Best Pillow For Combination Sleepers (2019): Our Favorites Reviewed

 
“The Purple pillow is definitely a fad product, but it’s one of the few fad products that I think is legitimately worth the hype. It’s made by the same company that makes the Purple mattress, and it uses the same basic approach. Instead of traditional materials like cotton, down, or foam, it has a grid of rubbery purple stuff that adapts to your head. It’s as adaptive as memory foam, but it’s springier like latex.

You should ignore the year’s worth of negative buyer reviews for this one–they’ve changed the design a few times. This one used to have an inflatable core which you could blow up to adjust the fit and feel. Now, it’s just a solid block of the grid material. I think that’s more than adaptive enough for most people.

What’s nice about this as opposed to pillows with down or shredded foam, which have usually been the go-to for combination sleepers, is that the grid doesn’t shift around. You don’t end up with awkward wads or clumps. It just stays in place and adapts to pressure to keep your neck safe and comfy. It’s definitely on the thicker, firmer side, but I think it’s quite nice for back sleeping as well as side.

The main difference between this and my other recommendations is that you don’t have to do any adjustments yourself. The downside of that is that it’s less customizable. On the flipside, it’s adaptive enough for most people who switch positions at night.”

 
“Memory foam is a tried and tested solution for combination sleepers. It’s super adaptive, so it can handle the different pressures of different sleep positions without causing strain.

The Snuggle-Pedic takes that a step further with shredded foam which you can add or remove depending on your preferences. I like that approach because you can adapt the height to be a nice midpoint between your sleep positions. With most solid block pillows, you’ve either got too much height for your back position, or too little for the side. This way, you can adjust it perfectly to your body!

There are downsides, of course. Whereas something like the Purple pillow can’t clump or bunch up, this one can. Memory foam doesn’t tend to bunch up like down or cotton batting, but you may have to give yours a shake once in a while. If you want to avoid off-gassing, too, you should look at the buckwheat pillow below! This one is one of the least stinky memory foam products I’ve reviewed, but foam is foam. For something completely natural, buckwheat is a combination sleeper’s best bet.”

 
“Buckwheat pillows are an old-school approach that’s still just as effective as the latest cutting-edge designs (such as the Purple pillow). It’s a traditional pillow material in Japan and also popular among chiropractors here. And if anyone knows about neck and spine health, it’s a chiropractor!

Buckwheat pillows operate pretty similarly to shredded foam in that you can add and subtract husks as you like to get the right height and firmness for your head. They shift around, like a bean bag chair, forming around the shape of your head in whatever position you adopt for sleeping. The big difference is that they’re not squishy. They shift, but remain a firm sleep surface to give you tons of support.

I definitely don’t recommend buckwheat pillows to everyone–some people will never like them. But, if you’ve found memory foam pillows too squishy in the past, or are trying to avoid chemical off-gassing, they’re a really great alternative. Another key advantage: they breathe far better than any synthetic material and even most natural materials like down or cotton!

This ComfyComfy buckwheat pillow is the best I’ve found on the market. It’s made right here in the USA, so it hasn’t been sprayed down with pesticides and such like every imported pillow. Everything’s organic and made in the USA by an ethical company. The quality control is great and I have no complaints!

One thing to bear in mind: buckwheat pillows like this are great for people who like to switch positions. However, they aren’t the best if you tend to shift around a lot in a single night. They crackle a lot, and the lack of squish can make constant turning uncomfortable.”