100% blackout is right! Nighttime at high noon. Finally- SLEEP!
(TL/DR: Fabric is thick and lush, like velour, nicely lined; I ordered them wider and longer than needed, to prevent light leakage around edges, and got real blackout conditions while the sun was blasting the side of my building, and my bedroom window. These curtains deliver TRUE BLACKOUT CONDITIONS. Finally getting some SLEEP!)I grew up on the West Coast, near the Pacific Ocean. The sun there was veiled by mist or fog or clouds most days. This might sound depressing to a lot of people, but to those of us who grew up there, those were just normal conditions. If we woke up and it was nice and foggy, we would think "oh- another nice, foggy day!" Hot, sunny weather was the exception. In fact, hot weather was something all the natives I knew dreaded. (No- we weren’t vampires. We just preferred our normal, temperate weather conditions.) If the temperature got over 70 degrees, everyone started to wilt. And if it got above 80, panic started to set in. You could always tell the transplants, because if it got hot like that, they were the only ones wearing shorts in public. It was always too cold for shorts. Other than swimming trunks, nobody I knew would go outside wearing shorts. It rained a lot there, too. It almost never rains here, which I find incredibly creepy.I remember reading stories of English rock bands who, after some success, moved to Los Angeles with its endlessly sunny weather. While some of them welcomed the sun, others almost literally lost their minds, missing the gray and damp of home. After a year or so of unrelenting sun, they would flee Laurel Canyon and return to cool, foggy Blighty. I can totally relate to this.Some years ago, due to a life crisis, I moved to a state that has 465 days of blasting sun. Well- not that many of course, but it sure feels like that many. This place gets the weather right (to me) maybe five times a year. The rest of the time, I feel like a tomato slice that is slowly desiccating in a vegetable dehydrator. When I first arrived- lucky me!- there were almost thirty days straight of 90 degree weather. I had experienced temperatures like that maybe a dozen times in my entire life. I had no idea how to run an air conditioner; there had been no need for them. If you wanted nice fresh air, you opened a window.My apartment faces East. That supernova outside blasts the side of the building relentlessly, starting in April, for seemingly endless hours. Of course, I don't hate the sun. I just like to be able to sleep, and I also don’t like feeling like an ant under a magnifying glass when I am inside of my apartment.I began the search for blackout curtains here on Amazon. I knew Amazon would have a wide variety of choices, and indeed, there were a TON of choices. A couple of years ago, without doing any research, I had purchased some “blackout curtains” at Target. Never having needed blackout curtains- like air conditioning- I didn’t realize there were degrees of blackout-ness for these curtains. It turns out the ones I bought called themselves blackout curtains, but they did allow some light through. Also, the thing they refer to as “the sun” here is so powerful, it requires curtains that possess NASA solar probe-level insulating properties to enable true blackout conditions. Whatever the reasons, the Target “blackout curtains” were letting in light. Getting decent, unbroken sleep was almost impossible, especially when my work shift was changed to a weird, late-night hours one. I resolved then and there to get ahold of the real deal as far as blackout curtains were concerned, and I knew I would find them on good old Amazon.My research began. I looked at curtains and curtains and curtains. I made lists comparing various blackout curtains and their properties, and prices. I also read a ton of reviews (thank you!) I soon realized there was one very important, fundamental attribute of blackout curtains I had overlooked when I purchased the ineffective blackout curtains.In the name of these BGment curtains is a clue to what makes blackout curtains truly effective. “BGment Thermal Insulated *100% Blackout Curtains* for Bedroom with Black Liner, Double Layer Full Room Darkening Noise Reducing Rod Pocket Curtain.” That clue is “100% Blackout Curtains.” I checked the old curtains I had purchased, and the description said they were “blackout curtains that will reduce light levels significantly.” There was no mention of them being “100% Blackout” curtains. In other words, they were not TRUE blackout curtains. After reading the reviews for the BGment curtains, and reading about how effective people found them at blocking out light, I ordered them.I had gained valuable wisdom from the ineffective blackout curtain purchase, other than the 100% blackout thing. I learned to make sure to *order curtains that are both much wider, and much longer* than measurements would suggest would be adequate. The reason for this is that I wanted TRUE BLACKOUT CONDITIONS in my room. I needed my sleep. I didn’t want ANY light leaking into the room around the curtains, from above, from below, from the sides, or from where the curtains met in the middle. The light here is so intense, that it *stabs* into the room. It is not a shaft of light, it is a laser beam. I am not kidding. Even the cats avoid any raw sunlight that gets into the room.By ordering curtains that are wider than necessary, I could use push pins to pin the extra fabric on either side to the walls, so there would be no light leakage on either side of the window. If the curtains were longer then they needed to be, there would be no light leaking in from the bottom of the window. Also, if they were wider than they needed to be, there would be a decent overlap in the middle where the curtains met, especially since some of their width had been taken up by being tacked to the sides of the window to prevent leakage there. As for light coming in from the top of the curtains, along the curtain rod, I got some heavy black fabric about 24 inches wide, and pinned it to the wall above the curtain rod, so it overlapped the rod, and hung over the top of the curtains so there was no light getting in there.I ordered BGment 100% Blackout Curtains that were much longer and wider than my measurements suggested I needed. And I was so glad I did. You may not want to go this route, but I own my unit, so I can put push pins or staples into the walls if I wish to, and I wanted *no* light coming in my bedroom window, if I could manage that.I woke up just before sunrise, and took down my old wimpy blackout curtains. I opened the package of the BGment curtains. The first thing I noticed was how well made they were. The fabric of the curtains was very substantial. It reminded me of a heavy velour. The fabric was also unexpectedly very lush and soft, which was a nice bonus. They were also fully lined. As a test, I turned on my brightest lamp- one of the lamps on my art table, which is a high intensity lamp- and held one of the curtains up to the light. Couldn’t see anything through the . There was absolutely no way light was going to get through these curtains. Of course, the real test came later, when the supernova showed up.Make sure you have substantive curtain rods- these curtains are *heavy.*. I am an older woman, and not terribly strong, and I live alone, and found hoisting these curtains up a bit challenging due to their weight. I just piled most of their bulk onto my painting ladder, though, and took my time, and eventually, got them both threaded onto the curtain rod.I started getting really excited because these curtains, I could tell, were FINALLY the real deal. They reminded me of theater curtains- thick and lush and velvety. They were wide enough so I could tack their edges to either side of my big bedroom window, so the light would be blocked out there, and they were plenty long enough that they would keep light from peeping in from under the window. Their overlap was not *quite* as generous as I had hoped it would be (and I was erring on the side of overkill here, so for most people, I think the overlap I got would have been fine.) I just use a clothespin to make certain no light peeps in where the curtains meet. I wanted to order the wider measurement of these curtains, but they were sold out, and I couldn’t wait anymore to get sleep, so this minor and ignorable discrepancy is on me. Lastly, I pinned the long strip of black fabric to block out light leakage from the top of the curtains, made sure they were completely closed, and waited for the supernova to appear.I turned off all of the lights in the bedroom except for one that I used for reading. I got in bed, got my book, and started reading. I waited for the light to come in and bug me. I waited. And waited. And waited. This curtain installation occurred on my day off, so I could sleep in if I wanted to (and if I was able to) so I wasn’t concerned about the time. I kept reading.I fell asleep because- NO LIGHT WAS GETTING INTO THE BEDROOM. The cats, as cats will, woke me up to let me know they were hungry and I had slept through their usual breakfast time. I decided to try an experiment. I got out of bed, and turned off the reading light.The room was completely black. (Or, I should say, “100% black.”) You know the expression “you can’t see a hand in front of your face?” Well- I waved my hand in front of my face, and I couldn’t see it. I had stepped away from the bed, and was trying to get to a lamp on the dresser, and I actually bashed into the dresser, because I COULD NOT SEE IT.So if you are looking for complete blackout conditions in your room- in which you can sleep, or just not be fried, as I was, by unrelenting solar rays, I’m telling you- get these curtains. Order them longer, and wider, than you think you need them to be, if you want to ensure there will be no light leakage, as I did. They are VERY effective at keeping the light out but also they are attractive and very well constructed. These BGment 100% Thermal Insulated Blackout Curtains may be more expensive than other blackout curtains, but they are worth it.As far as their heat insulating properties, to be honest, I did not measure the temperature prior to their installation, and then after. But as a non-scientific testimony- yes, my bedroom is cooler with these curtains than it was with the less thick and lush non-100% blackout curtains. I also can’t attest as to their noise-blocking ability as, thankfully, I am on the quiet side of the building that faces a row of backyards, and not the street. Overall, though, performance of these curtains is truly impressive. I would absolutely purchase them again, and HIGHLY recommend them. I would order them, and get yourself some nighttime- at noon! Thank you.