In recent years the market has moved beyond traditional feather and down pillows – although, as we found out through testing, it’s hard to beat a really exceptional down pillow – to incorporate more vegan, hypoallergenic, and environmentally-friendly fills. Silk pillows – which are stuffed with silk fibres, not encased in silk – are a huge new trend, and environmentally-friendly fills like wool and Tencel are becoming increasingly popular.
The pillow you need depends on the way you sleep – for more, see our pillow buying guide. According to the Sleep Council, a good pillow should hold your head in the correct alignment – that is, in the same relation to your shoulders and spine as if you were standing upright with the correct posture. That means that people who sleep on their backs can get away with almost any kind of pillow, but people who sleep on their side or front need a little bit more support – think foam, not feather.
There are some exceptions to that: our best buy is a very firm down pillow, and our side-sleeping reviewer (literally) risked her neck to test its level of support – which was exceptional. Meanwhile some foam pillows, like the Simba hybrid (£109, Simbasleep.com), are customisable – so you can adjust the quantity of foam fill to bring the pillow all the way down to mattress level, which will suit back sleepers.
Pillow care depends on the fill, and we looked for easy maintenance when we were testing. Most have removable covers that you can pop in the wash; if you’ve invested in a really deluxe pillow, you might also want to buy a separate pillow protector to extend its life. Don’t try to wash down yourself – a gentle fluff and regular airing is all it needs to stay clean and hygienic and get it professionally laundered if you have to.
We got all kinds of sleepers – front, side and back – to test these pillows over a number of nights, which meant they were put through their paces in variable conditions (a heatwave, followed by a typical English month-long downpour). We looked for reported comfort, both when settling down to sleep and when sipping coffee and scrolling the internet in the morning, and we also compared our reviewers’ sleep scores, as reported on their wearables, for each pillow they tested.
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