Are niche pillows and cases worth it?
The picture I linked is of a buckwheat pillow. Had no idea they were a thing before today.
What about silk or bamboo pillow cases?
I've only ever really used cotton pillow cases and cotton stuffed pillows. I recently upgraded to a foam pillow that I'm enjoying.
Eh, I've tried all of them at least once.
For my money, shredded memory foam is the best. It isn't perfect, but I've had the best balance between comfort, durability, ease of cleaning, and cost.
Buckwheat was good at support, and stayed fairly cool, but the breakdown and difficulty of cleaning made it a problem. It just doesn't last as well. Only thing that was worse in that regard was feathers. Feathers get ruined faster than anything else I tried.
Pillow cases, I'm a cotton fan. High thread count cotton has the right balance of softness vs smoothness. Too soft, and you end up with bunching and wrinkles as you move. Too smooth, and you end up with your head moving too easy but your hair not moving well.
Polyfill sucks for everything except ease of cleaning.
Cotton batting is about the same as polyfill, but not as easy to clean.
Solid foam is just begging to sweat heavy, and damn near impossible to clean well. Plus the durability is iffy.
Pillow cases, actual linen isn't bad, but tends not to be as comfy as cotton. Silk is way too smooth. Satin is just uncomfortable. Synthetics tend to run hot, even though they feel nice. Knit cotton feels the best, but damn does it fall into poor condition fast.
Really all of them? Camel fur? Natural latex? Lyocell? Sheep wool? Pinus cembra shreds? Horse hair? Kapok?
All I want to say is: there is a whole world of relatively unknown pillow stuffings available. This is mostly useful for people with very particular requirements or allergies.
I tried all the regular ones (cotton, different grains, down feathers) plus camel fur, latex and Kapok. Latex was great, durability was mediocre compared to the price though. Kapok became flat pretty fast.
I arrived at the same conclusions as you did: shredded foam. I'd go with natural latex, which has about the same properties and can be manufactured in an eco-friendly, sustainable fashion, but that led to me spending $120 on a pillow that didn't last a third as long as a foam pillow for $22.
Edit: I'm also biased because I want my pillow to be washable. That helps with all kinds of allergies, plus the dirt you see coming out of the pillow... Jesus.
Yeah, latex is by far the best. True, it's expensive but definitely worth it! I've had mine for two years now I think and it's great, no issues whatsoever.
Well, my fav is Aloa Vera filling. But I didn't had much pillows to experience like you both.
Especially when being a guest, I don't know what kind of filling the pillow has.
Have you looked into mattress materials, too? I bought a latex mattress a few years ago, which is pretty good and should last, but I've always been curious about other options.
What do you think is the coolest? I sleep on my side and find my face can get rather hot.
How long do you find buckwheat and feather pillows lasted you?
Depends on what you mean by last.
I still have one feather pillow from about ten years ago. It's still a pillow, but it's gotten lumpy, less full, and it's really only still around because of a strange nostalgia. It got to the point where it slept poorly at about a year. To be fair, it wasn't the "best" possible.
Buckwheat, I got a little longer before it lost enough filling to break down that it wasn't viable, about two years before I was just done with it being progressively flatter.
Deleted: I replied to the wrong comment.
I sleep on a buckwheat pillow. It's pretty decent, and as a bonus it guarantees victory and the extermination of your enemies in every pillow fight!
Mine is filled with lead shot for that reason.
Plus the lead dust tastes kind of sweet.
Ouuuuuuuuu! Nice pillow mod, been saving up for it.
That looks more like dirt than buckwheat.
They are buckwheat hulls. It would be disastrous to stuff your pillow or mattress with something mice find delicious.
Durable asphalt pillow!
Silk pillow cases are awesome! I've upgraded my linens in the last couple of years and silk pillowcase are probably my favorite splurge. I have two and i try to steal my husband's so i can have one on the bed and one on deck for change day.
Everyone in my family, from my elderly parents to my kid have switched to buckwheat over the past decade or so. Every single one of them loves it. That's just anecdotal, but for me it was completely worth it.
I also got a purple pillow on a friend's recommendation. I'm a really hot sleeper, and a side sleeper, so I need a lot of pillow and it was hard finding both of those things in one pillow for me. It's been great, I like it a lot. The main downsides are it's heavy as shit (the pillow probably weighs like 8kg, it's wild), the weird rubbery texture takes some getting used to, and the little mats they give you that go under the pillow to make it taller get bunched up if you move the pillow too much.
Other than those minor complaints, I've really loved it. It stays very cool, while still being springy and contouring.
I haven't really experimented with other pillowcases, but I have been meaning to, if anyone knows of something nice.
I feel it's important to note the Purple-brand mattresses and pillows all come coated in a white plastic powder. Sometimes a lot of it.
Breathing in micro/nano plastic powder is not good.
Purple claims it's safe, inert, and non-toxic. The reality is that breathing in powdered plastic is not safe.
I would recommend using a well-sealed allergy-type pillow cover for any purple pillow, at a minimum.
Had to go check then out when you said yours was EIGHT KILOGRAMMES. Crazy pillows.
I use down feather pillows, they are easily customizable but they can go "flat" and hard in the middle of the night. Putting your head down on a freshly fluffed one is utterly sublime, though.
I have fallen in love with bamboo rayon pillowcases, (aka modal, aka tencel, aka lyocell). They can be extremely soft and smooth like silk but are much hardier, so you can wash them like normal laundry.
I used to love down pillows until I learned they're the reason why my allergy got so bad.
Maybe I should give buckwheat a try, or shredded latex. I'm probably due for a change but lately I haven't been able to afford any sleep disruption.
Where did you get your bamboo rayon pillow cases?
Most of mine came from a vendor called Pure Beech that was exclusive to Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are the 100% modal sateen that seems to have been a consumer favorite that doesn't seem to be available anywhere. I have another set from Bedsure in their 100% bamboo that has a similar feel though.
Buckwheat is da bomb!!! We have 4 in the bed and they are amazing.
Buckwheat pillow with a thick flannel cover. Belly sleeper and my pillow travels everywhere I do.
Buckwheat, in my opinion, takes a good 6 months for it to be properly broken in, but once it is I have a good couple of years of amazing sleep.
Silk pillow cases are really useful to people with curly and coilled hair! Cotton pillow cases makes that kind of hair super frizzy, but a silk case can be softer on the hair meaning your curls are still intact in the morning :) Often people will use a silk wrap or hear wear instead of a silk pillow as they can ve cheaper and keep your hair more secure. It's personal preference but can really help reduce frizz! Hope that helps
Edit: bloody spelling
Yes. I can't talk about buckwheat in particular but, considering your face goes on it, I consider a good pillow case more important than a good set of sheets.
I love my husks in a sack. I also use a foam pillow here and there, tried a hyped up shredded foam pillow but hated it, solid foam is the way for foam imo. Never tried silk pillow cases but I do enjoy cotton.
I'm enjoying a kapok as well as a down pillow. Only natural for me, nobody off-gasses on my face.
real silk pillowcases are just too slippery for me (and you have to wash em in a bag) so I stick with cotton.
Down feather pillows are $$$ but great if you like them soft and fluffy. Get support by fluffing and kneading.
I really like my water pillow.
In modern times it's important to keep in mind that the stiffness can be different independent of the type of filling.
That is, I'd pick filling primarily by allergies, and then by personal preference. They all feel marginally~moderately different, and some you'll just associate with "nicer". For me personally that's memory foam, for example.
Then independent of that, pick a stiffnes and, importantly, a shape that works for you. I sleep worlds better on a very stuff shaped pillow that perfectly matches my neck size and length.
I had a buckwheat pillow once and it was kind of crap. Honestly it doesn't really matter what you get if they're comfortable. You just got to replace them regularly. Like once a year. Washing them can help with allergy issues, but that foam is never going to return to its original state no matter how well you wash and dry it. You could always try getting something more organic so that you don't end up filling a landfill with foam all the time, but I mean we're already scrotum deep in microplastics (look it up) so I don't know if it matters at this point.
I have a buckwheat pillow. I find it extremely comfortable, it reduced my neck pain. It is hard, but molds to the shape of your neck in a very comfortable way. It doesnt get lumoy in the same way a traditional pillow does.I have replaced it once now, first set lasted about 2 years. I personally greatly value that it is renewable material. The up front is kinda high, but the cost to replace the stuffing is low. I think it'll be comparable to a cheap regular pillow after one more replacement, which I think it's definitely durable enough to get to I also bet im paying a but more for hulls than i needed if i was willing to shop around. It's also cool cause you can clean the pillow itself quite easily by just emptying the hulls out. It stays cooler than a standard pillow.
For downsides, it is like sleeping on a beanbag. I've heard some say it's "loud" in that your ear is pressed right up against it and you can hear the hulls(?) Move around if you move, nit a problem for me, but people with sensory issues beware. I found that the grain made a texture that overtime annoyed my cheek, but a second pillow case was enough to fix that problem for me. It's quite heavy, I like this because it neans it moves less, but my wife finds it annoying.
I got one, had my wife get one after trying mine and I'm thinking of a gettibg a 3rd at some point. I got mine from comfy comfy and I would recommend their contour version as it seems to keep the hulls distributed more evenly than the standard.
I use a buckwheat pillow with a mulberry silk pillow case. I live in Miami and I like a cold pillow, and that's the coldest combination I could come up with. they also have those blue gel cooling pillows, they're pretty uncomfortable, but I keep one under my buckwheat pillow, also in a silk pillowcase, so that I can flip my buckwheat pillow and the cool gel can draw the heat off so the other side is always cool for me. and silk pillowcases work a lot better than satin
I've tried feather down pillows and 🤧
I switched to buckwheat pillows a few years ago and I've been a fan. It's a really interesting texture that you can move and shape really easily, but then when you apply pressure to it, it firms up and holds its shape. So, you get a really supportive pillow that's molded to your head and neck (For reference, I'm a side sleeper). The only downside I've noticed is the filling degrades relatively quickly, and after about a year it loses a lot of its volume and doesn't hold its shape as well, so you'll need to replace it. The bright side is that it's fairly cheap, and entirely biodegradable.
Mine is ~10 years old now and still holding up fine for me. I replaced a travel size one with a queen size, the smaller one definitely degraded but I was rougher on pillows back then.
There's a story here, I just know it.
Been using buckwheat pillows since I was a kid, they're awesome
Dumb question but were they common where you were when you were a kid?
Surly there exists some artificial material that perfectly mimics the properties without degrading.
Yeah, plastic pellets!
I'd always prefer a biodegradable and renewable material that I have to replace every few years over an artificial one that'll be around forever in some form. Not everything needs to be made out of petroleum
I've had a spelt pillow for 4 years now. The spelt is finer and quieter than buckwheat and it still holds the shape as well as 4 years ago
Please say it's the hull. Mice would be living in my pillow if it were anything edible to them.
I've been using my buckwheat hull pillow for about 5 years, too, and it's holding up great. I included a zipper when I made it, so I could refresh the stuffing, but I haven't ever needed to.
I've been using my homemade buckwheat pillow for about 5 years now, and it's still doing great. The hulls are surely degrading, but even if it's different than it was, it's still very comfortable as is.