Best pillow for multipurpose neck-resting?

October 26, 2020 9:37 AM

I need a new pillow. I mostly sleep on my front or my side. I lie on my side or back and read. It needs to smooshily support my neck. Further details inside.

I don't know if I'm getting old, pillow quality is getting worse or what, but I had one good feather pillow for enough years to make an interiors influencer really upset, and then in the past years I've bought a number of them and they wear out super fast. I keep them inside a pillow protector, they're decent quality and they get so flattened so fast that they are not comfortable at all, especially when I lie on my side and read.

My good pillow was one that my parents bought a long time ago, probably from a middling department store of the JC Penney/Montgomery Ward variety, so I can't just seek out another one.

I don't usually like foam pillows, even the ones that purport to imitate feather pillows, because they don't squish up into supportive shapes as well as feathers. However, the last couple of feather pillows have deteriorated so much faster than the previous ones that I would consider a good non-feather one if it is fluffy and squishable like a feather pillow. I have a couple of very firm pillows already for general propping; what I need is neck and face support.

I don't want a block of foam, not even the nicest and most luxurious memory foam. I do not like the feeling.

Price is definitely an object, but recommend me even your fanciest pillows since I might make budget accommodations if one were very, very good.

posted by Frowner to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

I use a pillow full of buckwheat hulls, which you can smush up into whatever shape you want and it mostly stays put. I'm a side sleeper but read on my back and I can pile the buckwheat up high to recline for reading and then smush it all back down (and even hollow out a little spot for my ear) when I roll over and go to sleep. Buckwheat pillows rustle in a way that some people don't like but I adjusted quickly and don't really notice it at all anymore.
posted by SeedStitch at 9:52 AM on October 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

This is a type-of-pillow suggestion rather than a specific-pillow suggestion, but I've found shredded memory foam pillows work really well for me in a way that single-block-of-foam memory foam pillows don't.

I've been using the same one for nearly seven years now and it wasn't mine originally (I stumbled on in the early days of sleeping over at my partner's place before we moved in together and basically stole it forever), and it's still very supportive. I find that block-style memory foam pillows get way too flat from the weight of my giant head in the night (I tried one recently and had this exact issue), and I've never been able to get enough support from even multiple layers of fibre or down pillows.

The shredded foam pillow is also squashy enough that I can tuck it around my neck and shoulders for extra support while lying on my back before sleeping, but supportive enough for when I inevitably move to sleeping on my side.

Seriously, I love this thing like no other style of pillow I've ever tried; I feel like I didn't get a truly comfortable night's sleep before I found this pillow. I take it everywhere I go that doesn't require a plane ride. Worth considering even if you're not usually a foam fan.
posted by terretu at 9:55 AM on October 26, 2020 [3 favorites]

I have bought feather and down pillows from Warm Things, who have a storefront in the neighborhood my office is in. They have a whole guide on how to choose.

I also own a wool-stuffed pillow, which is my secondary pillow for extra propping. It came from Earthsake.

Both of these stores are pretty good about in-person customer service, but I am not sure how they are with email or phone. I bet it's worth a try, they are pretty established small businesses in the Bay.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 9:59 AM on October 26, 2020

I really like my shredded memory foam pillows.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:18 PM on October 26, 2020

Another plus for shredded memory foam. Chipped foam is good too but harder to find.

This Walmart one is cheap enough to give it a try. I found them a little overstuffed, so I opened it up, dumped into a zippered pillow case, and played with it until it felt good. Bonus, beating it into submission at night is good therapy.
posted by Ftsqg at 12:40 PM on October 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

I have both a sobakawa cloud pillow and another bolster-style microbead pillow (my log has something to tell you), which both work well for this purpose. The cloud pillow is slightly small and oddly shaped, so pillowcases have continued to be a bit annoying but I have found that using different sizes and shapes of pillowcases impact the flexibility of the pillow in a useful way. The nice thing about microbeads is that they stay relatively the same size, though the stretchy fabric that contains them can stretch over time.
posted by past unusual at 2:18 PM on October 26, 2020

I have a 700 fill power down pillow from Cuddledown that has held up for three years so far. It was expensive, though.

Before I gave in and bought the above, I tried so many pillows. I personally did not like shredded foam, shredded latex, solid latex. They gave me the feeling of being on a boat. The synthetic down pillows were not shapeable.
posted by miscbuff at 9:52 PM on October 26, 2020

Seconding buckwheat pillows. We bought a couple from Brow Farms here in the UK and I wouldn’t use anything else now. They keep their shape, you can mould them to your neck and shoulder and I’ve found they are cool to sleep on.

They’ve basically eliminated the neck pain I used to have in the morning and I rave about them to anyone who tells me they’re not sleeping well.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:06 PM on October 27, 2020