there are other reasons I’d cosign keeping a lint roller by your bed (or even in your bag). I have a nightstand with a little shelf, which is where my trusty lint roller usually resides. Because of the aforementioned cat, I use it to pick up any loose hairs and smooth things out after I make my bed. I also like having it close at hand to remove any fuzz or fur from my clothes when I get dressed. 

And, during that contentious conversation at work the other day, Executive Lifestyle Director, Charli Penn, said she likes to lint roll her pillowcases every day (in between washes) to make sure they’re free of any dog fur or debris — as a clean pillowcase is an overlooked aspect of skincare.

While I don’t think I’ll be folding this foot ritual into my nighttime routine, I don’t actually think it’s a bad idea. A quick way to keep your sheets fuzz-free and feel completely clean getting into bed? Katy might just be onto something. For now, though, I’ll keep my lint roller right where it is — close at hand on my nightstand, but at arm’s length from my feet.