Ok I know this isn’t a mattress question, but pillows do go hand in hand with sleeping or mattress shopping so I’ve got my fingers crossed that some people here have an opinion or can guide me in the right direction.
For the last 10 or so years I have hated my pillows and have tried some options - I have a pillow from DaniaDown (down pillow, too flat!), a shredded latex from Brooklyn Bedding (too thick!), a Casper pillow (too fat!) and random pillows I have tried from Kohl’s etc. I once slept on a great pillow, it was a thick down pillow that felt like a cloud - my head sunk into it the perfect amount and it felt like my cervical spine was being cradled just right without my back being too curved/giving me the feeling I was too upright in bed. I have no idea what kind of pillow this was or the manufacturer, it was my exes pillow and to my knowledge he paid a lot for it, lol. Ever since then I haven’t found a pillow that recreates that kind of sleeping experience. In some 4 star hotels I find the experience to be similar, but this is also with more than one pillow so it’s not quite the same… or perhaps I should just give up and layer two thin down pillows in hopes of getting that same feel.
I’m looking for something that is going to promote proper spine alignment. Thick pillows either mimic the hunched posture of sitting at a desk or cause my cervical spine to bend too much if my chin isn’t in a tucked position based on how my head is cradled and the thin pillows I have tried feel like I’m just sleeping on the mattress.
I’m a back/occasional side sleeper and am at my wits end with pillow shopping.
Any thoughts on the direction I should go is welcome. Thanks!
Pillows totally go hand in hand with mattress shopping. In fact, the softness or firmness of your mattress is what determines how thick or flat you need your pillow to be for comfort. The soft the mattress, the more you sink in and the thinner you need a pillow to be.
Have you considered a more DIY route for pillows? It sounds like if your previous pillows just had zippers on the cases, you could have adjusted the amount of fill.
When picking a pillow, there are two areas of comfort to consider. They are not the same and need to be differentiated from.
The height
The feel
A zippered pillow case or zippered pillow kit would let you work on the height at the same time as assessing the kind of cradle you need.
Have you considered a kapok pillow? It soft but just a bit malleable, the less fill in the case , the more motion in the fill and the more ability you have to make sure the hollows or dips you need in a pillow are present,
So the pillow that did feel amazing to me, at the time, the bed was really soft with a plush pillow top. That difference didn’t occur to me, my bed is quite firm.