Match a cotton pillow to how you sleep
Cotton comes as batting, as shredded fill and as continuous fibre, and each behaves differently under a sleeping head over months of use. Seven questions about your body, your bed and your habits give a fill specification you can hold a product listing against.
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What the questions decide
Every question below narrows one part of the specification: the form of the fill, how high it should sit, how much of it there should be, and whether you should be able to open the pillow and change it.
Cotton is not the right fill for everyone, and one of the six answers says so directly and names what tends to suit better.
The answers never leave your screen. They are saved in your browser so this site can recall your match, and you can wipe them at any time.
The seven questions and their effect
1. Which position do you spend most of the night in?
- Side. Side sleeping puts the most height into the specification, because the pillow has to bridge the distance from mattress to ear.
- Back. Back sleeping calls for a moderate, even loft that supports the neck without pushing the chin toward the chest.
- Stomach. Stomach sleeping calls for the thinnest pillow of all, often a flat one or none.
- It changes through the night. Changing position through the night favours a fill you can push around, so one part of the pillow can sit higher than another.
2. How would you describe your shoulders? (appears only if you chose side or it changes through the night)
- Broad. Broad shoulders raise the loft a side sleeper needs, so a thin cotton pillow will leave the neck bent down.
- Average. Average shoulders sit in the middle of the loft range, where the mattress decides the rest.
- Narrow. Narrow shoulders need less loft than most cotton pillows are sold with.
3. How firm is the mattress you sleep on?
- Soft. A soft mattress lets the body sink in, which lowers the loft the pillow needs to provide.
- Medium. A medium mattress leaves the loft about where your frame puts it.
- Firm. A firm mattress keeps the body high, so the pillow has to make up the full distance.
4. What does your current pillow do that you dislike?
- It goes flat. A pillow that flattens has a fill that packs down under weight, which cotton batting also does over time unless it can be refreshed.
- It sits too high. A pillow that sits too high usually has more fill than your frame needs, which points to a lower loft or an adjustable fill.
- Nothing much, I just want natural fill. Being content with your current shape means the goal is to match its loft in cotton rather than change it.
5. Would you open the pillow now and then to add or remove fill?
- Yes, happily. Being willing to adjust makes shredded or loose cotton in a zipped cover the most forgiving choice.
- No, I want it to stay as it comes. Wanting a pillow that stays as it comes points to batting, which holds a set shape but cannot be topped up.
6. Do you tend to sleep warm?
- Yes, I run warm. Running warm makes the cover weave matter, since a tight percale shell breathes better than a heavy sateen one.
- No, I sleep cool or about right. Sleeping cool leaves the cover free to be chosen for feel.
7. How do you expect to clean it?
- Wash the cover, air the pillow. Washing the cover and airing the insert is how most cotton pillows are meant to be kept.
- Put the whole pillow in the machine. Wanting to machine-wash the whole pillow is a case to read about carefully, because wet cotton batting mats and dries slowly.
The six matches
An adjustable shredded cotton pillow you can set to your own height
Sleepers who will open the pillow to set its height, which suits side sleepers and people who change position.
A high-loft cotton batting pillow for broad side sleepers on a firm bed
Side sleepers with broad shoulders on a firm mattress, who need a tall pillow that keeps its shape.
A mid-loft cotton batting pillow for side sleepers with an average frame
Side sleepers of average or narrow build, and broad sleepers on a softer mattress, who want a pillow that stays as it comes.
An even, moderate cotton pillow for back sleepers
Back sleepers, who need steady support under the neck without the head tipped forward.
A low, thin cotton pillow for stomach sleepers
Stomach sleepers, for whom every extra inch of loft bends the neck back.
Cotton is probably the wrong fill for you
Sleepers whose pillows keep going flat and who will not open a pillow to top it up. Cotton packs down, and that combination is the one it handles worst.