The Challenge With Pillow Recommendations

One of the most common topics we see pop up on online forums is folks asking for pillow recommendations.

Questions like, ‘What is the best pillow for a side sleeper under $100?’ or ‘I sleep on my back and I wake up with a sore neck every morning. What pillow have you tried that has worked to alleviate neck pain?’ or simply ‘What is the best pillow you’ve ever tried?’

Naturally, people who have found their perfect pillow are super generous in sharing the details – it’s not an easy feat! Unfortunately, specific pillow recommendations aren’t all that useful.

Every person has unique needs based on body size and shape, sleeping position, mattress support, and personal preference. What works for one person may not work for another. Even if two people share the same sleeping position, height and weight, differences in the curvature of the neck and spine, weight of the head, distance between head and shoulder and exact position of the head during sleep can result in different needs. Throw in factors like injury, pain and strain, and medical conditions, and it makes comparison even more challenging. To complicate matters further, each person has a different perception of concepts like ‘soft’, ‘firm’ and ‘supportive’. What one person finds soft and flat, another could find very high profile.

Our team at CDFC has a lot of data and customer feedback collected over time that we can use to help recommend pillows, but even then, we can only provide generalized recommendations according to what works for most people. We really can’t say with certainty what will work for you.

In short, recommendations and reviews from other sleepers should be taken with a grain of salt, although they certainly can help start you off in a good general direction.

If you haven’t found your perfect pillow yet, buckle in and get ready to take a bit of a journey. Here are our recommendations for embarking on that journey with the best chance of success.

The worst approach is to start buying and trying pillow after pillow after pillow – taking shots in the dark and hoping to find ‘the one’. Approach the process with some structure.

1. First, look for brands or retailers that have return policies you’re comfortable with, or that have physical product for you to feel in person. Some brands offer alterations services that allow pillow adjustments to better suit your needs, which may also be valuable in this process.
2. Then, start trying. For each pillow you try, write down the type of fill and the fill weight (or for materials like foam slab, the material type and the density). If the support level and overall feel is way off, you’ll want to try a different material altogether. If the support and overall feel is good, but not great, you’ll want to try the same material in a different weight or density.

If you can swing it, you might consider buying several options at once so you can compare them all side-by-side and return the ones that are least suitable.

That’s it! That’s the process. It can be a slog, but we know that sleepless nights and discomfort is even worse. You can do this! And we’re here to support, morally and otherwise!!

Don’t discount product reviews or recommendations entirely. We recommend looking to other sleepers for brand experience rather than experience with a specific product. If you’re considering buying from a particular brand or retailer, consult others for their experience with the company’s customer service, shipping and delivery, product quality and longevity, trustworthiness, etc.

Best of luck!!